BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!

Subject: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: robomatic
Date: 18 Jun 21 - 06:11 PM

I used to grow a big butt hanging out in Starbucks and writing into threads occasionally trying to provoke folks into having an aneurysm. Then I met G and P, a lovely couple who'd moved up to Alaska thinking they were going to retire and ended up working into entirely new careers, THEN retiring in Alaska. Along the way they acquired a lovely black Lab, and during the pandemic we could no longer hang out in Starbucks, hence we started meeting on a daily basis to walk Ravn. Well, we walked her for over a year, visiting dog parks, local paths, trails, and sidewalks. Ravn passed a week before her 13th birthday, and I was in attendance. She was a lovely animal with intelligence and personality often above that of her human companions.

So now my friends are going on a short road trip after a young pup, and I'm invited!

I'm so excited!

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Jun 21 - 06:30 PM

You need a dog also - they will be friends and good companions for their human owners. (I have three, and when we walk and pass walkers out by themselves, point out that they really should have a dog as company. Just because.)

Back in 2011 a gorgeous chocolate lab wandered into my yard, and I snapped a leash on him and walked up the street to find out who owned him. No way I was going to let him keep wandering. After a little while a minivan pulled up and Susie (who became a fast friend) greeted me and her dog Zeke, a frequent escapee from her yard. We talked, and started walking our dogs together in the mornings. My pitbull Cinnamon loved him, and my blue heeler mix did not. So we walked side by side with Cinnamon and Zeke next to each other and Poppy on my other side. She would growl if he got close.

After about four months, I noticed that Poppy wasn't growling at him, and even, when no one was looking, sometimes she'd offer him a little kiss. So we started meeting at my house one morning a week for tea and muffins and let all three dogs loose in the huge back yard to dash around. Zeke always broke out of her yard to go to yards with other dogs, and as Susie was having to drive her ill husband to Houston for chemo, I convinced her to leave him with me for those few days, not make him stay in a car all of the time or alone at the house. They all enjoyed the visits.

Cinnamon and Poppy are gone, and Susie was badly injured in 2012 and ended up giving Zeke to me because with a head injury she wasn't as stable as before. Susie is much better, Zeke still lives with me at the ripe old age of 14, and his companions are Pepper, about 6 years old blue heeler and 2-year-old Cookie, the pit/boxer mix. Cookie adores him.

Cinnamon was an injured stray who stayed, Poppy came from the Humane Society to be her companion. After each girl died I waited a few months then headed to the city animal shelter and picked the two I have now. It's a process, picking a dog - paying attention to them paying attention to you. I think it is a mutual process (or, it should be - connecting before you leave the building is always a good idea.)

Good luck to your friends in their dog selection, and how ever many you bring home, enjoy all of those walks together!

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: Rapparee
Date: 18 Jun 21 - 09:21 PM

Dogs: good. Cats: okay. Little yappy dogs: not okay. Inbred anything: not good at all and have my pity.

Animals need people and vice-versa. Jilly (blue heeler mix, now gone) was the last dog to romp in my backyard -- when the three dogs next dog wouldn't be friendly, Jilly peed on them.

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: robomatic
Date: 19 Jun 21 - 01:09 AM

Dog bought! Report to follow.

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: JennieG
Date: 19 Jun 21 - 03:22 AM

Jolly good! So you are a dog uncle - duncle?

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 19 Jun 21 - 05:06 AM

... when we walk and pass walkers out by themselves, point out that they really should have a dog as company

Recommending to people that they get a dog, without knowing their circumstances, seems somewhat rash. Introducing a dog into a household where everybody works, so it would be on its own for the full working day, is the way to raise a neurotic animal. Keeping a dog on the 17th floor of a tower block, where the lifts are broken more often than not, doesn't seem a good idea, especially if it is a decent sized dog that can't be picked up and carried.

I have an eight year old Old English Sheep Dog. Grooming him is a full time occupation. Summer walks are limited to early mornings and late evenings to avoid the heat of the day. He has arthritis, so the terrain has to be limited to fairly flat but, as he ages, the distance walked also has to be considered. Having a dog for company has to be traded against the restrictions in your lifestyle that come with it.

