By Jeanne AdamsAre you a Dog Person or a Cat Person?
If you've ever owned a dog - or been owned by one - even if you don't have one now, you know you're ONE OF THEM.
The Dog People.
The people who carry a spare leash in the car in case they come across the neighbor's dog, loose and running toward the street. You're the one who's
been known to have three or four manky, disgusting tennis balls rolling around in your van or car, as well as having spare "dog towels" in the trunk. You're the one who bought special protective covers for your car seats, or even better, a ramp so your older dog could still go for rides with you. Your car windows have that special doggy imprint...you may even have one of those bumper stickers that says I HEART My Bouvier de Flanders. (Yes, that is a dog) Or one that says, My Mutt Can Beat Up Your Purebred.You laughed uproariously at the Pedigree Super Bowl Commercial featuring the odd pets-that-were-not-dogs.
You laugh at Frazier's dog, Eddie.
You buy your dog presents for the holidays.
Yep. Dog Person. (You Cat People are a whoooollllleeee different kettle of fish, so to speak. I'm gonna talk about your proclivities on the 19th....)
Dogs are wonderful creatures, really. Loyal. Protective. Funny. Sympathetic. Pick an adjective.
Introduce two true Dog People and they'll be happy for hours telling
dog stories. It's even worse if they share a breed-specific scenario - i.e. put two Yorkie owners together and the "ooh, my Chester just..." stories go on, and on, and on. Dogs are great conversation starters. A single-guy friend of mine calls his dog, Hefty, a chick-magnet.(While this picture isn't Hefty, it looks like him. So, you can see, Hefty is just that, and has been from puppyhood.)
Hefty turns heads wherever he goes, that's for sure.
As a reader, I love it when there's a dog in the book. I so enjoyed hearing about Pirate, the talking Jack Russell in Angie Fox's Accidental Demon
Slayer. I also loved hearing about the motorcycle clubs for dogs and their owners.Our own Donna MacMeans is featured in an anthology called Tails of Love (June , 2009), with her story Lord Hairy. (The proceeds go to a no-kill animal shelter)
In Nora Robert's Dancing on Air, the hero's dog Lucy, the black lab, stole my heart, as did Moe, the mutt in Robert's Key trilogy.
As I've gotten email about my first book, Dark and Dangerous, one of the most-mentioned characters is Shadow, the German Shepherd.
I love talking about my own dogs. (No, you wouldn't have guessed, right?) I LOL about Facebook now having a Dogbook section so your dog can Friend other people's dogs. Isn't it amazing how much time we devote to playing, walking, grooming, checking, washing, vetting and finding a place for Rover to stay when we go to the beach? (The horrible rental people at the beach don't allow dogs, you know. Terrible thing. Sigh.) Even then, we call home to
be sure they're okay. For instance, my friend called me from Greece, just to check on her Golden Retriever.From Greece. Seriously.
Some people go so far as to have their dogs as best man or woman. My hubby and I didn't do that, but it did cross my mind. And even though we didn't have the dogs in the wedding, we DID have a picture taken with them. What do you think of it? :> Its one of my favorite photos ever.
Like I said, Dog People are....crazy.
They develop clubs and games and sports for their dogs. I'm not just talking confirmation showing, or obedience trials, or field trials or agility. All that's fun, but it's kind of like what many of the breeds do when they're working, or herding, or sporting. No, these clubs are for things that have nothing to do with actual "working" dogs, like retrievers or gun dogs.
Picture a scene with me. Summer on the lake, two guys sitting at sunset drinking a beer, their very wet, happy and tired dogs by their sides. I imagine it went like this:"You know, I don't like guns or hunting, but my dog sure likes the water." Takes a swig. "Like today. Couldn't keep him out'a the water."
"Yeah, mine too." Amiable silence. Frogs croak. "You know, Stud jumps off that dock until he's exhausted."
"Yeah, Fluffy does too. Hey how far do you think your dog jumps?"
"Really far. Farther than your dog."
"Like H*ll. We should measure it and see."
Enthusiastically, "Yeah, yeah, and Fluffy can beat Stud in Dock Diving."
And Dock Diving was born...
And Fly Ball.
And the Terrier Races.
And we won't even get into the any costume and sweaters contests, and not just at Halloween.
I've shown Dalmatians for years. I've had several champions and one Best in Show Winner. Now, with my new dog Diver, the Irish Water Spaniel, I'm going to try obedience, agility, and perhaps, Dock Diving. :>All in my spare time, that is...hahahahahahaha.
So, the question for the day is, Cat or Dog or Both? (Louisa, I already know your answer!)
What's your favorite romance with a dog in it?
What's your favorite "dog book" from childhood?
Hey, Dog People! You'll want to tune in tonight (Monday) and tomorrow night (Tuesday) if you live in the USA, for the world famous Westminster Kennel Club Dog show. It's on the USA Network. Four groups tonight, three groups and Best In Show tomorrow night. I'll be watching to see if any of my dog-show-pals win their Breed and go to group.
140 comments:
woof!
Oh congrats on the GR, Fedora!
Haha I'm a dog person too. Favorite kid book with a dog? Clifford! (Gah my computer is slow tonight.) Erm... romance with a dog? You know, I can't think of one off the top of my head. I think there was one by... Elaine Fox?
Hey Fedora! Go you! Way to snag the bird.
Limecello, *waving* always nice to meet another dog person. :> I adore Clifford, the Big Red Dog. My kids always like to read the books.
Fedora, you beat me by a nose! *g* Congratulations!
Jeanne, we are definite dog people. We talk for our dog. We buy her gifts. Alas, she's not good in the car, but she and the dh do regular neighborhood patrols, which she sees no reason to delay for weather. It's just sad, really, that humans have such sorry coats, they can't tolerate a little rain. Or sleet. Or snow.
Our first dog was a golden retriever we adopted from an ad in the paper. Seven years old and already housebroken, she quickly became the Queen of the House. When the boy was born, she appointed herself supervisor. If he relocated (or was moved by us), she moved with him, always lying between him and the rest of the room.
When she died, the house seemed unbearably empty, so we adopted another older golden from a rescue group. He was sort of like an Edwardian gentleman--very dignified, gave himself duties he stuck to faithfully. However, he had lived with his mother his whole life and was lonely, so we adopted a companion from the same group, another "senior" dog.
The companion died of cancer, alas, so we adopted the current boss, a yellow lab, from a teacher who didn't feel she could give the dog enough time.
And then our old fellow died, but Herself seems to like being an only dog, so it's just us and her for now. She hangs with the boy on the couch (I know, a terrible habit, but she came to us with it, and I got better things to do than ride herd on that), supervises the kitchen and dinner table, and periodically does bed checks.
Only a dog person would run on like this. :-/
Heehee, Nancy! You have the Dog Person Gene. There you go. :> Welcome to the club.
We got the IWS because the old male Dal, Remy, was lonely. He'd never been an only dog. My very old Best in Show girl, also a Dal, crossed the Rainbow Bridge about 3 years ago. It took me till now to be able to get another dog, she was one of the special ones, you know? Anyway, I believe the big guy, Remy, missed her as much as I did. How else can you explain that he, the ruler of the roost, and an intact male, accepted an interloper, four year old male, also unneutered? They get along great. Go figure.
Oh, they too, feel great pity for our lack of a servicable, weather resistant coat. We're a bunch of fur-less two-leggers, to be pitied, I guess, for our inability to tolerate the weather.
Oh--totally forgot your questions.
Best romance with a dog--A Firefighter in the Family by Trish Milburn ties with Dark and Dangerous by Jeanne Adams.
I know there were others I liked, but I can't remember them now. Untouched by Anna Campbell also had a great dog.
Best kid book with a dog--I avoided them since the dogs tended to meet mournful fates, usually saving the kids. But we "read" the Carl books to the boy, who loved them (until he found out the baby was a girl, which seemed to impair his identification with the stories). So I pick Carl. Or, as the boy called them, the "CarlBaby" books.
He would probably pay me serious money not to tell his girlfriend that. Bwahahahaha!
I didn't know you had shown dogs. I did know you had and loved them, but I missed that detail. Love the wedding picture!
