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ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
edited May 2011
do not click this link unless you are ready for some serious cuteness in your life.

http://hopeshavenfriends.com/gallery/index.php/Hopefuls/B-Pup-Girls

you have until june 12th to decide...
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Comments

  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    not to mention these dudes
    http://hopeshavenfriends.com/gallery/index.php/Hopefuls/B-Pup-boys

    (june 12th is getting closer)
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    what??? Was there a single litter of a million of those pups? Jeez. Poor li'l pups.
    Those look like awful nice pups.

    For the record, I highly recommend getting a pup, unless you work 9-5 every day in which case PLEASE DON'T GET A PUP.

    But, if you have some time to spend with the dude, I really can not recommend it highly enough! It's kind of like what parents say about having kids---everything you think will be scary and hard is even scarier/harder than you were imagining, but everything you thought would be awesome is %100000 more awesome than you thought it would be.

    PUP DUDE! I want to feed all those dudes as much peanut butter as they can eat.

    Somebody get one of these nice pups!!!!!!!
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    but also- adopting cool old dogs is a great thing too! maybe a bit easier than a puppy since he might already be housebroken and past his rambunctious "teens." and also you know you are giving a dude a home who really needs it!

    these are cute little dudes who i assume are all from the same litter. they are down at Hopes Haven- a dog rescue down in the Willamette Valley were Meg and I got this dude: http://hopeshavenfriends.com/gallery/index.php/Hopes-Fulfilled/ukiah-family

  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    FOR INSTANCE if you adopted this dude you would be a total hero-
    http://hopeshavenfriends.com/gallery/index.php/Hopefuls/lucky
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    I strongly prefer adopting an older dog for all these reasons.

    You know those pups are gonna get adopted, but an older dude might not.

    we kind of split the difference with our guy. He was five months old when we got him--a teenager. Just on the cusp of becoming a grown-ass man. We felt kind of bad, because we always assumed we'd adopt like a six year old sad person. But then I also think getting a good match personality wise is important--we really did want the laziest dog in the world, and the people at the pound said this was our guy, and they were right. And at 5 months you really could tell his personality, whereas with a tiny pup you have no idea what kind of person they're going to be.

    But yeah. Older pups! The best! He was already house-trained. It took like 2 seconds to get him fully house-trained, and to this day he's still never taken a shit in the house (knock on wood). He learned "sit" and "stay" in literally one day. He was so ready. He was already in the language-learning phase of his life. We did not have to get up every 2 hours in the night to take him outside to pee. He already could mostly take care of himself in the world, although he was very afraid of fire hydrants and was very bad at walking on the leash.

    I still feel bad for not adopting an older dude but still, he wasn't a puppy. Puppies are fucking amazing but it's true adopting a teen or old person is not only the morally nicer thing to do but WAY EASIER for you!

    People are always like "but an older dog, you don't know what's been done to them, they could be crazy," which is true, but I have known plenty of dogs bought from breeders (barf) at puppyhood--i.e. so you know EVERYTHING about them--who still turned out to be fucking psychotic. So you know. Plus I feel an older dog is grateful and happy to be in your home whereas a puppy just takes it as a given.

    DOGS!

    I LOVE DOGS SO MUCH

    I would still enjoy cuddling one of those sleepy pups. Oh puppy! So nice!

  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    p.s. oh my god, someone adopt Lucky, please! He would be such a nice friend.

  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    edited May 2011
    p.p.s. I did not mean to use this thread to try to excuse my guilt at not adopting an older dog. I should have adopted an older dog, there is no question.

    For the record
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    adopting baby puppies is awesome too! the only thing that really isn't awesome is BUYING a puppy from a breeder or a pet store. the whole 'making dogs to sell for a profit' business is disgusting and terrible and right up there with the oil and tobacco companies in terms of questionable ethics. but adopting 'accidental' puppies (what happens when people didn't get their dogs fixed) is good because those dudes need homes and often times the higher adoption fee goes to helping out all the dogs (assuming you are adopting from a shelter)

    the rule of thumb is to get dogs from a rescue or shelter, and not from someone who is making money off of selling dogs.
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    edited May 2011
    strongly agree. I have friends who have bought from breeders and I just honestly don't understand it. It's mega expensive, and for what???? What is so much better about it? I really really don't get it. And they always say it apologetically, like, "I know it's terrible, but we're getting her from a breeder." WHY?! If they realize it's terrible, then what exactly is the allure? It just doesn't seem like a breeder pup and a pound pup are going to be fundamentally that different from one another. And when you know it's totally immoral, then what is the point?

