F.U.R.B.A.L.L.S. - Part 2

Before I Was A Dog Parent

Before I was a Dog Parent,
I made and ate hot meals unmolested.
I had unstained, unfurred clothes.
I had quiet conversations on the phone, even if the doorbell rang.

Before I was a Dog Parent,
I slept as late as I wanted
And never worried about how late I got to bed
or if I could get into my bed.

Before I was a Dog Parent,
I cleaned my house every day.
I never tripped over toys, stuffies, and chewies
or invited the neighbor's dog over to play.

Before I was a Dog Parent,
I didn't worry if my plants, cleansers, plastic bags,
toilet paper, soap or deodorant were poisonous or dangerous.

Before I was a Dog Parent,
I had never been peed on
Pooped on
Drooled on
Chewed on
Or pinched by puppy teeth.

Before I was a Dog Parent,
I had complete control of my thoughts,
My body and mind.
I slept all night without sharing the covers or pillow.

Before I was a Dog Parent,
I never looked into big, soulful eyes and cried.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces
when I couldn't stop a hurt.
I never knew something so furry and four-legged
could affect my heart so deeply.

Before I was a Dog Parent,
I had never held a sleeping puppy just because I couldn't put it down.
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night
every 10 minutes to make sure all was well.
I didn't know how warm it feels inside to feed a hungry puppy.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important.

Before I was a Dog Parent,
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache,
the wonder or the satisfaction of being
A Dog Parent

(author unknown)

I took some long-overdue new pictures of our large "furry kids" the weekend of July 4th, '06 (finally having gotten a camera I can get along with). Here are a few, and I'll sprinkle some more throughout this page.

Archie with Colby in the background, and Jesse

Heidi, and Rex with Jesse

To pick up my tail, I mean tale, of our "furballs", I had left off at the very sad point of our suddenly losing our darling adopted Pyr/Lab, Gus, in the wee small hours of a dark Sunday in January '02, less than 22 months after welcoming him home. We will always love him, and to some it may seem disloyal for us to be getting another dog right away. A new dog could never replace Gus in our hearts. But after being so used to having him inside with us, we NEEDED to have a large furball in close proximity. Rex contacted some rescue people I found online, and was told about a female Great Pyr, Heidi, who was owned by a young couple who couldn't keep her inside with their kids. Shortly after bringing her home, we realized her former owners had not taken the time to properly train her. She had a wild streak that manifested itself in jumping, running through our narrow hall, scratching at doors or walls, and shredding paper or whatever else she could find, 2 or 3 times a day. This behavior would be understandable or sometimes even cute for a 4-month-old pup, but this was a 4-year-old, 105 lb. dog who became obsessed with doing what she wanted, when she wanted. The first several weeks, she could not be left alone with me since I could not control her, so Rex had to take her along in the car when he went to work or the store. Her behavior was especially hard for me to deal with those first couple of weeks, since I had just lost a 3-month temp job with almost no warning three days before Gus died. So I was home alone the rest of January, missing him. I wanted so desperately for Heidi to be my new pal and heal the pain of losing Gus...but it sure wasn't turning out that way. I told Rex several times that we need to change the address on her microchip back to that of her former owners, so that if she ever ran off, it would be "Return to Sender". And I wasn't kidding!

Rex with Heidi, and Colby, on July 4th of '06

So the search for a cuddly indoor pal for me continued for several more weeks, till the Samoyed rescue lady E-mailed me about a male "Sammy" who was found running loose in the neighboring county, and Rex picked him up the next day, Feb. 26. (After Heidi, I decided I definitely would only consider a boy dog.) He brought Heidi to make sure they would get along. Thankfully, she has been nice to him since that first meeting, and strangely enough, he seems to think she is his sister. (In fact, he won't go for long walks with just me - he'll keep turning around and looking for Rex walking Heidi and if he doesn't see them, he'll do his business and come back! Not getting much exercise with this dog!) I named him Colby but I call him "bedroom boy", since he sometimes sleeps on the bedroom floor next to me (unlike Heidi, who would be ON the bed in a flash!). He is very well-behaved for the most part except for sometimes getting excessively barky, is very lovable, and at "only" 66 lbs. when we acquired him, he is my "mini dog" (I started calling him "mini me" - though I hate to admit that he is closer to 90 lbs. now, and we don't overfeed him!). When he had been found by the shelter, he was with another Samoyed assumed to be his brother, and the brother was adopted first. So I imagine he experienced some separation anxiety, since he couldn't stand to be left all alone even for a few minutes. As long as he was with one of us or with Heidi, he was fine. But lately, now that he realizes he is at his forever home, we can leave the other dogs outside and leave Colby inside.