Limecello, we read Clifford, too. I think the boy liked the creative element in the Carl books--though after we did one, he wanted it the same thereafter!
My computer is always slow, here on Planet Dial-Up. *sigh*
Nancy, that's so funny that your boy liked Carl until he discovered the baby was a girl! :> I love the Carl books too, but my guys never took to them. Rotties are fabulous dogs, if you get a good one and obviously Carl is a good one!
Showing was great fun, and a wonderful way to hang with other people who shared your obsession with dogs. :>
Jeanne wrote: It took me till now to be able to get another dog, she was one of the special ones, you know?
Yeah, I know. It's just tough when they go, and I still sometimes miss that first golden, Hannah, who relocated with me during the day when I was here alone, just as she later did for the boy (no matter who else was here).
My father used to "cook" leftovers for our family dogs, seasoning with bacon grease (y'all remember when keeping a can on the stove was, you know, standard? Eeeew!--which is probably why the last one, an English bulldog, had to have her pancreas removed.
My mother used to say she was going to die and be reincarnated as a Northcott dog. *g*
Nancy said: My mother used to say she was going to die and be reincarnated as a Northcott dog. *g*
Ha! Well, ours get treated pretty darn well. One is on the twin bed in the office here with me as I write - that's the Dal. The other is on the bed with my DH. Both are snoring. Heehee.
I'm off to bed for now, dear! Talk to you in the morning...
Hmm... I think I'm more a dog person than a cat one, although we've never had the joy of furry pets! One of my favorite kid books with dogs--Beverly Cleary's Ribsy stories. We've enjoyed Clifford, too, and now the kids are beginning to appreciate Snoopy :) As for a romance with a dog, Debra Salonen has a couple Superromances I enjoyed--Love, By George was a good one... I'm sure there are more, but my brain's not especially cooperative right now ;)
I like cats and dogs the same. I love those toilet paper commercials that feature golden retriever and yellow lab puppies. My favorite dog books from childhood were those Spot books. Limecello mentioned Elaine Fox. I love her books. My favorites include "Guys and Dogs" and "Beware of Doug."
Congrats on the GR, Fedora.
Hey Jeanne, loved that post! Really? You're a dog lover? I'd NEVER have guessed.LOL I love dogs. Respect cats and probably would think about having one if half the family weren't allergic, but dogs are really the best friends anyone could have. We had 2 Great Dane crosses, now sadly only one. Love big dogs. Don't yours look gorgeous in that photo? My SIL's Dalmatian was an attendant at the wedding. Sort of like a best man. But then Dalmations do look rather bridal, don't they?
Favourite dog book as a child--I can't even remember what it's called, but I do remember it was from the dog's POV and these robbers trained the dog not to bark when they came to the house. They then sold him as a guard dog and broke into the house. Only, he was so glad to see them, he started barking, 'hey, there! Hi, fellas!' and they got caught. I thought that was hilarious. There's also the infamous Baluchistan hound in Heyer's Frederica.
Fedora, it's a while since you had him for the day. How doggone lucky are you?
I like cats and dogs - I think they both have qualities and it depends on the particular animal as well. They're all individuals, aren't they? I grew up with pets so it still seems odd to me that I don't have a pet at the moment. It's just not practical so I tend to make a huge fuss of my friends' pets when I see them instead! Cheaper too!
Hey, isn't there a wonderful dog called Wolfram in a book by that Campbell Woman? You know, the one who can never pass up a promo opportunity!
Congrats Fedora enjoy your day with him
Jeanne I love both and grew up with both but I have had a lot more dogs than cats we have 3 dogs at the moment and I wouldn't be without any of them one big woolly mut (I think he has some rotty in him) named Blocker and another mut that is named Brandy and she is nothing to look at really but has such a lovely personality and then there is my Mums dog Tootsie who is a pedigree Miniture Fox Terrier and she rules the roost here she is getting old but is still really agile.
I can't think of a kids dog book that I loved but Untouched by Anna Campbell has a wonderful dog named Wolfram who I love and yes Jeanne I loved Shadow in Dark and Dangerous as well and Jacquie D'Alessandro's Book Confessions At Midnight has a couple af great dogs in it.
I love my dogs
Have Fun
Helen
Jeanne
I forgot to say how much I loved the wedding photo and the other pics so beautiful
Have Fun
Helen
Great blog, Jeanne! Should I be concerned that I match pretty much every dog person attribute that you listed? Nah, I didn't think so either. :)
It's dogs all the way for me...which explains why I'm sitting here wide awake at 4am while my younger one happily snoozes at my side. She had a nightmare, you see, and needed reassuring. Her whimpers invaded my sleep but it was the tongue in the ear that brought me wide awake. After a trip to the back yard, some "catch" in the living room and a session of tummy rubs she's now sound asleep in my bed. Older dog is, happily, still asleep. I can hear her snores coming from her ortho mattress (which is better than mine) in the bedroom. I'll be joining them shortly.
Ten minutes later...
Still here. Older dog awoke with a snort and decided she needed to go investigate why younger dog needed to go to the back yard. LOL! It's a typical full moon night at PJ's house.
I really need to get some sleep but I'll be back later to answer your questions, Jeanne and talk more about my dogs. I do love to talk about my dogs. :)
I can see why that wedding photo would be your favorite. It's beautiful!
It's a gorgeous full moon out there, isn't it PJ? My very senior terrier mix got me out of bed at 5:00 AM to go see it. She got her in and gave her her medications. She's sixteen now and still climbs the stairs to wake only me.
I love both cats and dogs, though. I grew up with German Shepards and Persian cats (and a couple brothers and sisters as well).
Loved the Clifford series and the little Golden Book, "Are You My Mother?" Everyone has already mentioned some wonderful romances so I'd mentione another if I could remember the title, darn it. It was the story of a snarky woman who was reincarnated as a Corgi with a mission to find a mate for the nice heroine she'd been extremely cruel to in her human days. Does anyone remember it? Very cute and very funny.
Thanks for mentioning TAILS OF LOVE, Jeanne. All the stories feature a pet. Mine, another Victorian, features the famed "big, black dog" in England.
Should be a fun read.
I love both dogs and cats. I have both too.
And I love Bouviers! Actually I love big dogs all around. We have a 125lb Bernese Mountain dog (he's ginormous for his breed, they usually don't go much over 100lbs) His name is Baby Bear!
Favourite romance with a dog... hmmm.... Didn't Jo Bev's Rothgar family have some wolfhounds?
As for childhood stories... where the red fern grows... little ann and old dan wasn't it? I read that book so many times as a kid.
Fedora, congrats on the GR. Keep him away from the dog!
Jeanne, I am totally a cat person. There are dogs I've owned in my life and dogs I've loved, but I love my kitty (well, kitties, 'cause we've had a bunch). My current cat, Chaps, is a revolutionary. I can't say much about the grass roots revolution he is fomenting....but change she is a' coming.
In Switzerland, people took their dogs into the cafes and the pooches sat under the tables or beside chairs very politely while their people ate.
In Raleigh, there was a restaurant that allowed dogs to visit. The owner was a dog lover and his dog came to work with him every day. The city of Raleigh just shut him down (because someone mentioned the dogs in a review of the restaurant), citing health concerns. Several people are filing a suit to explore the legalities of banning dogs other than service animals. It's a whole thing!
Hey, Jeanne!
You know, I've been both a cat & a dog person over the years. After a bad experience with a rescue dog, I find that I'm actually neither anymore. I'm more of a toddler person. You need an extra diaper, a wipe, a pair of pants, a blanket, a stroller, a sling or a copy of Goodnight Moon? I've probably got one in the bag here, hang on.
My husband would LOVE a dog again someday. I've told him I'm open to it, on the following conditions:
1) The dog must be thirty pounds or less, as I'm through asserting my alpha-ness over a dog I only out-weigh by twenty pounds.
2) The dog must shed minimally, as I already blow at vacuuming.
3) Our youngest must be at least 5 years of age.
4) The dog must be of a bullet-proof temperment that will allow it to tolerate the "love" a pair of 5 & 8 year olds will dole out.
