Read Women discussion

A thread for all the pet owners in the group to come talk about their 4 legged and other nonhuman companions.

I am managed by two 50 lb golden retrievers who likely are mixes but we decline to acknowledge that reality. Both rescues. Roughly the same age, we think, 5. Phoebe joined us when she was 12-16 weeks old so she's only known plenty and comfort and love. She likes it that way. Cody joined us when he was approximately 3. Is storm-anxious, and storm is sometimes defined broadly to include a light sprinkling of rain in the surrounding area. He was an owner-surrender because... wait for it ... he was 'too clingy.' Humans. Gah.

😂 “managed by” … aw they sound so lovely

Jen wrote: "😂 “managed by” … aw they sound so lovely"

i have only the illusion of being in charge. It's Pavlovian the way we respond to the slightest sound indicating a desire to do something.

Carol wrote: "Jen wrote: "😂 “managed by” … aw they sound so lovely"

i have only the illusion of being in charge. It's Pavlovian the way we respond to the slightest sound indicating a desire to do something."

Love it!

I have 4 rescues, all mixes of unknown origin, the best in my opinion! They're all from an amazing kennel - free rescue in the UK called "Dogs 4 Rescue" who I encourage you to look up because they're amazing. The dogs live freely and run around in packs, rehabilitating each other. They take in the dogs no-one else wants, who don't cope in kennels, who are rejected for being disabled.
All of ours are the ones they've struggled to re-home. One who has seizures. One with PTSD from years of abuse who took a year for them to be able to touch. One with a hip injury who we fostered through his second surgery at only 18 months old after (view spoiler)[ being kicked so hard he'll never walk quite right again. (hide spoiler)] Another who was born with strangely shaped legs which are more like flippers, and then left tied up in a graveyard. She can't walk far on hard surfaces but she's the happiest creature I've ever met and we push her around in a buggy every day. She howls in excitement at every dog and person she sees, with a heart of gold! The last two were only meant to be fosters, but they never went back!

Edit: I've added a spoiler for an upsetting detail. Please be assured, we spend a tonne on vet bills and our dogs are not in any pain

Aw Hannah, the feel-good story of the day. You’re an angel.

Jen wrote: "Aw Hannah, the feel-good story of the day. You’re an angel."

Aww shucks, you're kind to say

Great thread! People with long time fur companions are my kind of people for sure. Hannah you are amazing and I'm very sorry for the humans that have failed your beauties. Their tremendous loss is your gain!

I have two boys (my avatar pic) Zafiro we got at 7 weeks old. He's 8 years old now. He's my soul dog. We came by him via the coworker of a wife of a coworker. He was presented as a shep poo. We DNA'd him and he is 37% poodle, 25% Border collie, 13% Husky 11% German Shepherd, 7% Cocker Spaniel, and 4% Malmute. Everyone thinks he should be bigger with that resume 😂 He's very smart, very loyal, cautious, people friendly and we cannot keep him out of the water. He was well cared for in his first 7 weeks and has never known any unkindness. Zafiro is about 40 lbs. Perfect dog for us. Bohdi is the doodle and he just turned 3 years old. He was a rescue from the SPCA. We got him at 10 months. We believe he was from a backyard breeder that couldn't sell the final two and they got too old. I was 3rd in line to see him at the shelter. Two families ahead of me with children passed on him. He ran around the pen for 10 minutes before he would come to me at the shelter. I suspect he never stopped running from them. But he did come to me. Maybe he was tired after approximately 40 minutes of running nonstop. But I like to believe he chose me. I had Zafiro with me when I picked him up to make sure it would be a match. I think Zafiro was a lucky charm because he was very well behaved and they did not ask me any questions like the age of the adults in the home. I had just turned 60 and I live with my octogenarian mother. Had I come alone, they may not have let me take such an energetic puppy. But they did and he is a perfect little guy outside of the fact that it took about a year to potty train him. He is athletic and energetic. Bohdi must have at least a walk a day plus an hour with a ball. Keeps us moving. Bohdi is about 25lbs. He is very sweet but not that interested in humans (besides us). With us he can be a little clingy. He shows no signs of physical abuse but was very shy when we got him. Zafiro showed Bohdi how to dog. Bohdi is also perfect for us. Zafiro and Bohdi at first were not the greatest together but fast forward 2 years and they are brothers. Zafiro notices when Bohdi is not there. Bohdi is less bothered when Zafiro isn't around 😎.