Heidi, taken August 12, 2002

Heidi (standing) and Colby (August, 2002)

Heidi is very pretty (looks like a young, trim Tessa) and has never been a mean dog, just the most relentlessly stubborn and pesty dog we could have found. She shows her affection by pawing us repeatedly until she is petted and fussed over, but when you are online, crocheting, or reading, you need both hands (I'm learning to type or read with one hand when she wants attention - can't crochet with one hand though!). Her behavior improved somewhat when we acquired Colby; she needed the company when we were at work. But I'm glad to say her behavior has improved quite dramatically since we adopted our newest dog Archie (more on him below). He likes to wrestle with her, and as Rex has said, "What she needed was a pesty little brother to take her down a notch!" Now she still paws me, but she doesn't often claw at the walls, run through the hall or the other earlier "wild" behaviors. She will lay her head on my leg and just stare dreamily up at me. I have really bonded with her in the past couple of years, in a way that early on, I didn't know would be possible. (I suppose I have even forgiven her for spilling water on my former laptop in April '03 and frying the motherboard!)

Every dog has some cute quirk that is uniquely theirs, and Colby is no exception. He routinely does what we call "stretch n'plop". He will stretch and then instead of standing back upright like I thought all dogs did, while he is stretched out, he will usually just plop down into a laying position. Maybe other dogs do this, but Rex and I had never seen it with our other dogs, and it's really cute. Besides getting barky, the only other behavioral issue we had to watch is that he sometimes became fixated with our dearly departed guinea pig, Popeye. When we went to Popeye's cage to feed or pet him, Colby would often stare at him as if he was a meal we were fattening up for him. Colby even lunged at him a couple of times. Rex figured it's because, being a sled dog, it's his nature to forage for small animals in the wild. (He also tries to chase chipmunks and even birds when I walk him.) But in recent months, he didn't pay much attention to Popeye. He seemed to become used to Popeye being here and realized he was also our pet and not food! So when we adopt another guinea pig, we don't anticipate a problem. Speaking of food, Colby has what I consider a very bizarre favorite "food". He loves to eat paper towels. (Can a purebred dog be part goat?) If we don't watch him, he will sneak into the bathroom for a snack! The chemicals used in these products are not good for dogs, so we are careful not to leave a paper towel or napkin lying around. If he snatches one anyway, we grab it away and substitute a dog biscuit, though he apparently would rather eat the paper.

Colby on July 4, '06, and Archie the day before (he usually isn't allowed in the bedroom, but doesn't he look cute??

Colby, taken August 12, 2002

I felt, ever since Gus died, that we didn't get to spend nearly enough time with him, and hoped God would send us another dog similar to him. It happened on 7/26/03, when Rex drove to Vancouver, WA to pick up a young (19 months) male Great Pyrenees he found an online ad for, who was named "Earl" by the shelter. He has a Great Pyrenees "bear" head, but those first few months, his slender body, shorter wavy coat, and lovey (clingy) temperament were so much like Gus, it was spooky. Then something happened: he began to thrive and grow over the next several months. Once that happened, his head no longer looked too big for the rest of him. His head took on a squarish shape and his body became muscular and solid (Rex says he is built like a football player). So he now looks more like Farley minus the dark ears and has really turned into a beautiful dog. He likes to bark more so than the other dogs when he hears other dogs, including dogs on the tv! We couldn't agree on his new name till, after we had him a week, he started getting into Rex's chair by himself and sitting there like it was his chair - AND literally climbing into Rex's lap when he's in that chair; he literally thinks he's a lap dog (at 103 lbs. when he came to live with us, and now at closer to 140 lbs., he still sits in Rex's lap). Rex commented casually that maybe we should call him "Archie" because of his fixation for the chair (similar to Archie's chair in "All In The Family", an all-time favorite show of mine), and it was a name I'd already had in mind. He is a cutie with a great personality and has fit in well with the other dogs (Colby was initially jealous till he realized he's still "bedroom boy"; we try not to let Archie in the bedroom since he likes to chew shoes and my teddy bears (he did sneak in there a couple times, as illustrated by the pic above!).

This was the online picture that introduced us to Archie. As you saw above, he has really grown since this was taken.