5) My husband will be responsible for any & all care the dog requires before 8 a.m.
I have a feeling this is buying me significant time. But just for future reference, anybody have a dog in mind that might fit these criteria?
I'm definitely a dog person, though I haven't had one since I had to leave my Dozer behind when I left my ex. He'd been on that farm since he was six wks old and I couldn't move him to town with me. I still miss him like crazy.
I've had both dogs and cats during my life, and I've loved them all. But there's just something about a dog.
Good Morning, Fedora! Hey, I loved the Ribsy stories. I hadn't thought about those in years. :>
How's the bird doing for you today?
Now see, Terrio, I agree with you. I've had cats and dogs, and both together. There's just something about a dog. :>
Morning Jane! Oh, Elaine Fox! Yes. I've heard a lot about Beware of Doug. I've been meaning to pick that one, or at least one of hers, up. *making a note* If nothing else to say thank you for the fab website she maintains where she posts deals and agent and editor info. Thanks, Elaine!
I was a cat person my whole life, mainly because my mom doesn't like ANY animals but she finally caved and let us get a cat when I was in high school. And then, in the middle of a horrific Chicago winter, we found an abandoned cat and took it in.
We quickly found out that my supposedly female cat, Anastasia, was male, when the cat we took in got hugely pregnant (we changed "her" name to Anya). Chelsea had four kittens (in my bed, while I was in it) and while we were still stunned with that, she got pregnant again and had seven more.
The day before she delivered, my sisters brought home a tiny kitten someone had dumped at their school. They asked me to "sneak it in" with Chelsea's other kittens once they were born.
At this point, we hadn't found homes for the first four kittens yet, and then we suddenly had 8 more. Do the math: 2 to start with, plus four, plus eight. And then three of the first four got pregnant (at barely six months old, as I recall -- our knowledge of cat gestatation, etc., clearly sucked).
A couple of the new batch of kittens (the kittens' kittens) were stillborn, but some lived. The ones whose kittens had died were constantly stealing kittens from the others and hiding them in cabinets and weird places like that.
I started dating my husband, who didn't like cats then, at the peak of the cat invasion. The deaf cat would sit on the TV and swat at the pictures. You couldn't walk without stepping on a kitten.
There were five kids in my family, and my parents put us to work as a cat distribution service. I think half the cats in Elk Grove Village, IL are descendants of those cats. In the end, we were only allowed to keep two of them: Anya, who lived to be 21, and one of his progeny. The rest found new homes.
My husband grew to like cats, and in the course of our marriage we've had about eight cats, two rabbits and two gerbils. And one beloved dog. We finally got a dog when I started working from home when the kids were young. She died in 2007, and I blogged about it here:
http://the-garden-muse.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html
I still like cats, but Maggie turned me into a dog person. My blog says it all.
I'm not as much of a pet person in general as I once was -- I know, I know, this is something I'm not supposed to admit. I just have a limited amount of attention to give to other living creatures, I think, and my kids seem to suck it all out of me. ;-)
But as creatures go, I love dogs. I'd say we have the absolute perfect dog (yellow lab, sweet as pie, not an aggressive bone in his body, perfectly happy to lie on your feet or go for a walk, doesn't bark, doesn't need to obsessively chase things or retrieve, great with kids and babies, very mellow) except that he sheds more than any creature should, and I have no time to groom this hairy beast every day (or week, for that matter!).
Susan, when you find the perfect dog, let me know, okay? ;-) Except add lazy, doesn't bark, and doesn't need to be walked except on weekends to your list.
And don't tell me about labradoodles -- those dogs are HYPER!! :-)
Morning - or is it afternoon in Oz? - Christine! I adore Great Danes, but I so wish they lived longer. *pout* Glad you still have one of your stalwart companions.
Wow, I haven't read Heyer in so long. I only remember the hound because of the unusual name. Wonder where she got that from? :> I'll have to go look it up...
Aren't Dals elegant? All clean lines and happy attitude. Heehee. I'm not biased or anything. Nope. Not me.
Anna, you rascal punner you!
As to that lovely Wolfram. I was chagrined to realize I hadn't mentioned him in the post. When Nancy said something about the wee beastie (Ha!) I thought, "How silly of me to forget HIM!"
Grins.
I think you're right about them having distinct personalities. I adore dogs, but there are some temperments I wouldn't put up with - chow chows, chihuahuas - mostly because I have kids. There are also types that I can't abide (the droolers), but most cats fall into that as well. It's hard to know with cats if they'll be good with kids, but if they are, they're priceless.
Yeah, Helen! Another in the Dog Person club! :>
As I mentioned, I was blushing to realize I'd not mentioned Wolfram. How could I diss my Bandita that way? *blush*
Sounds like you have a houseful of pups yourself, Helen, just like I do. :> I love the sweet temperment ones as much as the fiesty ones, don't you?
Well, you know, PJ, I probably could have guessed about you. I mean c'mon, look at your ICON! Heehee. Hello, pup! What're your dogs names? Had to LOL about getting up with them. And that tongue in the ear thing...*shiver* what IS it about that? Must be some kind of submissive, I love you, give me food deal. Gives me the tickle-willies.
My two are here in the office with me as I write as well. We'll go for a walk a bit later.
Drat it! I dissed Trish too! She's got a dog in HER book as well. Where's my brain? Brain? Oh, braiiiin? Where are you hiiiiiding?
Woof back at you, Fedora! Watch the GR. He tends to lead dogs astray and it doesn't end until somebody calls the police!
I loved this blog, my dear Duchesse and partner in crime! And that wedding photo with the Dalmations is gorgeous.
I have been a animal person since the beginning of time. Dogs, however, hold a very special place in my heart.
I loved the Shiloh books and the book Sounder as a child. Then again, I liked See Spot Run. Oh and the Jack London books!
And I adored Wolfram in Untouched! And I love Cass and Devil in Flowers from the Storm. And Trish has a terrific dog in A Firefighter in the Family. if you get the chance read Peggy Webb's Elvis and the Dearly Departed - a bassett hound who thinks he's Elvis is the star of that book! Too funny!
Wow, Donna, your dog IS very senior! My old girl Dal made it past 15, which is superb for a Dally, but not much past, alas.
Isn't it funny about the full moon? My two are less restless about it, but the old girl used to be extra bouncy, extra hyper around the full.
I can't wait to read Lord Hairy's tale in print, having read a bit of it in practice, so to speak. Grins. Ya'll are gonna LOVE this story. If you loved Mrs. Brimley...
Donna, I hope someone remembers the reincarnated-as-a-Corgi tale. Sounds hysterical.
Mornin' Tiffany! Oooh, I adore Berners! What a great breed. If you've not seen these guys, go look them up at www.akc.org Click on Breeds and scroll down to Bernese Mountain Dogs. Gor-geous!
I'm with you on the big dog thing. I like 'em big and thumpable. Ha! I enjoy the smaller breeds too, but for my rough and tumble household, the big dogs are best. (Aren't Bouv's great dogs too?)
Morning Caren! I love that your cat is a revolutionary. Have you seen some of the LOLCatz and thier revolutionary garb? Very funny. My Siameses were plotters and used serious guerrilla tactics. They would tag-team the dogs, waiting out of sight on either side of the end of the long hallway until an unsuspecting pup would come down.
Pounce! Yipe! Chase ensues, wait, that's a cat! Chase ensues the other way.
A large time was usually had by all.
Jane, I forgot to say that I adore those toilet paper commercials with the lab pups too. Cute pups sell almost as well as sex does!
Susan, as usual, you had me laughing from the get-go. :> Since we had dogs before the kids, during the kids, etc. we've got 'em. We waited on introducing a second dog - even though Rem was lonely - until our youngest was over 3. If you've got a dog in the house, you can start younger than if you've never had one, but it's still a challenge. One of the reasons I went for adopting an older dog - Diver's 4 - is that I couldn't abide the thought of house breaking Quinn AND a puppy at the same time. Although at this rate, the pup would have been faster than Q. (That's a WHOLE 'nother topic!)