    Although I guess it could be if you have a boner for a specific type of dog, which I also think is intensely lame and borderline racist thinking. But I guess this must be part of it. When we were dog-shopping people kept asking us "what kind of dog are you going to get?" and I'd be so baffled. "I'm going to get whatever dog I like most at the pound."

    But some people are like "I'm gonna get a german shepherd" or "I'm gonna get a French bulldog" or whatever. God.

    no offense to French bulldogs, who are very funny looking.

  • 12341234
    "The rule of thumb is to get dogs from a rescue or shelter, and not from someone who is making money off of selling dogs."

    This sentiment seems like it could apply to more than just dogs...
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    edited May 2011
    totally. maybe to all possible things????? esp if you substitute "thrift store" for "shelter"??? "craigslist"
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    edited May 2011
    i understand the concept of wanting a pure-bred, but i think it's based on a naivety and ignorance. people generally have no clue what sort of mad-scientist crazyness is behind dog-breeding. for decades/centuries dogs have been bred for certain traits at the expense of the dog's overall health- and people have no idea that the breeding which led to a certain super-cute look has also made the breed bat-shit crazy or prone to disease or simply have bodies that don't work. Great Danes are one of the more tragic examples- those poor dogs rarely live more than 7 years and often die of cancer or other painful problems. they are also commonly born deaf and blind- their bodies simply don't work due to overbreeding. yet they are adorable and sweet natured, so someone who just sees one or reads about their behavior might think they are the perfect dog, having no idea how messed up they are inside or how many unsellable blind and deaf pups were put down by the breeder or dumped at the dog shelter. and yet breeders are still breeding 'pure breds' and selling them for hundreds or thousands of dollars. and did you know that pure-bred Boston Terriors' heads are so wide that they have to be born via C-section?? some assholes out there actually think that is no big deal, that their cute little big heads are worth it. i want to punch these people in the face.

    and then on top of that is the simple fact that there are thousands of unwanted dogs sitting in shelters everyday while these breeders keep making new ones. according to the humane society, approximately 4 million dogs and cats are euthanized every year simply because nobody wants them. THAT IS ONE EVERY EIGHT SECONDS!
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    edited May 2011
    and while i am ranting- people who don't get their pets fixed are almost as bad as the breeders. not as bad because they are naive and not making bling, but still contributing to the over-population problem if their furry friend gets preggers.
  • MatthewMatthew
    I once had a guinea pig named buffy. She wasn't fixed. But it was just her. In the cage. Sometimes on top.

    buffy
  • DeathDeath
    edited May 2011
    My mother volunteers at a shelter. We always had awesome really mildly sick dogs around because she wanted to save them from being put down. I can't imagine ever getting a puppy farm dog. I feel a little bad about that though because they are creatures too you know?

    sorta on topic: I once had an extremely devout christian girl tell me that dogs don't have souls so it doesn't matter if they get put down and that humans are the only creatures with souls. I seriously don't know if I have ever thought about smacking a girl that much.
  • DeathDeath
    edited May 2011
    I think I might have already shared this once, but these are my mom and pop's dog and cat. Both are shelter animals, and they are amazing dudes.


  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    edited May 2011
    real nice dog and cat. All god's creatures have souls! GOD DON'T MAKE NO JUNK.

    I firmly second bigmacattack's multiple rants. It is very frustrating how people do not think of these issues. I think it is all part of our more egregious inability to think about animals at all, ever, one way or the other. Just like "oh it would be nice to have a puppy," but thinking about the puppy goes no deeper than that. Just like thinking about the hamburger goes no deeper than "a hamburger would be good right now." Inability/unwillingness to extrapolate or process. Hamburger-cow-factory farm cow-jesus christ. Puppy at pet store-puppy factory-wait, what?!?

    People generally do not think about shit much, I believe.

    Also how many people get puppies and then RETURN THEM?! I was so shocked at the humane society by how uptight they were about this, I hadn't realized this was a real thing. But even as we were standing there a family came in to return a cat, for no reason. It hadn't bit one of the kids or anything. No life-altering allergies. "Yeah, we don't feel like having a cat anymore." Well GOOD FOR YOU.

    I understand being a farmer or something and not seeing animals as people, and killing them and herding them around and treating them like animals have traditionally been treated. AND I understand seeing animals as people, and caring about their feelings. But I DO NOT understand the in-between place, of people who want a cuddly sweet pet to give affection to but who ALSO do not see animals as people. It's like, just get one of those battery-powered walking robot dogs, if that's how little you feel for the soul of a creature.