Jesse, taken July '06

We went from two dogs in '92 to (briefly) five dogs as of April '04 (which went back to four dogs when Tessa died 3 months later). We hadn't been actively seeking a third dog just yet when Gus became available. When we lost him, we hadn't intended to add a fourth dog after Heidi, but it was necessary at the time due to the early problems with Heidi. Four has been a nice round number, and we figured on keeping it there, not planning to add another family member till Tessa went. But God had other plans. I came home from work that Friday night and was told by Rex that he had gone to the feed store earlier in the day to get dog food and saw an ad on their board for a free male Great Pyrenees to a good home. He added that he went to meet the doggie and that he was only 14 months old and very nice. His owners were seeking a new home for him only because they had decided to travel in their RV. I said, "What, another dog, NOW? And another boy?" But he knew I couldn't say no. So he drove a few miles down the road and picked up the boy. He was smallish (to us), only about Gus' size and with a similar soft, wavy coat. He was very sweet but shy; his former family apparently had forbidden him to come inside. So he wouldn't come in the first couple of weeks. He would stand on the second step and look longingly, but go no further no matter how we coaxed. He has since gotten over that!

He came with the name "Zeb", but we didn't care for that. I wanted something with a similar vowel sound so that he would easily get used to it. So I suggested "Jesse", and Rex instantly agreed. Jesse is a well-adjusted boy without the "baggage" Heidi and Archie came to us with. He has no wild streak or chewing or digging fixations. The only problem we have had is that we have needed to separate him from Archie at mealtime, as they will get into a food fight. They do get along otherwise, and wrestle playfully with each other like doggie brothers enjoy doing. We assume the food fights are because they are both young males and will pass. He gets along great with the other two dogs. He has beautiful topaz-color eyes, lighter than the dark brown eyes of the other dogs. His other physical characteristic that I love is that he has a very full, long tail that is held straight out and constantly wagging, like a propeller. (Our other dogs tend to curl their tails, but his is always waving full-length like a flag.) He prances like Gus did when he walks, and he has already started to nudge my arm with his nose when I am typing on my laptop, just like Gus did. So I do almost feel we have Gus back, even more so than when Archie was younger. I plan to have more pictures of both of them on this page soon, so please come back!

The long, beautiful, white fur of the Great Pyrenees needs to be brushed regularly (at least a couple of times a week) or it easily becomes matted. This became more of a problem with Farley and Tessa when they chose to live outside most of the time. Having come from a family with horses, Gus' coat was in beautiful condition and, since he was an "inside" dog, we were able to keep it that way. Heidi, Colby, Archie and Jesse likewise came to us with beautiful coats, although Colby is so furry that he gets matted easily, and he doesn't like to be brushed. Farley and Tessa didn't like to be brushed around their butts and tails where they get the most matted. Regular brushing also keeps them from shedding so profusely, although Pyrs and "Sammies" ARE going to shed a lot no matter what, especially in August! When you have these breeds, you get used to using tape to try to get all the white hair off your black slacks before you go out (and usually not succeeding!).

I could probably go on with other stories, like a mother would over her human children, but you get the idea. Dogs are SO much fun, love you so unconditionally and when you come home after a long day, treat you like you were the center of their universe (and suspiciously sniff Rex from one end to the other when he invariably encounters other dogs on his sales calls! He always assures them, "You know you're my favorite doggies!")

Our dogs don't seem so huge to me now since I am so used to them, but everyone else's dogs seem small to microscopic! I like all dogs, but my best friend's Pomeranian and Chihuahuas look like mice to me! I have to be careful not to step on them! At this point, I'm used to a BIG dog I can get my arms around! If I ever did get a small dog though, I think it would be a Pug. They are rightly called "a big dog in a small package"! I feel it is very important to have a pet you feel comfortable with; big dogs aren't for everyone! I feel everyone should read Dr. Tortora's book before buying a dog (or seeking a similar book if you prefer a cat or bird or whatever) to make sure you will have the right companion(s) for years to come!