As to your criteria, the shedding thing's the problem. Like people, they shed all the time. I love my hardwood floors because I totally blow at vaccuming too. Swiffer RULES, I tell ya'! Rules!
The IWS is much better than the Dal though. Dal hair has a barb on it. It sticks to EVERYTHING. If you're wearing white, they shed the black hair. If you're wearing black, they shed the white hair. Its a conspiracy to be sure you remember them, every moment of every day.
The IWS just makes hypo-allergenic tumbleweeds, easily Swiffered up.
OMGosh, Becke! That's amazing about the cats. I had that boy-or-girl-cat? scenario with my first cat too. Kittens ensued. Spaying followed as quickly as possible! Ha! I think my mother was afraid of exactly the scenario you mentioned and having grown up on a farm, she DID understand how quickly they can populate. :>
BTW, it only takes that one special dog to turn you into a Dog Person. Heck the same can be said for cats. I have a friend who really disliked cats, but another friend passed away and she took the cat in until a home could be found...five years later the cat rules the roost. I don't think she'd have another cat, but Oscar isn't exactly your normal cat...
I love books with dogs in them and a dog on the cover of a romance will have me picking up the book faster than a cover with a gorgeous male chest. That's how I discovered Kristan Higgins.
A lot of great dogs in romance have already been mentioned. Three more favorites that came immediately to mind are Fred in Jennifer Crusie's Anyone But You, Gordon in SEP's Ain't She Sweet and Jethro in Mary Kay Andrews' Savannah Blues.
Okay, Kirsten, I won't mention Labradoodles. :> How about Bichon Frises? They shed less, are about 15-20 pounds...Not so hyper.
Then again, sounds like your Lab is perfect for now, despite the shedding. I've never had a "coated" breed before now. Dals are wash-n-go dogs, unlike the long curly coat on the IWS. Still not sure how I feel about it. Ha!
I do agree about the kids taking a ton of your attention and leaving little for the dog. Thankfully now, my boys are into the dogs and help keep them happy. :>
Jeanne!!! What a funny, fun, and delightful post. Talking about people's pets is really a universal thing, isn't it?
Congrats on the rooster Fedora. It's been a while hasn't it? Sigh, I think I'm going to try for it soon, but I have a hard time beating some of you guys!
Hmmm, definitely I'm a cat person. I love to hear all the stories about dogs and find them adoringly cute, but I just like cats. Dunno why.
My friend Kelly has five dogs. Her "girls" are beautiful and well-trained and so much fun.
Whenever I need a tiny dog fix, I visit her. Aurora howls like she's in labor when I arrive. I pretend that means she likes me.
Morning Louisa! And how is the Duchess of Hotdayum this fine morning? Heehee.
I loved all the Jack London books too. Nancy and I have waxed rhapsodic about all the OBrien books about Silver Chief, Dog of the North. :> I'll have to look the Shiloh books up. They sound familiar, but I can't place it.
Now there you go, PJ. You answered my question. I KNEW SEP had a dog in one of her books I'd read but I couldnt't remember which book. I didn't feel like prowling through her booklist on Amazon hoping to remember. Ain't she Sweet. Yep. That's it.
Hey Jo! I had to LOL about Aurora howling. It probably DOES mean she likes you, and wants you to howl right back with her. Ha!
I really like cats too - I'm a Both Cats and Dogs type. My hubby and I both had cats and dogs before the kids. When the last cat passed on, we didn't get another because we had the boys. :> I'm bettign there'll be a cat in the house again before too many years pass. I enjoy them too much for there not to be.
My childhood dog was a terrier-chihuahua mix who was Queen of the neighborhood and a first rate watchdog. She really ruled the canine roost too. If any of the neighborhood dogs displeased her she let them know about it. Most of them outweighed her by more than 80 pounds (a Lab, German Shepherd, Collie and St. Bernard) but it wasn't at all unusual to see them running for home, tail tucked under, with my little upstart nipping at their heels. :)
She lived for 16 years.
It took me nine years to convince my late dh that we needed a dog. He had never had a pet and was slow to come around to the idea. Actually, I think the only reason he finally agreed was to shut me up. lol! When he finally agreed, with the proviso that it would be my dog and I would be responsible for all care, I started scanning pet ads in the paper and on New Year's Day 1985 went to check out a litter of pups that were being offered for free. They were a Yellow Lab/Travelin' Man mix and absolutely adorable. It was a huge litter and they climbed all over me as I sat on the floor of the family's home. All but one pup who watched closely but refused to come out from under the couch. I couldn't make up my mind so the owner took the pups into the kitchen to feed them while I thought it over. That's when the lone dissenter finally came out from under the couch, walked straight into my lap, put his paws on my shoulder and licked my ear. I'm sure you can guess which one went home with me. :) Bandit grew to be 95 pounds of solid muscle with a soft, gooey center. He was goofy, loving, always up for a good time and bonded to my dh tighter than super glue. He enriched our lives for 14 years and when the time came for him to cross the Rainbow Bridge, nobody cried harder than the dh.
Jeanne - No surprise that I'm a huge advocate of spaying and neutering pets!
As to the big dog/little dog debate, I'm a big dog person. My dog was a Lab/Shepherd mix with some Chow, too (black dots on her tongue, apparently a Chow trait).
I'd love another dog, but not while I'm traveling so much. When I do, though, it will probably be a mutt with Lab and Shepherd mixed in again.
By the way, we finally got a dog because my son wanted one so badly. He'd pick up brochures about the dogs at the vet whenever we took the cats in. I woke up one morning with leaflets about basset hounds covering my face -- not too subtle!
So Maggie was supposed to be my son's dog, but she ended up being mine. No one would ride in my car because it was so full of dog fur (the seats acted like velcro) and dog slobber.
Awwww, PJ, now I'm all verklempt. Those are the special ones, arent't they? Had to LOL about solid muscle w/ a gooey center. Snork. Yep. Big dog, big heart.
Jeanne wrote: One is on the twin bed in the office here with me as I write - that's the Dal. The other is on the bed with my DH. Both are snoring.
Herself thinks she needs to be on the bed. She claims the spot of whichever one of us isn't watching TV there and then won't budge except for MilkBones. And if you don't get back to claim your spot while she's chewing, the whole thing starts again! *g*
Becke, that black tongue on the Chow is a breed trait and quite an odd sight! Sounds like your dog was a winner. Chows can be very sweet, and they can also be biters. For years we had a hard time getting judges for Chows, so many had been bitten trying to check teeth. When judges started making the handlers show teeth, there were a lot of, "May I be excused from teh ring sir?" situations. The handlers didn't want to be anywhere near those teeth either! Ha!
I love lab/shepherd crosses too. Something about that genetic mix makes a might fine dog. :>
Fedora, I loved Henry and Ribsy! Of course, I loved most Beverly Cleary. Ramona was a favorite of the boy's until he became more gender conscious. I think she did the kinds of things he admired but knew he'd be in deep trouble if he tried.
Awww, Maggie the basset hound. :> Good one. I had an acquaintance who showed Bassetts. He had five. They slept around the bed. According to him, once he got in at night, he couldnt' get out for fear of stepping on a dog, or part of a dog. They would just ring the bed. Ha!
Nancy said: And if you don't get back to claim your spot while she's chewing, the whole thing starts again! *g*
Hahaha! My old girl was this way. When I was single, she was a pillow princess. When my DH came along, she hated to give up that spot (so to speak). If she got there first, she would stubbornly refuse to budge unless food was involved.
Jane, I wish I weren't allergic to cats, but I can't have one near my face. They're such pretty creatures. Many of our friends are cat people.
Our first golden used to lie on the bed with us. When we watched the old Thin Man movies and Asta barked, she would pick up her head and stare at the TV. We swore she was watching Asta.
But I'm not sure dogs can see TV. Anyone know?
A basset hound is what my son wanted. What he got was what we all picked from the shelter: Maggie.
I think he still wants a basset hound. (Should that be bassett?)
Christine, I remember the "Baluchistan hound." Wasn't he what brought Fredericka and Alverstoke together? Was he actually a mutt?
