Huan's Hounds: The Dog Lover's Guild

[Cock-Robin]

Yep, hope your dog gets better, Iris! And I just love Labs. I've never met one that wasn't friendly to a fault.

[Tarina]

Way to go Shawncy!!

So the dog and cat have learned to work in concert. Liri sits on the counter and fishes cooked sausages out of the pan. She then drops them on the floor where Tuon gladly eats them.

[Morwenna]

Gotta love animals!

We have a cat who will steal pork products if you're not careful; I've mentioned him several times over in Cat Lovers.

This reminds me of a friend of mine, who has often told the tale of her family, some years back, when there were two dogs and two cats in the family. There was a turkey or something sitting on the dining room table cooling before being cut, and for some reason none of the people were in the room for a few moments--until they heard a Crash! and came running, to find the meat upside down on the floor, and in each corner of the room there was one animal, sitting facing into its corner!

[Morwenna]

I was perusing the sticky and I see there was another dog-lover's guild a few years ago, but this one has a classier name! Any chance they can be combined?

[Cock-Robin]

Well, wouldn't know how to do it. Sorry.

[rwhen]

At this point, I am not sure that it matters, unless enough people would want it to be done. All that needs to happen is to ask any moderator.

We had a dog named sergeant who would regularly eat cigars or ciggie butts and he always smelled like he smoked. How odd is that?

[Morwenna]

Dogs are such omnivores; you have to be careful.

Our first Sheltie would eat anything we had at the table. One day when he was still young we gave him some broccoli. He ate it all right, but bits at a time looking askance at us with every bite! But after that first time, he took broccoli in stride.

Before him there was our old spaniel, who loved peas. She would beg for peas!

[Sunsilver]

In 2004, my husband suffered a stroke. The hospital let me bring him home for Valentine's day.

We had a very special dinner together. For dessert, I served Hagen Daz ice cream, with strawberries cut into heart shapes. Roger dearly loved our dog, Tasha, and Tasha loved ice cream, so naturally, Roger shared his dessert with her, including the strawberries. Now, if any of you have ever used Fowler's Extract, you will know that strawberries are a laxitive, especially when given to animals that don't normally eat fruit!

Fast forward to the next evening...Roger was back in the hospital. Tasha woke me at 2 in the morning, with that bark that meant "I have to go out.,..RIGHT NOW!"

It was freezing cold in the downstairs hallway, and blowing a near-blizzard outside. Tasha's leash was in a hopeless tangle on the hall floor, and I was close to shiviering, and couldn't bear the thought of taking the time to untangle it.

"She'll not want to stay out very long with the weather the way it is," I thought. "It should be safe to turn her out without a tie-out."

I opened the door, and she raced outside. I then retired to the living room couch, and coccooned myself in a blanket.

A couple of minutes later, I got up and went to the door. No Tasha. I called. No sign of her. Uh-oh.

Twice more I went to the door. On the third try, I knew we were both in trouble....deep, deep trouble. On the wings of the howling wind I detected a very strong whiff of skunk.

The next time I went to the door, one very sorry-looking German Shepherd was cowering on the step, trying vainly to wipe the burning stink off her face and out of her eyes. I left her there for a few minutes, while I thought out a game plan.

It was 2 am. There were no drugstores open nearby where I could buy hydrogen peroxide, and, even if I could find some, I was in no shape to destink her. I had been feeling really sorry for myself after I'd dropped Roger off at the hospital, and had drowned my sorrows in booze. As a result, I had a really bad headache.

I finally decided to put her in the downstairs guest bathroom, and retreated to my bedroom. Her howls of protest were muted by the house walls, so hopefully the neighbours wouldn't be disturbed, and, without my hearing aids in, I couldn't hear her, either.

The next day, I used Dr. Paul Krebaum's skunk remedy on her, and one treatement was enough to turn a badly skunked dog into one that was fit for human company again.

Here's the Skunk Remedy Home Page. Don't bother with tomato juice, it doesn't work, but this stuff REALLY does!

[IrisBrandybuck]

Our little Lhasa Apso, Gidget, would eat Jalapeno peppers. Straight up. The Dalmation, Misty, would eat anything but Jalapenos!

And we had a couple of horses who would eat cigarettes.

[PatriotBlade]

LOL!

Our old Lab would eat tomatoes off the vine from our garden. Dad tried to feed him a pepper once, hoping to cure him of the habbit and after one sniff, wouldn't touch it. Guess he wasn't THAT stupid, eventhough though he would've walked out in front of a speeding car. Dumb dog. I miss him. May he rest in peace.

[heliona]

My mum's family had an Irish Setter called Danny that would eat anything. My granny had put a frozen chicken the oven to defrost (the oven wasn't on, the chicken was just put in there to stop the cats and dog getting at it - in theory!) and the family went out for a while. They returned to find a slightly guilty-looking dog and an empty oven. Danny had eaten the whole chicken, including the plastic bag it was in! The only thing he had left was the little metal fastening that had held the bag shut!

[IrisBrandybuck]

That sounds like Misty, our dalmation!

[CHURLYgirl]

Here is my hound. Lazy, lover of chicken and very sweet. dang, I cant get the image to post. sorry
I'll look for instructions on including photos

[IrisBrandybuck]

The picture is only going to work if it is saved on a web service, like photobucket.