P.S. I don't know whether my favorite aunt in Chicago, or my late uncle, would appreciate this, but I used their names for Farley and Tessa's middle names. Tessa is actually "Tessa Bernice" and Farley was "Farley Ralph". I gave Gus the middle name of "Karl", Rex's late dad's first name, since his dad's middle name was "Gustav". Heidi's middle name is Margaret and Colby's is Ernest. (Rex has suggested Heidi's should be "No!" and Colby's should be "Cheesehead".) I suppose Archie's will be "Earl", his name when we first met him, and I haven't thought of one for Jesse yet. I didn't use Farley and Tessa's full names often unless I was very annoyed with them. :-D But all our dogs behave (even Heidi....) most of the time. They usually do not follow any of the following Rules for Dogs - except those dealing with barking, sniffing, holes, and doors! Pyrs do like to bark just for the sake of barking, though we didn't have that problem with Gus. He didn't bark much; we think he either had a debarking operation or may have hurt his throat on the cable his former family chained him on. But the others often bark enough to make up for him!

I would like to end this salute to my furballs with a charming story written by Marty Becker, DVM, which explains the special relationship between true pet lovers and our fur babies. This story appears in the book, "Chicken Soup for the Dog & Cat Lover's Soul" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Marty Becker, D.V.M., and Carol Kline. Copyright 1999 Canfield and Hansen. All rights reserved.

15 Minutes of Fame

I dashed out an exit at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago and ran towards a waiting cab. I was greeted by a cab driver with a three-day-old beard, an old baseball cap and arms the size of tree trunks.

As he tossed my bags into the trunk, he spotted my luggage tags and said, "What kind of doctor are you?"

"A veterinarian," I said. Instantly, his grizzled face broke into a smile. This happens to veterinarians all the time, as people love to talk to us about their pets.

The doors slammed, he put the car into gear and hit me with this opening salvo, "My wife claims I love my toy poodle Missy more than I love her. Just once, she wants me to be as excited to see her as I am Missy. But doc, it ain't gonna happen. Ya see, when I get home from a long day in the cab, dead tired, I open the door and there are the two of them looking at me, Ma and Missy. Ma has a scowl on her face and is ready to tear into me. Missy, on the other hand, is shaking all over, she's that happy - her face is grinning so wide, she could eat a banana sideways. Now who do you think I'm going to run to?"

I nodded my head in agreement because I understood only too well what his point was. He loved his wife, but he simply wanted permission to savor his 15 minutes of fame. Everybody gets 15 minutes of fame once in their lifetime. We pet owners get our 15 minutes every time we come home - or even return from the next room.

A few days after I saw the cab driver in Chicago, I returned home. I was tired from my travels and looking forward to seeing my family. Pulling into the driveway, I peered through the windshield, straining to catch my first glimpse of my loved ones. My two children, Mikkel and Lex, are very close to good ol' dad but I didn't see their faces pressed against the window looking for me. Nor did my beloved wife, Teresa, come running in super slow motion across the yard, arms open wide ready to embrace me. But I didn't despair. I knew I was still wanted, a Hollywood heartthrob, hometown hero to my two dogs, Scooter, a wirehaired Fox Terrier and, Sirloin, a black Labrador retriever!

As soon as I exited the pickup, Sirloin and Scooter charged to meet me. Their love-filled eyes were dancing with excitement, and their tail turbo chargers whipped them into a delighted frenzy of fur.

Was this affection-connection routine, ho-hum for me? Was I cool, calm and collected? Heck no. I turned into a blithering idiot as I got out of my truck and rushed to meet the hairy-princess, Scooter, and Sirloin, the fur-king.

There I stood, all the false layers stripped away, masks removed and performances cancelled. It was my true self. Extra pounds, bad hair day, angry people, travel strains, no matter. Scooter and Sirloin came to the emotional rescue and allowed me to drink in the sheer love and joy of the moment. I was drunk with contentment. I was glad this took place in the privacy of my own home. What happened next might have spoiled my polished professional image. I immediately smiled, and raised my voice an octave or two, exclaiming, "Sirloin, yuz is daaaaddies boy, aren't ya?" And, "Scooter, have you been a good girl today? Yeah you have, you've been a goooood girl!!"

They responded by turning inside out with delight, pressing themselves against my legs and talking to me. I felt as if I could tap directly into their wellspring of positive, healing energy. Gee, it was great to be home!

I bounded up the steps to find the rest of the family, heart open, stress gone and spirits restored by my fifteen minutes of fame.

Please go to Furballs Page 1 to read about our dearly departed doggies.

Please go to Furballs Page 3 to meet our past and present guinea pigs.

My furballs and funstuff pages were created in the fanciful font "Minya Nouvelle" by Ray Larabie. If you don't have it, get it here for free; you'll love it!
Music MIDI from Jack's MIDI Music