Anna C., is Wolfram the dog in Untouched? I did love that dog, y'know.
Hey there Banditas!!!!
I'm definitely a dog person. Even though we have no pets, I grew up with dogs. My childhood was littered with all kinds of dogs and I have some wonderful memories of them.
I absolutely love when dogs appear in books. My favorite so far are the two dogs in Jacquie D's latest release SEDUCED AT MIDNIGHT. Caesar and Princess Buttercup added flavor to the book.
Helen, we had a Tootsie when I was growing up--a fox terrier/chihuahua mix who had, miraculously, missed the excitable tendencies. She was brown and white, which is how she got her name.
Sometimes I'd wake up and find her curled on the foot of my bed. Unlike a full-sized golden, she could lie there and still leave plenty of room for me. :-)
PJ, when we had two dogs, we always knew one of them going out meant the other one would want to. It seemed to be some sort of pack "thing." And sometimes they staggered it, taking turns being first. This was not pleasant at 4 a.m.
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, who wrote Shiloh and its sequels, came here for the library festival one year. When she autographed those books, she had a stamp made from the paw of Shiloh, who's now long gone, that she inked and pressed below her signature. It was way cool. The dh teaches Shiloh sometimes in his children's lit class.
The next dog to come into our lives was Smokey (the one in my avatar). The dh had a severe stroke five months after we moved to South Carolina. Bandit was 11 at the time and dh was afraid they would both die and leave me alone so he convinced me we should go to the county shelter and adopt a puppy. Yep, this was the same man it had taken me nine years to convince to get Bandit. There were oodles of adorable puppies at the shelter but I fell in love with a little chocolate lab, about 10 wks old, with bald patches all over her body. She had been found by a highway, half-starved and full of ticks, had already been at the shelter three weeks and was two days away from being euthanized. She joined our family that day.
Smokey is the smartest and most intuitive dog I've ever owned. I've lost track of the number of people over the years who have commented on the fact that she's scary smart and actually seems to understand what you're saying. I'm not talking about specific commands but actual conversation. It's spooky. I'll give you an example. The other night I was on the couch reading a book when she came to me and gave me the sound/look that means she wants something. I said, "Do you have to go out?" No response. "Are you hungry?" Still staring at me. "Do you want the ball?" Still no response. "Do you want your toy?" Ahhh, now I get a response but the toy is in the kitchen (I saw it earlier) and she's perfectly able to go get it herself so I said, "It's in the kitchen. Go get it." She turned around, ran into the kitchen, came back with her toy in her mouth and happily curled up on her bed with the stuffed toy under her head. This has happened numerous times over the years and it doesn't matter what room the item is in (kitchen, dining room, bedroom, etc.). She always understands and goes straight to the room I name.
Hey Banditas!
Nothing like a mention of a dog to lure me out of lurkdom. I'm a tremendous dog person. Should say Tremendous Dog Person. Ha ha. Had them all my life, couldn't bear not to have one, and am currently owned and loved by the world's sweetest Jack Russell. I'd have a whole house filled with Jacks if only I could. As is, I make sure my wee darling has the best ever life and do what I can for rescue organizations.
I once actively rescued strays from foreign lands - too long a story for here - but now constant work demands mean I am desk-bound mostly. The same reason I've been so silent of late. Sigh, groan...
But I have heard great things about Tails of Love and can't wait to read Donna's story! I just know it will be sooo good! I'm hoping that anthology does very, very well. It's such a great cause.
Anyway, the above-mentioned Jack is sound asleep, snoring behind me on my chair, so I'd best get some work done before he decides it's walk time.
Obviously, he is king around here. So I work when the little guy lets me, which is now.
Great blog, Jeanne.
Smokey has also trained the two dogs who have joined the family since we got her. She teaches them the house rules and yard boundaries.
She watched over the dh when he became bedridden and stayed with him in his last hours, crawling into bed and placing her paw over his hand to give comfort even though he was unconscious. Now she watches over me. She's almost 13 and has severe arthritis but still brings in the paper and mail every day just as she has since the first week she came to live with us.
Jeanne, love the post.
And as you know I have Rocky-the-wonder-dog laying right beside my chair as I read your post. He's very happy this morning, DH took him for his morning walk and the report was he got to chase after two rabbits and three squirrels. His work today is done and our home is safe from small furry animals!
He doesn't get doggy sweaters, (the guy weighs 80#'s!), but he does get to go swimming from mid May til about early October. Had to train him not to get in the pool with his collar on, or he'd stay wet all the time!!
Guess that makes me a dog person. My daughter and SIL watch the dog show every year. Alas, I have to work so I'll probably miss it tonight.
Also, love the wedding pic!!
Fedora, congrats on grabbing that rooster. WTG!
I like both cats and dogs but we don't own any. My son is alergic to cats. We haven't had a dog since I have gotten married but I had dogs when I was growing up. My husband wants a dog but I know I would be the one to have to take care of it and I live in town so it would have to stay in the house. I don't want to have one in the house. Childhood book would have to be The Pokey Little Puppy. Romance books would have to be The Accidental Demon Slayer. It was a great read.
book - 'anyone but you', by jennifer crusie. i adored that overweight, morose basset hound.
movie - 'best in show'. made me laugh till my stomach hurt. and i'm not even much of a dog person!
Although my name is catslady, I love both - in fact I probably love all animals. As far as cats and dogs - it's like apples and oranges. You can like them both but you just can't compare them. I had a cat as a child and then then after we married we had a dog for 12 years (our baby), then we got another dog and I had my first child a year later, then a second child and then my first cat. I currenlty have 6 cats. I guess I've had all combinations except having kids only lol.
Our Aussie Skye is an old lady now, but when she was younger we were on the road nearly every weekend so that she could compete in Frisbee. She still love to play; she just misses more catches and can't jump quite as high as she once could.
We keep looking at Aussie puppies. I don't think there is a smarter, sweeter, more loyal breed. But I think our next dog needs to be one that doesn't need quite as much training and exercise as Aussies do and preferably doesn't shed as much. Skye's not the only one who's slowing down. :)
As for the fictional dogs, Heyer has not only Lufra, but also Ulysses, the mutt that Arabella rescues from his tormentors. Other memorable dogs in romance include all Jenny Crusie's dogs (Fred in Anyone But You particularly), Pugsley in Teresa Medeiros's A Whisper of Roses, Zeke in Jayne Ann Krentz's Family Man, and Newton in Julia Quinn's The Viscount Who Loved Me. I also love Romeo, the match-making dog in Teresa Hill's Someone to watch Over Me.
All of Enid Blyton's children's books feature dogs, don't they? And who can forget Nana, the Newfoundland in Peter Pan or Nero, the St. Bernard in Laura Ingalls Wilder's The First Four Years? Does anybody else remember Lad a Dog, a wonderfully courageous, adventurous collie who predated Lassie. My mother read it to us when we were children, and we loved it, although I remember weeping buckets at the end.
PJ, you should tell the story about your dog who saved your life.
I'm so not a dog person! I'll take a couple of cats over a dog any day. I love their curiosity and independence.
I say that, but honestly, most of the cats I've owned are "dog" cats. I'm greeted at my door when I come home. My cat is usually sleeping on my office window sill during the day while I'm in there. She really likes to be in the same room as everyone else.
As far as dog books, I don't remember any specifically except the Clifford books I read to my sons.
Definitely a cat person. It's not that I don't like dogs - we have some very good friends with dogs - I just adore cats.
As most people know, the cats we adopt are black or tuxedo as they're the ones most likely to be abused or abandoned and rarely get adopted. Pics on my website!
There are so many books with dogs and cats in them. There is an Intirgue or SIM series that had a crazy Chihuahua in it - can't remember the titles or authors, but it was very entertaining.
Best series with a cat is definitely Carole Nelson Douglas' Midnight Louie series (starting with Catnap and Pussyfoot). Aside from being a really nice lady and having a very cool pair of shoes - the books are awesome. And Louie is a fantastic character. They're mysteries.
My favourite cat book from childhood was Gobbolino the Witch's Cat by Ursula Moray Williams.