[rowanberry]

I got the photo to show up by copy-pasting the URL. There just seems to be an extra space that disables the link.

Nice doggy!

[Morwenna]

It's that time of year again. Next week is the Westminster Kennel Club show, which here in the US will be broadcast Monday and Tuesday evenings. I look forward to it every year! My friends who know how gaga I am over cats are surprised to hear of my enthusiasm for dog shows, but what many of them don't realize is that I used to go to shows with my father and our Shelties when I was in high school.

[IrisBrandybuck]

Well, now, that is interesting. Were you ever invited to Westminster?

[Morwenna]

Who, us? Not a chance!! We never bred a champion, though we came pretty close (our first male got two reserve wins; he always lost out because his tail was just a bit too short). Daddy only did this for about half a decade; after his second heart attack (he was already retired when he started) his doctor told him to give it up. So all our dogs went to the breeder from whom we had gotten the first one. Then a few years later, when the breeder's husband died and her granddaughter/helper went off to college, she cut way back, and gave us back our original dog!! He lived out his old age with us as if he had never been away. He even still remembered his Obedience commands, though his execution had gotten sloppy over the years.

[PatriotBlade]

Morwenna, I LOVE shelties! Didn't used to, until I lived with one for a while. Now I can't wait till I have my own place. I intend to have a sheltie and a chihuahua.

[Morwenna]

At this point in my life I don't want the responsibility of a dog. We live in an apartment, and some weekends we go away. Daily walking in all weather and at any hour isn't my cup of tea, and the cost of weekend kennelings would make our occasional trips unfeasable.

Cats are simpler.

Doesn't mean I don't melt when I pass a Sheltie on the street! I do like dogs, honest. I just don't love them the way I do cats.

[Morwenna]

Reminder: tonight's the first half of the show, and I believe Herding is on tonight!

[Morwenna]

Bumping to remind everyone that the show is on Tonight and Tomorrow!! I gather one can watch the breed judging online, but the groups and BiS will be on TV. (This is the US, in case some readers get confused...) I'll be camped in front of the tube for sure!

[IrisBrandybuck]

Always fun to see which breed wins!

I posted on here ages ago about our dog, Shawnacey, and I'll update...we finally allowed her to pass away last summer. The cancer eventually took it's toll and we knew she wasn't happy anymore.

About a month later we got Sheena. She's...crazy. We went to look at another dog...this woman fosters dogs for a local rescue community...and we were told she had a Shih Tzu. It weren't no Shih Tzu, but some sort of terrier mix and wasn't really interested in us and was hard for my mom (who has severe arthritis) to control on a leash.

Meanwhile, this funny little long-haired black dog marched right over to me and hopped into my lap. The woman said she was about six years old and had been tied out on a chain for most of her life. She took to all of us and a couple days later we brought her home.

Shortly after my wedding my parents then adopted Riley, who is a Bishon Frise. He's cute and friendly and very yappy...which is annoying...but he makes up for it in cuteness.

[Calma]

Waaaaait for it....



Waaaaait for it....





Waaaaait for it....











Yep, dp...

[Calma]

As most know, I am not the biggest dog lover.
But I just love watching the Westminster Dog show.
Ticks me off that it's not live on the West Coast though.

My favorite breeds are the Norwich Terrier and the Papillon.

Totally can NOT stand the Poodle...

May the best dog win.

[Morwenna]

Hubby doesn't like poodles either, but it's not the dog he objects to, it's the haircut. He thinks those continental clips most of them have make one look like a "$3 hooker." I say it's not the dog's fault; he says no self-respecting dog would allow it!

I sit there engrossed (though sometimes I doze off in spite of myself; 3 hours at a stretch is a LONG time for me to sit and stare at a screen!) and judge the dogs as they go through their paces. I never got over going to shows with my dad. And of course now there are different interpretations of the standards than there were when I was a teenager, and I don't always like what I see! The printed standards haven't changed; I have many different years' worth of AKC handbooks to prove it. But I HATE what they've done to German Shepherds over the years--just look at that horrible sloping back!--and I'm definitely disappointed that Shelties' eyes are looking smaller; I think it wrecks their unique expression. And American cocker spaniels are nothing like they used to be! If I wanted a cocker spaniel nowadays, I'd want an English. At least they still have decent proportions!

The hounds, on the other hand, I think are looking better.

6 more breeds this year! Goody!! Remember how Looong it used to take for a breed to get full AKC recognition? Somebody got wise!

[Calma]

I think the reason I don't like the Poodle
Is because they win...
It's like.."Oh, we have to have a Poodle in the winner's bracket."
Just because they're a Poodle.
Drives me nuts...


I remember jumping about the room when the Papillon won a few years back.

Cool that you were into Dog Shows when you were younger, Morwenna.

[Morwenna]

OK, then, Poodles are like the old New York Yankees! (old=before Steinbrenner)

(says the Boston Red Sox fan, and the ooooold Brooklyn Dodgers fan)

[Calma]

Yeah, and like the new Yankees, too.

I know they don't judge them on that
Just seems like it is all.

[rowanberry]

I hear you on the breeding gone totally over the top, Morwenna.

If I'd get myself a dog now, I'd opt for some "damn if I know" mutt.