Hannah wrote: "I have 4 rescues, all mixes of unknown origin, the best in my opinion! They're all from an amazing kennel - free rescue in the UK called "Dogs 4 Rescue" who I encourage you to look up because they'..."

you almost made me cry, on two fronts. Names of your babies?

Monica wrote: "Great thread! People with long time fur companions are my kind of people for sure. Hannah you are amazing and I'm very sorry for the humans that have failed your beauties. Their tremendous loss is ..."

This is funny on multiple fronts. Cody is not a fan of Phoebe being absent. Phoebe is pretty neutral on Cody's existence. But they still coordinate important people management from time to time.

Smart move bringing Zafiro with you so no more questions were asked. Does your mom worry about fall risk or otherwise make you crazy with her POV on inside dogs? I'm definitely projecting on that one, imagining my spouse's older family members.

What's the origin of those great names? Bohdi makes me think of the Wire, and smile.

The relationships between dogs can be hilarious things. One of the many reasons I love dogs is because they don't pretend, if they're feeling grumpy they'll say so and the other won't hold a grudge! We always take ours in to the rescue when we meet a newbie so they can meet off lead on neutral turf. Makes a world of difference.

Mine are Lobo (Spanish for wolf), Badger, Roo and Banana (because she's daft - I think daft banana is a northern English phrase but it might have just been my Nan - I'm never quite sure!) The boys are very protective of Banana and make sure to assess any approaching dog before they are allowed to go up to her buggy. Badger, with the PTSD, can be very grumpy and overly defensive about his favourite rug but the others seem to somehow understand

I hope it was a good almost cry (or two) Carol!

Thank you Monica. Humans can be terrible

Aw, I'm loving reading everyone's sweet pet stories!

I've had a few rescues in the past, a Rottweiler (who was a giant baby) and two sickly cats who couldn't get adopted, so I fostered until they passed. I don't think I'll do that voluntarily again.

But now I have no fur babies, just frogs. Slimy & Jumpy live in a vivarium full of their favorite plants and bugs :)

Fun Fact: Tree Frogs' croaking sounds more like barking. Which they do frequently when upset with us for having the TV too loud (or heaven forbid, run the vacuum.)

Lin wrote: "Aw, I'm loving reading everyone's sweet pet stories!

I've had a few rescues in the past, a Rottweiler (who was a giant baby) and two sickly cats who couldn't get adopted, so I fostered until they..."

I would LOVE having frogs. I think. croaking at you over loud sounds is a hoot, though.

Carol wrote: "I would LOVE having frogs. I think. croaking at you over loud sounds is a hoot, though."

They're actually a lot of fun. I enjoy searching for them each morning while sipping my coffee. My reading chair is right next to their vivarium, so they're my little reading buddies too :)

The only real downside is having to keep crickets as feeder bugs.

Maybe they think the vacuum is a super-gigantic bullfrog?! They can come and eat the slugs in my garden if they like. I keep relocating them to the woods but I swear they're like homing pigeons!

Lin wrote: "I've had a few rescues in the past, a Rottweiler (who was a giant baby) and two sickly cats who couldn't get adopted, so I fostered until they passed. I don't think I'll do that voluntarily again..."

Hats off to you for looking after the poor kitties. That must have been so hard :(

Hannah wrote: "Maybe they think the vacuum is a super-gigantic bullfrog?! They can come and eat the slugs in my garden if they like. I keep relocating them to the woods but I swear they're like homing pigeons!"

Slugs are relentless!!

Lin wrote: "Carol wrote: "I would LOVE having frogs. I think. croaking at you over loud sounds is a hoot, though."

They're actually a lot of fun. I enjoy searching for them each morning while sipping my coffe..."

I forgot that, when we had a frog a couple of decades ago (son was given him take home from a 1 week summer camp - thanks, counselor!) we had to buy crickets and I had lots of anxiety over whether the store was out of crickets and for how long and then there was the putting the crickets into the aquarium aspect. None of which I delighted in. Memories.