Jeanne, great post. LOVE the wedding pic with your damnations... .er...ahem...dalmations. *grin* K9 SAR people tend to make up wonky names for dogs--Malinois are melonheads, for instance, cuz we joke that they're hard-headed and their brains are full of mush. Not true of course--they're very bright, but they're also rather stubborn and tenacious.
My favorite dogs are GSDs and rotties. I'm sure I've told the story here in the lair...at one point we had 13 dogs. We had a show quality male and female rottie and while I was figuring out (duh, Cassondra) that the female had irregular heats, we ended up with two litters in the span of four years. We made people sign freakin' contracts before they could buy one of our pups. "You will not encourage aggression. You WILL obedience train the dog, formally if necessary, to ensure the dog is a good citizen..." blah blah blah.
Yeah, we were anal about our babies. When the big male, Bismark, contracted parvo and died in three days (he had been vaccinated but sometimes it happens anyway), we mourned. Oh, LORD did we ever mourn. Even now, twelve years later, at night when a train passes in the distance and the dogs in the kennel start to howl, I usually wake up, and I'll cry a little. There's no bass in our choir. Only dog people will get that.
That said, I'm sitting here typing with a cat on my lap. I think it's like Louisa said, you can't really compare them. Both cats and dogs can be wonderful companions, and if you're sensitive to a cat's whims, you come to recognize that they have the same range of emotions and caring as dogs. That said, I think cats are better for people who don't have as much time, because they can be a little more independent and don't have as many hour-to-hour needs. Dogs and cats--they're just---different.
Hmmm...this was gonna be a brief comment. Yeah...right.
I think I'm both. I need my dogs and I need my cats.
Didn't any of y'all read Lassie? I loved Lassie.
I think Where The Red Fern Grows should be banned. ;0) Saddest. Movie. Evah. Scarred me for life. I think that's what made me a romance writer. I don't ever want to be that sad again.
Loved the dog in Ain't She Sweet by SEP. Jennie Crusie does great dogs--especially in her early books. Loved Wolfram in Untouched and Shadow in Dark & Dangerous.
There are films I won't watch now and books I won't read because I've had advanced warning that the dog dies at the end. Nope. Nada. Not goin' there. Not.
Hey, I'm loving the dog stories!
I forgot to mention one of my favorite kids' books about dogs. Do any of you know Harry the Very Dirty Dog? I think that's what it's called. Anyway, my nieces and nephews loved that - especially the bit when Harry was no longer a white dog with black spots but a BLACK DOG WITH WHITE SPOTS! For some reason, we always shouted that bit and the kids would crack up.
And Jeanne, meant to say I LOVE the wedding picture!
Nancy, Wolfram is indeed the dog in Untouched. He got more fanmail than the hero ;-)
Ah, the Baluchistan hound! How could I forget. And M, I loved the dog in Anyone but You. Actually JC does fantastic dogs.
PJ, we had a collie like Lassie who I swear spoke English. My CP laughs because whenever the ideal male we've known in real life comes up as a conversation - my DOG gets a mention. But seriously, he was smart, he had beautiful manners, he would have died for me. And he was a VERY handsome dog. An absolute hero even if he had four legs! ;-)
I love dogs and have written them into my WIPs.
Definitely, Wolfram from AC's UNTOUCHED is one of my faves. Another one is Newton from JQ's THE VISCOUNT WHO LOVED ME. I laughed so hard when Newton shook off his wetness on Anthony.
Nancy
My Tootsie is white with a few big brown spots on her and she is sitting under my chair while I am on the computer where I go she goes.
Over the years I have often shared my bed with a dog or two and sometimes the smaller they are the more room they take up LOL.
Pets dogs or cats are so special I couldn't imagine life without them they are such good listeners and they love giving cuddles when needed they seem to sense when I need brightening up.
Have Fun
Helen
Helen they DO sense it don't they?
That's one thing about dogs. When you're sad, they'll do ANYTHING to cheer you up. It's like their greatest wish is to make you feel better when you're down.
Elyssa said:
I love dogs and have written them into my WIPs.
How cool, Elyssa!
You know, I never noticed it about my own work, but one of my critique partners told me one day, "do you know that at every turning point in your books, an animal shows up?"
No, I didn't know. I just stood there and stared at her. Funny what happens when you're writing and you don't even know it....
Treethyme, our golden who died of cancer was a Maggie also. I used to want a basset hound. When I lived alone, I figured that deep, bugling bark would be a good deterrent, but I figured I couldn't really keep a dog in my apartment, especially when I was working unpredictable hours.
Aside from Tootsie, the fox terrier/chihuahua mix, we had English bulldogs when I was growing up. The dh had goldens. When we were looking for a dog, I'd just quit work, and we had no money for a purebred. We considered the shelter but feared we would not be able to come home with a dog and didn't have room for several. Which is how we ended up adopting out of the paper, a "free to good home" older golden.
PJ, that's so sweet about your dogs and your dh. They really do become parts of the family, don't they?
Susan, our lab sheds more than the two goldens together did. We're amazed she isn't bald. If low shedding is your priority, you do not want a lab.
And lab hair is, for whatever reason, much harder to brush off of clothing than golden retriever hair.
Donna, our first golden lived to be 16, which is very old for a big dog. We're convinced she hung on as long as she did because she loved the boy so much. When he was sick, he liked to curl up against her side and go to sleep, and she never once tried to move away from him.
Anna C., I'd forgotten Harry and the Very Dirty Dog. The boy loved that book, a gift from a family friend named Harry. *g*
Cassondra wrote: There are films I won't watch now and books I won't read because I've had advanced warning that the dog dies at the end. Nope. Nada. Not goin' there. Not.
Me neither, Cassondra. Nuh-uh, no way, no how.
My dear, dear Aussie friends: Many hugs to you all. Hope you and your dear ones are safe!!!
My favorite dog book from my childhood was the picture book of dogs my parents bought for me when I was able to get around using the walker. Every morning, they'd put me in there while they tried to snooze and I'd zoom off to this room had my books. One by one the books would go splat on the floor, till I reached the dog book. A huge squeal of laughter would follow, then chuckles and babbling. My parents had ten more minutes of peace.
Helen, your Tootsie sounds great! I envy you a computer-compatible dog. Our golden guy, Hudson, would come in here, bump his big head up under my wrist, and transfer my hand from the house to his head. The lab does the same thing--looking extremely self-righteous, I might add!
The lab also tends to take her half in the middle of the bed, which is why we're so eager to buy her off.
Keira, I love the story about the books! When the boy was little, he'd climb into one of our laps with his book of choice, lift one thumb, and jam the book between the thumb and the forefinger. He couldn't talk, but he communicated quite well on that point.
He liked to zoom around in his little wheelie seat, too. And yank books off shelves. Ever wonder what the appeal of that is?
Okay, spotted a typo! :-(
Helen, the dog transferred my hand from the MOUSE to his head. Duh! Sorry I didn't catch that earlier.
I'm a dog person. Mine are very much a part of our family and although we try to set the rules, they pretty much tell us what to do. :)
Favorite book with a dog in it? The Accidental Demon Slayer. I love Priate.
And thank you for my book Donna. I received it on Saturday and it's now at the top of my TBR pile.
Okay, I feel sill asking, but I have to. The first person who comments gets the bird? Is there a pic of the bird?
Hi Everyone! Sorry to be in absentia! If I would have known I'd be gone THIS long, I'd have posted to say, hey, I'm gonna be away...
My DH had to have a minor outpatient procedure today. Supposedly. Yeah, you guessed it. We got to the hospital. Did the paperwork. And sat. And sat. Surgeon came in 4 times to say, "Oh it won't be long now."
Last time I saw the surgeon there was steam coming out of his ears and he was shooting lances of fire out his nose. I think someone's gonna get an anatomical rearrangement, you know? They booked someone else into his O.R. on top of his schedule and before he could get my DH in there...no room.
I'm p.o.'d because my DH and I both missed a day of work, paid for parking and babysitting, and we'll have to do it all over again before the week's out! Yikes!
Anyway, enough kvetching from me...off to read all the fun posts!
