Puppies & Roses

BackstageOnly · 03-17-2006, 07:10 AM

Here you go Joe!

So, do you have a dog? Or several dogs? What breed? How old is it? Is it just your dog or a member of your family?

And how about gardening? What do those dogs to do to your roses?

BackstageOnly · 03-17-2006, 07:14 AM

I will say that we had a Keeshond & a Chow-Golden Retriever mix for about 10 years. They were great dogs. However, Delenn (our 7 yr. old) was allergic to them. Unfortunately, that meant that we couldn't keep them.

So, if we can find a breed that she could deal with allergy-wise, we would get one again. But that doesn't look like a big possibility at this point.

And I have only ever had one rose bush... which I almost killed myself so I dug it up & gave it to my parents where it flourished and almost took over their clothesline.

**Connie_M-T** · 03-17-2006, 07:30 AM

We are addicted to White West Highland Terriers (white Scottie dogs). A one point we had two, but now we are down to one. His name is Bruno and he weighs about 20 pounds. He is not that well behaved (our fault) but he is really cute.
The breed does not shed much, so it makes them good house dogs.
He is definately a member of the family or should I say we are a member of his family.
I don't do roses. Way too much trouble, but other plants in our gardens flourish.

**Skerdog** · 03-17-2006, 07:42 AM

I'm really torn on getting a dog/puppy. Right now we have a cat. A big cat. Like, 40 pounds. No joke, just ask Joe. Or rather here, just look:

At any rate, we tend to go out of town for weekends or sometimes longer (to visit our parents in Southern Indiana) and you can't leave a dog alone for 2-3 days like you can a cat. The options are to either (a) put them in a kennel, (b) bug a friend to come over every day to feed them, let them out, etc or (c) take them with you.
"C" is not an option, since the parents don't want a dog running around their homes (understandable), and I'm a cheap-o, so "A" isn't really an option either. That leaves "B" and I hate to ask friends to do that, especially given that we are usually out of town around every 5-6 weeks.

But I know that my 5-year-old would LOVE a puppy/dog. So I'm torn. One day, maybe I'll break down and get one, but right now, I just don't know how to handle it in a way that's agreeable to all.

**kries** · 03-17-2006, 07:43 AM

I had a dauchsand mix when I was growing up - Chester - he was the greatest friend a girl could have.

Now my hubby and I have two best friends (three when you count Peaches our cat - a real character).

Autumn Starr (please note 2 "r"s for Bart Starr. She is a very spoiled puppy (I think of all dogs as puppy's regardless of age) - English Spaniel - Doberman mix. Very happy dog! We call her Starr ;D;

Lucky Starr - a wonderful small shepard mix. Rescued as a puppy when she got her head stuck in a chain link fence. Starr woke us from a sound sleep in the middle of the night to alert us to the puppies plight. In a rainstorm with hail it took us a while to free the pup - she was really stuck! We took her in to warm her up, thinking we would not keep her. Two days later she had her name - Lucky - and our hearts. ;D;

As to roses - I get a few every year and container garden them. Enjoy them for the season and start fresh the next year with new. I'm not a good gardener - but I love flowers so I have found container gardening suits me well. And the dogs can't dig them up as easily.

**LizC** · 03-17-2006, 07:44 AM

Poodles are good for allergy prone folke. They don't have fur, they have hair so they don't have the same dander as other dogs (which is the part that folks are allergic to). We have a toy poodle. Don't believe the stereotypes. She's not a yappy little prissy dog. She is pretty rough and tumble and will play ball all day long if you let her.

So... Sassy is our toy poodle and Ginger is our lab mix. Sassy weighs around 8 pounds and Ginger is around 60. Sassy is 7.5 yrs old and Ginger just turned 7 this month.

I do great with taking care of animals and people. I suck at taking care of plants. They just die. My grandma gave me some kind of plant that she swore would be impossible to kill. Guess what- I killed it. I either over water or under water everything.

I am intrigued by those roll out gardens strip thingees they have at Menard's, though. Roll it out and water it. I might be able to handle that.

**kries** · 03-17-2006, 07:48 AM

Roll out garden - good! I have done those in the past - especially like the wild flower ones. Good. Can't kill - good! ;D;

**LizC** · 03-17-2006, 07:53 AM

We go out of town from time to time. We have a good friend who comes and stays at the house with the girls. They get spoiled rotten, he gets to enjoy the biig screen TV and we stock the house with snacks. Added bonus- he usually does laundry and stuff when he's bored.

I used to housesit in college for a family that went out of town every couple of months. I stayed at their house and took care of 2 dogs, 6 cats, and a tank of fish. I never "charged" anything- they always just paid me what they thought was fair (probably about half of what they would have paid at a kennel).

It's great because our dogs don't have to deal with the stress of being kenneled. They've been kenneled and they are better dogs to come back to if they've stayed at home...

**rhondabelle** · 03-17-2006, 08:20 AM

Puppies are great! (Karla, I also consider them puppies, no matter how old they are.

)

Dickens is our first "baby," so you can imagine how spoiled he is. He's a shih tzu/poodle mix, and he's very opinionated and stubborn. We definitely consider him part of our family, and I'm sure that he considers us part of his pack.

We've never kenneled him. We just have a good friend (or Grandma) stay over and puppysit while we're on vacation.

**liloldlady** · 03-17-2006, 08:25 AM

Now you are on my favorite subject! I love all animals. My husband never had a dog as a child. We had a sweet mutt for the kids, a stray, for 17 years. Then some low life dumped an 8 week old puppy in our cul de sac. We had Jesse for 14 years, and she was my husband's sweetheart. Beautiful, intelligent, she passed away doing her second favorite activity, walking. (Her favorite was gardening with Gene) It was the most peaceful death I could imagine. A neighbor stopped and took us home. The only time I saw my husband cry was when we lost Jesse. We still miss her, but we were lonesome for a fur baby after 3 mos. I never felt comfortable with buying a purebred because of those needing a home - but I asked a friend about her breed, and she said that she had a dog for us. Molly is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, a rescue. Linda had three other dogs, two of them Pems, and Molly needed to be an only dog. Lady Bandit was giving her grief. We had to promise that we would never board her - that is one of her issues - she can't stand cages, so we have an ideal situation. We check with Linda, and Molly "sleeps" over. Gene has another darling - yep, I am minor supporting again to a beautiful redhead. Roses ?I love them, so Gene, who gardens, works on them for me. I had a friend who when widowed with children grown became a house sitter including pets. She would just move in, taking care of the house, pets, etc. Gave her some income, and the pets had a great time. I love to pick up mail, etc. and keep "loverboy" the most affectionate cat I have known for our neighbors. he is so self sufficient, but I enjoy checking on him.