    Additional rant: people who "give" puppies or kittens to way-too-young children.Is there anything worse than seeing some five year old squeezing the very life out of a tiny beast? Kids are cruel as shit and have no idea what they're doing. Why is this a "thing" people do--giving puppies to small kids? THE TWO DO NOT GO WELL TOGETHER. That's also classic--"oh, I've got a 6 year old and a 4 year old and I am run fucking ragged all day long by parenthood duties, THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A GREAT TIME TO GET AN ADDITIONAL YOUNG CREATURE WITH A LOT OF INTENSE NEEDS UP IN THIS MIX"

  • lml__0_0__lmllml__0_0__lml
    petfinder.com is the best/worst website coz when you start looking you want them all.
  • Loose_ThreadLoose_Thread
    When I was a kid I came home one day to greet my small companion, only to find that he was no where.
    "We took him to a farm," they said.
    For many years this comforted me. One day I understood that there are no farms in Las Vegas, Nevada!

    **Sound of a tiny violin**
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    pet finder can offer hours of internet viewing fun (heartbreaking fun, however)

    A FARM??!! that is a sad story.
  • Loose_ThreadLoose_Thread
    I have more of them

    **atonal moaning from violin**
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    edited May 2011
    coincidentaly, a very good story on NPR/Fresh-Air today about this topic. listen to the entire interview!

    "...In the 1950s, most breeds still had a healthy range of genetic variation; by 2000, only some twenty to twenty-five generations later, many had been inbred to the point where hundreds of genetically based deformities, diseases, and disadvantages had emerged, potentially compromising the welfare of every purebred dog..."

    http://www.npr.org/2011/05/26/136497064/the-new-science-of-understanding-dog-behavior
  • DeathDeath
    How do you guys feel about "road dogs" or other animals that are adopted by homeless or perpetual travelers. I guess I'm asking because I always get kinda angry when I see some homeless kid with an obviously under-fed animal or one that just looks miserable. I know there are circumstances where those animals live the life, and get to see the country, but in my mind it seems like it is pretty rare that those animals don't endure a pretty heavy amount of neglect. Am I wrong about this? I guess I am basing this judgement on limited information. Nothing against the homeless. Just them dragging good animals into bad situations when those animals don't have much of a say in the matter.
  • lml__0_0__lmllml__0_0__lml
    edited May 2011
    npr show was really good. i liked what the guy had to say about city dogs, how we expect them to be lovable friends when we want them and then well behaved quiet lazy guys when we dont. when we have company over my dog loves acting out for attention. unfortunately(in this case) she's a little too big to sit on a lap or something like that. our old dog (r.i.p.) was about 30 lbs and we could sit him on our lap, but he was a perfect gentleman ALWAYS, so there's that.

    here's a picture of Gretta yesterday
    image
  • lml__0_0__lmllml__0_0__lml
    edited May 2011
    and re: road dogs
    i feel so sorry sometimes. i used to work at a good pet food store and i hate to see dogs fed bad food, or mistreated. i can't imagine what those dogs eat, let alone their humans.

    Gretta likes apples, strawberries and citrus fruits a lot (LEMONS! LIMES! SHE LIKES THEM!) and we've been trying out other veggies, she much prefers cooked ones to raw. Also, she's been getting into the terragon plant in the back yard which is fine because i dont like it so much.

    We found gretta on Petfinder last September. Drove from PDX>Van BC and got her through a group called "Boxers without Borders". She's a Boxer/Boston Terrier, 42lbs and a big sounding, protective, cuddler.
  • Loose_ThreadLoose_Thread
    I was just thinking it would be cool to interview these "urban nomads" about dogs. I would think they have interesting dog training knowledge.
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    that is a good looking pooch. what is he wearing? is that some sort of doggie seat-belt?

    'boxers without borders' sounds wonderful!
  • lml__0_0__lmllml__0_0__lml
    Gretta is wearing a harness(easier on her body when she tugs), a collar, and a microfleece sweater made by my wife. No seatbelts, but she tends to lay on the floor when we drive (she doesn't really like car rides).

    BWOB is a group that takes boxer-breed dogs from the cities (G was in LA) and moves them to the Canadian countryside. She was in Edmonton when we first contacted the foster home. We like to call her "International Dog"
  • 12341234
    edited May 2011
    Have you all seen Dog Parkour?