Hi Buffie! I'm making a note of Jackie D's Seduced At Midnight. Dogs with names like that would make it worth reading right there!
Nancy, that pack thing, of going out in pairs to pee, makes me insane. Esp. at 4 a.m. Ha! However, with the old dog I know I better take him when he whines. The consequences aren't pretty.
:>
I'm really going to have to check the Shiloh books out. Esp. if your DH teaches them in children's Lit.
Wow, PJ. That's cool about Smokey. Have to say the Dally boy, Rem, isn't that smart. Think Jethro from Beverly Hillbillies, all heart and strength and loyalty, even knows his guzintas, but not much on thinkin'
Diver, the IWS, is a whooooolllee different breed in the smarts dept. I can do that "its in the..." thing and the longer he's with us, the more he gets it.
Scary smart.
Hi Crianlarich! Great to see you here today. Always wonderful to have another Tremendous Dog Person around. Hahaha.
Jack Russells are such fun and funny dogs. They're very...busy. :> Glad yours is there to keep you company as you create.
Ugh on the deadlines, but hey, the results are great for us readers!
Oh, PJ, I just read your second post about Smokey and her devotion to your DH. How fabulous. And how smart of her to be the teacher for the "new guys" that come to live with you. :>
Hi Suz! What breed is Rocky-the-wonder-dog? I know you've told me, but you know, the brain thing...where did it go now??
*Looking around* Must have left it at the hospital!
Hi Virginia! I loved Pokey Puppy too, and re-enjoyed it, reading it to my kids.
I SO have to get Accidental Demon Slayer...
Oh Jeanne, so sorry to hear about the delay in hubby's surgery.
As to Rocky-the-wonder-dog's breed. Well, he's a mut. Mostly boxer from his dad. Has the long lean body, the short brown hair with the white patch in front. And then there's black lab from his mama. Long face, floppy ears, long tail, loves the water.
Hi M! Great to see you! I have to say the movie Best in Show was hysterical. It's not entirely accurate, more of a characiture, but SO funny.
Hi Catslady! I've not had "kids only" either! Ha! Then again, I've never had 6 cats either. I have had 8 Dals at one time, along with the Siameses, but that (thankfully!) wasn't for long. That was three adults and five Dal pups along with the cats. Whew!
Hi Janga! Aussies are fab dogs, aren't they? :> I have a friend who has two and they work each other out, but they are busy, busy, busy. :>
I loved all the Lad books too, Janga. Albert Payson Terhune - Lad, Lady, and a bunch of pup-books as well. Just fab.
PJ? What's the story on the life-saving-hero-dog???
Christie, both my Siameses were like that - Cat-dogs. Not aloof at all. They followed me from room to room, hung out in my lap or on my computer monitor (back in the days when I had a desktop and it was warm there...)
Vicki, our rooster is a man of many guises. Most recently: http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb65/KeiraSoleore/GuestBlogging/alandale-roosterwithguitar.gif
He spends the day with the first poster and is hotly fought over. I've never quite worked out why - he's a bundle of trouble when he does visit. He flirts with all the neighbourhood chicks and steals chocolate. Oh, and I think he's got an alcohol problem!
Anna, I have so enjoyed the pictures of your tuxedo cats. I had a black cat growing up. I adored that cat!
You said: My favourite cat book from childhood was Gobbolino the Witch's Cat by Ursula Moray Williams.
I KNOW I have read that one. I'm going to have to go see if I can get it on Amazon. Grins.
I loooove dogs. (I love cats too, btw *g*) I have 2 dogs, my baby being a 2 yo rottie who is the sweetest dollbaby in the world. I have 4 cats, too.
Methinks I'm a little bit over the top in the pet department. My dogs holiday stockings have their names on them, they travel with us everywhere (the dogs, not the stockings) and my parents call them their grand-dogs *g*
Hmm, fave dog story. Get Bunny Love by Kathleen Long - that dog is hilarious. OMG I died laughing.
Cassondra said: There are films I won't watch now and books I won't read because I've had advanced warning that the dog dies at the end. Nope. Nada. Not goin' there. Not.
Yep. Same here. Red Fern, Old Yeller. Dances with Wolves. Heart stompers. *shudder*
Rotties are SUCH teddy bears, aren't they, Cassondra? Love them. Show people have those same kinds of names for dog breeds too. Damnations, of course. Bernese Mtn Dogs are Berners, as you probably saw me shorten it earlier. Corgoids. English Pointers are pointers, but German Shorthaird pointers are Shorthairs. You get the picture. There are a few unflattering ones...Chows get called Chomps, that sort of thing.
Hi Elyssa! I have dogs or cats in virtually every mss I've ever written. Even if its just peripheral, there's a pet in there somewhere.
Helen said: Over the years I have often shared my bed with a dog or two and sometimes the smaller they are the more room they take up LOL.
That is so funny Helen! My friend had a wee Maltese. Less than 8 lbs. She could spread out and nearly kick you out of the bed. It was the funniest thing.
Sorry about the delayed surgery, Jeanne. That stinks!
Nancy, I was wondering about that House/Mouse thing. Ha! My Dal does that all the time. He'll put his head on my leg and sigh. If that doesn't work, he'll start bobbing his head up and down.
Oh, and Nancy, be glad you didn't leave that "Deep bugling bark" in your apartment alone. Good Lord those dogs can moan and that baying bark can be heard for miles...which is the point in the field, of course, but in an apartment..kiss of death.
As to picking up a dog at the pound there would be no such thing. It would be DOGS. Plural. I can't go there. If I sent the boys, it would be just as bad or worse. We'd have 6 or 7 dogs, I know it. And a cat or two to boot. Ha!
Six months after Bandit died we went to the shelter and adopted a black lab puppy. She was high energy, loved everyone she met and lived every day to the fullest. She and Smokey became best friends and were inseparable. Two months after my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given 4-6 months to live (this was 3 years after my dh died), I took the dogs in for their annual check-up and the Vet found signs of Lymphoma. The biopsy was positive. I couldn't bear to lose her at the same time I was losing my dad so we started chemo. She breezed through treatment and stayed in remission for 7 months before it came back. We tried chemo again but less than 5 weeks into it the cancer broke through and she was gone in less than a week. She was only 6 years old. It was devastating. Smokey and I were complete wrecks and I couldn't imagine getting another dog, especially while Smokey was still alive and while my heart was still broken from our loss.
to be continued...
Well, Suz, I guess I haven't totally lost my ever-lovin' mind. I was SURE Rocky the Wonder Dog was a boxer mix and I was right. Ha! So there, doubtful brain cells!
Hi Tawny! Hey, how'd the dogs do in the snow over the holidays? Did they go with you on that trip?
Vicki, I see that Anna answered your question about the bird. He's a wily one. Quite the man-about-town. Heehee. If you go back in the archives, I think there are some pictures of him maurading at the 2008 RWA National.
Awww, man, PJ, that stinks! It's hard to lose them anytime, but esp. hard when they're young and otherwise healthy. Like Cassondra's Rottie going with Parvo, it's just a huge hole in your heart and your house.
Like I said, it's taken me three years to get a new dog after losing Talia. The "old girl" was my constant companion through so many losses and travails. She kept me sane through the loss of my Mama to cancer and my marriage to infidelity and my finances to the cheating spouse. Helen, as you said, she was the one to give the cuddles when I had none to give.
It's a killer. It's also why the Diver-dog's a boy, not a girl. I thought I'd get a female - after all, I'm totally outnumbered here. Five to one, male to female. As the lone Queen Bee, I was thinking a little estrogen in the house (besides mine) might be good.
Couldn't do it. Three years and I couldn't do it. So, a male it was. Diver's easing me back into a two-dog-routine.
Thanks too, to everyone about the wedding pic. I love that pic. YOu can see "the old girl" Talia in that picture. She was around 8 when that pic was taken, and the black and white dog is Remy, who's now 12.
Tali was liver and white spotted, which is a mahogany colored spot as opposed to the black.
