Awwww

[Coot]

We drove out to a little town about 15 miles from here called Hammet today. I saw an ad on the bulletin board at the ranch supply store for Pyrapoo pups. That would be a Pyrenees/Standard Poodle mix that is turning out to be a superior livestock protection dog with some very distinct advantages. They also had a litter of Standard Poodle pups. Mrs. Coot has wanted one of those bigazz poodles forever, so I took me chances and went down there. We're not really ready for the livestock protection dog just yet as I have some work to do on the fencing and the barn before we are ready for animals, but I wanted to see some up close and personal. They are great dogs and we will be acquiring one from their next litter. Meanwhile, a widdo black standard poodle puppy jumped in the truck with us...okay, okay it had some help. She's 7 weeks old and is already bigger than two of our indoor doglets, she has huge paws and I expect her to be at the large end of the standard poodle breed. We're waiting for her to name herself and I'll be posting it once she does. Without further adieu, here's the latest addition to the Coot clan. ;)

[ethics]

Those dogs are scary intelligent. We had one and I swear, at times, I believed he knew what I was THINKING! ;)

[Elspeth]

aaaaawwwwwwwww!!!!!

She is so cute!!

Looks like she as a little attitude already!!!

Congrats on your new family member

[Andy]

I grew up (several) with Poodles around over the years.

Great dogs. :thumbsup:

Although I don't think that was the kinda dog I had in mind when I said your new truck was missing a dog and a gun rack. :lol:


I can just see the guys at the feed store now..

Hey Ya'll here comes that dude with the foo-foo hound! :biggrin:

[Coot]

Well, her name is Whitney and man is she a handful. She's grown visibly in the last 4 days and is now the biggest of our indoor dogs. She already has a job, as she's seen fit to take over all the dog toys and cart each and every one of them back to her bed. We've always wanted a dog that would pick up the dog toys and put them away. ;) When she starts getting too rambunctious, we just have to scatter the dog toys around and she'll stop being a pita, go around collecting up the toys and put them all back into her bed.

[Andy]

:lol:

One thing all the poodles I dealt with growing up did..

They'd "bury" stuff with their nose to save it for later, like bowls of food or toys.

*squeak* *squeak* their noses would go on a linoleum floor trying to push imaginary mounds of dirt over their treasure of the moment, or pull blankets over something for minutes on end to hide it like an old man with OCD, then look around to see if anyone saw them hide it. :biggrin:

[Coot]

Those dogs are scary intelligent.

Oh man, are they ever! She's 11 weeks now and goes 26 lbs. The vet says she's about 1/3 of her adult size now and she's substantially bigger than our other indoor doglets. She has figured out how to open doors. All of our doors have lever type doorknobs. She can now stand on her back legs and open all the doors that open away from her that we haven't remembered to lock. I wasn't sure what the hell was going on yesterday, as I was sure I closed the back door after putting her outside. I no sooner made it back to the office than I found her standing there and the backdoor wide open. I was going to chalk it up to coinkydink or forgetfulness or something. I put her back out and watched her through the back window. She stands up on her back legs, paws on the door and takes one paw and operates the doorknob. She is now opening the door out to the garage and half the bedroom doors.

One of her half siblings, a male Pyrpoo by the name of Gunner, is now living two houses down. When they get together to play, it is a marathon that results in the both of them being tuckered out into the next day. What a godsend. ;)

[Andy]

Just be sure to let her know.. if she's gonna borrow the truck, to fill it up when she brings it back. ;)

[Arc]

Those dogs are scary intelligent. We had one and I swear, at times, I believed he knew what I was THINKING! ;)

I continually grow more and more impressed with the intelligence of critters, especially mammals.

I truly believe that by traditional scientific standards that their intelligence is vastly underrated. Literally.

[ethics]

I truly believe that by traditional scientific standards that their intelligence is vastly underrated. Literally.

YES! By far!!! We haven't scratched the surface of the mammals, I really believe that.

[Arc]

YES! By far!!! We haven't scratched the surface of the mammals, I really believe that.

And as an addendum just as among human we have a wide range of intelligence from Joe Sixpack to people universally recognized for their intelligence and brilliant thinking that the same within a narrower parameter perhaps is also definitely true about animals of the same species or breeds.

[Fiona]

I think a lot of species are highly intelligent... just "differently" intelligent. Which may be what makes it difficult for the average human to understand.


Thanks Coot, Darlin.. I dreamt of poopy dogs all night long.

I don't know if I was back here yet when I got my little brother. Dad's new dog... from registered AKC parents, but he was born with two white spots which made him a bargain! 75% off! ;) It's in my dad's will that the dog goes to me upon his death.

[mikepd]

Pets are great to have as long as you keep up with the responsibility of their care.

We have a Cockatiel that Darlene got in early summer of 1995, about 6 months before we first met. The guy she was seeing before me did not pass the Spunky Bird (that, of course, is his name) as the bird took an instant dislike toward him and even hissed at him. I did not know birds were capable of hissing. :blank: So anyway, he did not last long, I met the Spunks, she put him on my shoulder while I was doing some fix-up work on her computer. I looked at him and he at me. I went back to what I was doing, he fell asleep on my shoulder and pooped on my shirt. I guess I passed the Spunky Bird test. :)

A few years ago we got Misha, a toy poodle, who is the mother of the dog that Darlene's parent's have- Snuggles. When we would take trips up North, we would leave Spunky with Mom and Dad for the short time that we would be away. Every time Spunk whistled or otherwise carries on, Snuggles, who was just a pup, would come running to the cage wanting to be held up so she could see that Spunky was OK. This would cause Spunky to blow kisses at Snuggles who wanted to get inside the cage with Spunky. Hilarity all around. Those two have really bonded while Misha and Spunky mostly ignore each other.

Misha scared the living daylights out of us once. She has an old chair in the living room that is covered with an old towel and that is her chair to lie on when we do not want her on our laps for whatever reason. She is high enough to still survey her 'territory' and sometimes takes a nap. One late afternoon, I find her on her side almost dead. I yell for Darlene to call the Animal Hospital that Misha is really ill and we have got to go now. By then the regular hospital was closed for the weekend but the emergency facility which covers when the main one is closed was open. So Misha goes there and to make a long story short, after several trips between the two facilities, stays in ICU, many tests and things, she was found to have Addison's Disease which means her adrenal glands are not working properly. She is in good company because IIRC, JFK had that disease as well. So she gets a cortisol injection every 30 days at which time they do lab work to make sure they do not have to alter the frequency or amount of the medicine. She is also on low dose Prednisone as an adjunct therapy for the management of her disease.

They give us so much pleasure even when they get on our nerves and believe me, a parrot can get on your nerves. Small body, large lungs and likes to exercise them. :)

Then he likes to get his head scratched and preened and their is such a trust and faith there that is wonderful to see. Misha has a habit of coming out of the bedroom if I stay up late and give me the 'well, when are you coming to bed look.' When I do go to sleep, she is there to greet me, waits while I put my bi-pap on and then get into bet. When it got cold during the winter months, sometimes I would find her up against my back which felt so good. It also feels good when you have a muscle spasm and the warmth from her body just eases it away.

Having pets has so many benefits from medical to emotional to just even being able to act like a kid again and have a blast romping with Rover. Not to mention teaching responsibility and follow-through to the younger set.