    I want to see cat parkour.
  • 12341234
    Oh that was easy. Purr-kour.

  • MatthewMatthew
    Cats are Xtreme
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    not to mention the mystical cat!

  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    my dog stretches and farts
    and stares out the window
    and is baffled by bunnies but not scared of squirrels
    and is a deep, intense, never-ending, cat-style snuggler. His motto is: CAN'T GET CLOSE ENOUGH.
    and dreams a lot, and whistles through his flappy cheeks
    and has feathers on his butt
    and smells like a pond sometimes and like fritos other times
    and spins in a counter-clockwise circle when you get up in the morning and say hi to him
    and gently mouths your feet when he is happy to see you
    and loves his kibble
    and loves peanut butter
    and loves to get his chinny-chin gently skritched
    and loves to bring you a ball
    and leaps like a deer, back and forth, in the yard when he finds his stick
    and jumps higher than I've ever seen a dog jump, and catches a ball SMACK in his jaws
    and hates lawn mowers, just like me
    and is scared of my one friend Callie for some reason
    prefers sun to rain
    scratches to pats
    couch to floor
    small dogs to large dogs
    running to tussling
    outside to inside
    peanut butter to honey
    kong to ball
    fetch to anything
    and doesn't mind being violently manhandled by people squeezing him and singing to him

  • DeathDeath
    edited May 2011
    OT but still animal related, someone should break out the song in this game at their next dance party

    http://www.nyanicorn.com/
  • ed_chigliaked_chigliak
    On the road dog tip - I wonder if being around their owners all the time and having a very distinct job (protection as well as companionship) is better for the dog's mental health, a la that awesome NPR interview, as compared to a yuppie dog stuck alone in a Pearl luxury condo all day?
  • Loose_ThreadLoose_Thread
    what npr interview are you talking about
  • ed_chigliaked_chigliak
    oh upthread from big mac attack, there is a link to it. just above the initial road dog question.
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    http://www.oregonhumane.org/adopt/detail.asp?animalID=108205
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    edited May 2011
    I can't bear it. Howard is so nice. His face calls to me.
    Howard!
    Somebody get Howard! He looks like a great man!
    God, what a mug.
    Dogs absolutely kill me. They are so worried and so ready to please. They just want someone to be their friend and tell them what to do. I hate so much when a dog is worried. At the pound they are all worried.
    Howard would be so easy! No freaking out, no pooping on your bed. I bet Howard totally has his shit together (pun intended).

    Howard is exactly the dog Gary and I were looking for when we went to our pound. But they didn't have anybody like Howard, no older dogs at all. Which, I mean, I'm glad they didn't. I hate when an older dog ends up at the pound.
    Howard is a wise man you can see that

    SOMEBODY GET HIM!!!!!!!! I will help you however I can, with tips and advice and dog-sitting, and dog play-dates!
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    look at my snoopy you guys!!
    who likes him?

    image
  • lml__0_0__lmllml__0_0__lml
    :D
    happy dogg
  • Loose_ThreadLoose_Thread
    He's so skinny. Aren't you feeding him???
  • UncleBoatShoes2011UncleBoatShoes2011
    Why is his tongue like that?
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    edited June 2011
    that is a fine looking pooch, with a tongue as strong as they come!

    when you move to portland maybe he would like to play with this dude:

    Photobucket
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    PS-that is Ukiah, a super chill Huky-Lab mix. he is relatively new to our family- for those of you not in the know, Tess the Amazing Toothless Husky-Chow (who appeared in many UrHo blogposts) is now up in doggie heaven :(
  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    also also, it appears Howard was adopted!
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    We feed him so much! He poops all the time, and eats what my vet said he should eat!
    HE'S JUST A SKINNY BODY TYPE!!!!!

    He will want to play with the lovely-seeming Ukiah so long as Ukiah mostly just wants to play "chase Frank who is holding the ball" and no other game, specifically no physical wrasslin' or anything that might get Frank dirty. Frank is what is traditionally known as a "wiener" or "big weenie"

    Love that Howard found a home
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    p.s. we need a "happy dogs of uhx" thread so I can look at it each day and feel that life may be worth living

    KEEP THE HOT SNOOPY PIX COMING
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    p.p.s. I guess this is that thread
  • flossy_log_ladyflossy_log_lady
    Your snoopy is so cute! What a happy, rascally pooch. I can tell.

    Ukiah likes to sleep on his back sometimes, with his legs pointing straight up into the air. Such a silly guy.
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