More than a year later, my family of the heart made the decision to move from our neighborhood to Charlotte for a new job. I went with them one weekend to look for an apartment for the dad to lease while mom and kids stayed here until the end of school. It was a cold, windy day and we'd been out looking for hours. The kids were tired and cranky and started picking at each other when we stopped at a leasing office in an outdoor shopping area. Even though it was freezing out I told them to bundle up, that we were going for a walk while their parents looked at apartments. As we walked along the shopping area we noticed a lot of people in the grassy central area and I suggested we go investigate. A rescue group was holding an adoption fair and had huge fenced in areas set up that you could walk into and play with the dogs. The girls immediately latched onto a little puppy who was shivering in the corner of one of the areas and by the time their parents found us they had her under their coats and looked like they weren't going to let go. Their mom kept explaining that they already had two dogs and weren't getting another. I certainly wasn't going home with a new puppy! By this time, the older daughter (who was 11 at the time) had tears streaming down her face because she was sure nobody was going to adopt the puppy and she'd get sick from the cold and die. (She's a bit of a drama queen) lol! More to distract her than anything else, I told her to let me hold the puppy. Well, that little pup snuggled her nose into my neck and let out a sigh like she's just found home. I still resisted. About 10 minutes later with two sets of human puppy dog eyes and one set of canine eyes beseeching me, I held her in front of me and asked if she wanted to go home with me. She stuck out her tongue, licked me from chin to forehead and made the 2 1/2 hour trip home with us that day. All the way home I rehearsed how I was ever going to explain this to Smokey. Turns out I didn't need to worry. Smokey welcomed her right in like she'd been waiting for her.
...still not over. Aren't you sorry you asked, Jeanne?
PJ said: Smokey welcomed her right in like she'd been waiting for her.
...still not over. Aren't you sorry you asked, Jeanne?
Nope. Not sorry at all. :> All I have to say is Goooooooo Smokey! Grins. Hey, when it's right...
I was working three days a week at a friend's small office supply and gift shop. So small that I was the only employee there on the days I worked. Cassy wasn't old enough to be left alone all day so I took her to the store with me. The customers loved her, the granddaughter of a local businessman especially. Every Monday and Wednesday she'd go to her grandpa's store after school and one of his employees would bring her over to the store where I worked so she could play with Cassy. About a month after Cassy adopted me, I was in the store on a Wednesday afternoon when they came in to play with her. It was a slow day and nobody had been in the store for a couple hours. While I was talking to them I suddenly got very severe abdominal cramps and excused myself to go to the bathroom. When I regained consciousness I was being held upright by the adult and the young girl was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher. Then I passed out again. By the time the ambulance got me to the hospital my BP was 74/47 and both my BP and body temp were dropping rapidly. The ER doc later told me that I was going down for the count and if those customers hadn't been in the store to call 911 I most likely would not have survived. And those customers would not have been there if I had not come home from Charlotte with a sweet little puppy that I had had absolutely no intention of adopting.
(((PJ))) I remember this when it happened to you. I have goosebumps all over my body as I relive all that happened to you that day. Providence and Cassy that was the magic manna. And I'll be grateful to Cassy forever for being the reason you're here.
Hey, Jeanne! What a fun post. I'm a dog person but since there are three of us in my family who are allergic to both cat and dog dander, we're currently pet-less.
I loved the dog in Nora Roberts' last trilogy, Blood Brothers *g*
My favorite dog as a kid was Snoopy! He's still my favorite ;-)
Nancy asked, "He liked to zoom around in his little wheelie seat, too. And yank books off shelves. Ever wonder what the appeal of that is?"
I have never quite figured it out. Even now, that my daughter's much older, choosing a book doesn't mean running a finger down her bookshelf. It's always a mess on the floor for a choice to be made. What happened to spine design? Ain't that as cool as the front cover???
Wowweee, PJ! Amazing. Yeah, Casey! Whew!
Gotta take a mo' here...where would we be w/o PJ!?!
Thanks Casey! (And thanks too to the wonderful customers with opposable thumbs who dialed 911!)
Grins.
Hi Beth! Another Dog Person, Yeah!
Oddly enough my DH used to be allergic to dogs, but my Dals never bothered him. The IWS hasn't either, so either love overcomes allergies, or they're not so dander-y. :>
Keira said: What happened to spine design? Ain't that as cool as the front cover???
Evidently not. Both my sons love books and they end up in heaps and stacks on the floor, never by ones and twos or just one out of the bookcase. Ohhhhh no. Dozens.
I should be grateful and I am, but...Oy with the reshelving!
Hey everyone! Westminster's starting! Yeah!
PJ, you have NINE lives!!!! And thank goodness for that. What a wonderful story!
Meow....
Yes. I confess. I'll take a feline any day.
Now that said, all my friends have various canines who instantly get attached to me...wheather I'm ready for them or not! My friend Tonyia has one of those larger terriors...can't remember but like Eddie only on major steorids.
Anyway, Buckarudi loves to climb in my lap except if he stood on his hind legs he'd be as tall as me!
Then her other friend has a 13 oz. Yorkie who can skitter up and put her paws on my chest while I've got my head turned and I never feel it.
As to books with dogs? Second Moe in the Key trilogy. But Kristan Higgins always has dogs featured in her books and her latest "Too Good to Be True" has a hilarious Westie named Angus.
{Is that drool on my jeans???}
Grins, JT. I'll bet Buckarudi is an Airedale. :> I'd've pegged you as a cat gal. Cuddly, warm, purring, loyal, but independent.
Yep.
Airedale!!! That's it!!!!
He's got the most intelligent eyes I've ever seen though...and a penchant for snatching kleenex out of purses!
Wow, Duchesse! This WAS a great topic. The Duchess of Hotdayum is doing tolerably, thank you for asking.
PJ, your Cassy is proof that God sends angels in the guise of dogs to watch over us. What other creature loves us the way God does - unconditionally, without judgments or reservations, devotedly - even when we don't deserve it. I have a cross-stitch hanging in my kitchen that says :
May I always strive to be the person my dog thinks I am.
Tawny, I LOVED Get Bunny Love! The dog steals the entire book. What fun!
I have a half bassett/ half beagle (I call him a 'bagle') that a vet tech friend of mine brought back from New Orleans after Katrina. He was found in a house in the 9th ward along with the body of his elderly owner. He'd been there for weeks and was a skeleton when they pulled him out. The funny thing is he could have left, but he stayed right there with his owner. He really was pitiful when I got him, but he weighs 60 plus pounds now! And he's on a diet. After the first year I took him in for a checkup. We found a rash on his tummy and I was afraid it was something from the nasty water after Katrina. My vet cracked up. She said "Honey, that's road rash. This dog's tummy is dragging the ground. He needs a diet!" I'm afraid I overfed him a bit when he first joined the family. But I do love to hear him bay. It is such a lonesome, musical sound.
Jeanne, I think Heyer made the Baluchistan hound up, which was the running joke of the book. It was a mongrel dog but they convinced people it was a pedigree breed.
Ah, a kleenex snatcher. My friend's Golden will stay with us and if you put your napkin in your lap, he'll sneak under the table and slip it off so he can devour it.
Awww, Louisa, I love you bagle dog. :>
I think you're right on the baluchistan hound, Christine. I seem to remember it as a running gag.
I remember that story when you first told it, PJ. Chills still happen every time I read it.
But, does anyone else think PJ's dog stories would make for a great book a la Marley & Me? I certainly do!
Jeanne,
I'm a dog person all the way...
Don't get me wrong, I love all animals...but my dog is my honey. He's a sweet yet spoiled (hubby's guilty of that - NOT ME) yorkie-poo.
His name is Zeus and he's the king of this castle...
He can't eat any fat, so this has been order by the Vet - baked chicken for his meals...I do this twice a week and I make him fresh doggy cookies with his favorite red peppers, Broccoli and apples.
Zeus gets a real bone every night...yap, he's spoiled but I love him.
Dogs give a special kind of love...it's honest and true....and they always show their love for you when they hug up on you throughout the day.
You see it in their eyes when they watch you as you work and they wait for you to play. Or when they fall asleep in your lap. It's the way they're always there...for you.
Hawk
BTW - I loved all the dog pictures!!!
;-D
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