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Mom's dog is 14 1/2. That's pretty old for a dog of his size. He's still rather agile, but she's been thinking and discussing the option of getting another dog to keep him company and be there when Doc finally goes on to doggy heaven. There have been several near misses. I mentioned to her the other day that there was a super cute dog from the SPCA on the noon news that we should check out. She wasn't interested in that one (it was too young), but agreed to let me take her to the SPCA before she goes back to work in the fall. So today I suggested that we go.
There were two dogs we were potentially interested in walking. Bernice, a beagle, and Ossie, a German shepherd/lab mix. I was totally rooting for Ossie, I have to admit, but we took Bernice out first since the volunteer there suggested that she was very depressed. She did, indeed, look very depressed. She barely moved at all and walked unbelievably slowly. She was pretty portly for a beagle, too, and had recently had puppies so, like myself, she has some pregnancy weight to work off. But she was really a little too mellow and too slow and it was somewhat concerning to me, but as it was not my decision, I was fine with Mom saying that she just couldn't put Bernice back. Her paperwork by her kennel said next to nothing on it, but as we were going through with the adoption, it comes up that she has hip displaysia. Mom talked to the vet tech and then called her vet and even called Dad, who was not helpful. She was concerned about dealing with such a progressive problem, and I pointed out that she does have an awful lot of stairs to get out to the backyard. Beeze can't handle them even on his bad knee days and I don't think Bernice could have handled them today, much less when the problem gets worse. Mom spent a while thinking about it, but in the end, we put Bernice back.
I thought for sure that she'd want to leave after that, but she decided to take Ossie for a walk and it was a good thing. He is the sweetest dog. He didn't pull on the walk. He seemed interested, but not overly much so, in other dogs. He didn't bark at all. When we took him into the lobby, he was interested in sniffing at ferrets and checking out bunnies, but he barely paid any attention to the cat that hissed at him, and nothing made him go nuts at all. He was friendly towards everyone he saw.
Mom was sold except for one thing. He's currently on his fifth day of treatment for kennel cough. Doc had the vaccination for that back around Christmas, but nothing is 100% and since he's so old, she was a little wary. I suggested that if that was the only thing she was concerned about, then he could stay at our house for a few days while he finished out his medication. She agreed. He is being neutered tomorrow and then I pick him up on Friday. He'll be staying with us until Monday. Of course, I agreed to this without thinking that I'll probably have to be giving him medication and he'll likely have a lampshade on his head. And we'll have to tie him up in the yard since we only have an invisible fence. And we'll have to make sure Nora's toys are off the floor while we're getting to know him. But that's okay. It's only for a few days and he'll be visiting our house from time to time anyway. Beezley will be beside himself with excitement to have another dog here that might actually play with him.
Oh, and Mom called later to tell me that she's changing Ossie's name to Lucky. We don't normally change the names of the animals we get from the SPCA, but he was a stray so that name was just given to him there. He didn't respond to it at all. And there was a dog named Lucky that they had seen some time ago that they wished they had gotten and he reminded her of that dog. So Lucky it is. I'm going to get him an ID tag for his collar this weekend.
There were two dogs we were potentially interested in walking. Bernice, a beagle, and Ossie, a German shepherd/lab mix. I was totally rooting for Ossie, I have to admit, but we took Bernice out first since the volunteer there suggested that she was very depressed. She did, indeed, look very depressed. She barely moved at all and walked unbelievably slowly. She was pretty portly for a beagle, too, and had recently had puppies so, like myself, she has some pregnancy weight to work off. But she was really a little too mellow and too slow and it was somewhat concerning to me, but as it was not my decision, I was fine with Mom saying that she just couldn't put Bernice back. Her paperwork by her kennel said next to nothing on it, but as we were going through with the adoption, it comes up that she has hip displaysia. Mom talked to the vet tech and then called her vet and even called Dad, who was not helpful. She was concerned about dealing with such a progressive problem, and I pointed out that she does have an awful lot of stairs to get out to the backyard. Beeze can't handle them even on his bad knee days and I don't think Bernice could have handled them today, much less when the problem gets worse. Mom spent a while thinking about it, but in the end, we put Bernice back.
I thought for sure that she'd want to leave after that, but she decided to take Ossie for a walk and it was a good thing. He is the sweetest dog. He didn't pull on the walk. He seemed interested, but not overly much so, in other dogs. He didn't bark at all. When we took him into the lobby, he was interested in sniffing at ferrets and checking out bunnies, but he barely paid any attention to the cat that hissed at him, and nothing made him go nuts at all. He was friendly towards everyone he saw.
Mom was sold except for one thing. He's currently on his fifth day of treatment for kennel cough. Doc had the vaccination for that back around Christmas, but nothing is 100% and since he's so old, she was a little wary. I suggested that if that was the only thing she was concerned about, then he could stay at our house for a few days while he finished out his medication. She agreed. He is being neutered tomorrow and then I pick him up on Friday. He'll be staying with us until Monday. Of course, I agreed to this without thinking that I'll probably have to be giving him medication and he'll likely have a lampshade on his head. And we'll have to tie him up in the yard since we only have an invisible fence. And we'll have to make sure Nora's toys are off the floor while we're getting to know him. But that's okay. It's only for a few days and he'll be visiting our house from time to time anyway. Beezley will be beside himself with excitement to have another dog here that might actually play with him.
Oh, and Mom called later to tell me that she's changing Ossie's name to Lucky. We don't normally change the names of the animals we get from the SPCA, but he was a stray so that name was just given to him there. He didn't respond to it at all. And there was a dog named Lucky that they had seen some time ago that they wished they had gotten and he reminded her of that dog. So Lucky it is. I'm going to get him an ID tag for his collar this weekend.
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Date: 2007-07-26 04:08 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-07-26 03:05 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2007-07-26 02:24 pm (UTC)From:Then here I read that it's all your fault!
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Date: 2007-07-26 03:09 pm (UTC)From:I was really trying to restrain myself from influencing Mom's decision about the beagle because Lucky is such a great dog. I'd take him myself if that was feasible right now. When she was going to get the beagle, I kept thinking of people I could call to convince them that they wanted him. So since the only thing that was keeping her from being fully on board with him was the kennel cough, I figured we could keep him quarantined from Doc for a few days. John is surprisingly excited about this and he hasn't even met the dog.