Carol wrote: "Does your mom worry about fall risk or otherwise make you crazy with her POV on inside dogs? I'm definitely projecting on that one, imagining my spouse's older family members.

What's the origin of those great names? Bohdi makes me think of the Wire, and smile...."

Both Bohdi and Zafiro are very protective of my mother. Bohdi is 25lbs. He jumps on her daily. She expects it so it does not affect her. He spent his first year in her room. His crate was there. She is his constant. She is not afraid of him. When we first got him, I had some fears about keeping him, specifically his potty training as well as boundless energy. His bark is also quite shrill. He doesn't bark much but when he does...wow! The SPCA had a 30 day return window. I mentioned it to her and her response was "He's home". She has zero regrets where he is concerned. BTW Bohdi is a Golden Doodle. His DNA results revealed that both of his parents were "doodles". His DNA results are a perfect example of why there is no dog breed called Doodle. Bohdi is 81% poodle and 19% Golden Retriever. A current day example of Mendel's experiments.

As for their names: Zafiro means sapphire in Spanish. He was the only pup that had similar coloring to his mother, Zafira! BTW Zafira was only about 18 months old when she had this litter. She had an oops with their other dog, a poodle who was about 15lbs compared to her 50lbs. Their human said "He must have caught her lying down" 😎 He was the only puppy in his litter that was given a name. We thought it was perfect so we kept it.

Bohdi was the name I gave to him. It means awareness. His name at the SPCA was the ridiculous "Dino Nuggie". Haha! We tried Deano but he didn't respond. I finally looked at boy names on google. Bohdi came up. I read somewhere that his name before he was surrendered was Bowie. Though that is not on his paperwork so... 🤷🏾‍♀️ He responded and it seems perfect though to be clear, awareness is not one of Bohdi's strengths 😂😂

Monica wrote: "He responded and it seems perfect though to be clear, awareness is not one of Bohdi's strengths 😂😂..."

Are you telling me no squirrel awareness? No garbage truck awareness? No 'how dare you walk by my house when I'm looking out the window awareness? He may have to surrender his 'little dog' credentials 😂😂🤣

Dino Nuggie?!! :D What a name. Glad you all renamed him, Monica.

So uplifting to hear about everyone's fur babies. Did not know Hannah would be the group's patron saint of rescues!

We went from having 3 cats to no cats in an 18 month period (one moved out with our son, and the other 2 passed about a year apart), but last October, we adopted a rescue "chug" (yes, I did not know that was even a thing), Tobi. He's an absolute delight (age 4 and full of so much energy). Has charmed most of the neighbors to the point they often buy him toys or stay outside longer to visit with him. Still needs to work on keeping his cool around other dogs (he loves to meet them, but gets so worked up when they're across the street that he won't calm down long enough to facilitate a reasonable approach). Burrows under the blankets at night. And unlike every other pet we've ever had, displays a really odd preference for me (will wait downstairs if I leave until I get back even when my wife is at home).

Here's a video of him gnawing on a sketchbook:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRH-2Z...

We also have a ball python (technically, our son's, but he seems in no rush to claim the snake). Stripes is the quiet member of the family and the ONLY pet in 25+ years not to have injured a single person.

Monica wrote: "Carol wrote: "Does your mom worry about fall risk or otherwise make you crazy with her POV on inside dogs? I'm definitely projecting on that one, imagining my spouse's older family members.

What's..."

that's one compact goldendoodle! I love these names and their history, Monica. Thanks for sharing it.

Nadine in California wrote: "Are you telling me no squirrel awareness? No garbage truck awareness? No 'how dare you walk by my house when I'm looking out the window awareness? He may have to surrender his 'little dog' credentials 😂😂🤣 ..."

Very good points. Yes, he is aware of every squirrel, cat, bird, skunk, garbage truck, even random car that he thinks are going to fast etc. He's not aggressive, he just wants to chase things. Wouldn't know what to do if he caught any of them. He is not aware that every time he jumps, he lands on Zafiro or pulls too hard on a leash or chases balls that aren't his at the park etc... He's a total goofball. 😂😂

Marc, Tobi is adorable!! I am going to stay away from the python though... 😎

Tobi says thank you. I have discovered people have very strong feelings about snakes…