The potential owner's health also has to be taken into account. Taking on a dog is generaly a commitment of up to 15 years. A sprightly mid-sixty year old can end up as an 80 year old in nursing home. Someone else has to be available to take on the commitment if need be.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 19 Jun 21 - 12:14 PM

Doug - if we could give thumbs up for mudcat posts, I'd give you a double thumb...

As much as I am longing to have a dog again;
due to our circumstances it's not realistic, and probably never will be..

Crunch decision time will be when my wife retires.

.. (or if I snuff it first and leave her on her own)..


We've discussed a compromise she's happy with.
After retirement, hands-on voluntary work with local dog charities...???

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Jun 21 - 01:30 PM

Lighten up, Doug. Suggesting to someone out walking as we pass by on the street that they need a dog companion is a conversation starter, it isn't a demand of some sort. It's acknowledging that company can be nice.

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: Jos
Date: 19 Jun 21 - 02:15 PM

I'm with Doug on this. People should be able to go for a walk without a dog.
I have come across people who got a dog just because they wanted to go for walks but felt awkward - it was as if they were regarded as suspicious: What were they doing wandering about the place on their own? Obiously up to no good.

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: robomatic
Date: 20 Jun 21 - 02:15 PM

I'm just going to throw in that at least half of all the walking I've done in the past year has been in an explicit dog park set up and maintained by the city of Anchorage. It is well thought out and in interesting use of land that would not be suitable for residential use. It adjoins land owned by a telephone communications company and used for a transmission/ relay tower. The land around is for the large guys and anchors that keep the thousand foot antennas in place. There are herd paths in all seasons. The dog park is separated out by small streams. There is a walking circle of about 1/3 mile around a rough field, and while there is a chainlink entrance which is double gated to allow control of animals, the area is not totally enclosed. Moose have wandered through. We walked Ravn there unleashed, and more than half the dog owners did the same. I often thought of how I had no reason to walk there without the girl, as we called her, but I'm pretty sure I've seen one guy in there 'lone' walking. There is a totally enclosed and much smaller area with its own double gates and it is explicitly labeld 'small dogs'. The municipality keeps the areas provided with doggie bags and a couple of porta-potties for the rest of us. There are also areas for outdoor paintball play, kiddie calistenics and a ball field. And adequate parking.

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 20 Jun 21 - 02:59 PM

You make Alaska sound far more civilised and amenable
than the average English provincial town...

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: robomatic
Date: 20 Jun 21 - 04:12 PM

Like anything else, Alaska runs the gamut. We have our internal faults; just two days ago I left the city of Anchorage, where we have lots of amenities and liberals, and drove to the bedroom community of Wasilla. We have an image of the politics of the people up there as being far right of ours, but when we were talking to the people who sold us the dog, the husband and wife, pretty young with two very young kids, told us that the kids were vaccinated, the husband had had Covid. They were well informed about the same things we felt we were informed of.

We are in a 'special' space due to the carbon economy, and our awareness is informed by the importance of the tourist economy.

There are big changes on the horizon and there is going to be change and some pain. But there is a practical essence to the folks; I've dealt with many many public employees in the past and have typically found them to be highly committed to doing their jobs intelligently and well. That doesn't mean I agree with em; it does mean I respected them.

And there is plenty of diversity. We have significant API presence, particularly Korean, Philippino, Samoans. I once got stopped in traffic by a cop from Finland. I know two young Alaskans doing Japanese immersion classes. We have a large MLK Boulevard and right now there is considerable attention in the media of Black Alaskan stories and this is now getting coupled with continuing revision of the indigenous experience. We have considerable indigenous presence and experience which is unique to Alaska. Much of it is positive, by which I mean not just a string of grievance stories.

And we have English links. We take our name from a visit by Captain Cook and I think we still have a statue of him downtown that is from the same cast as one in Victoria B.C. I oughta check to see if it hasn't been cancelled in some way...

In my last job most of the folks I worked with were hard right wingers, but they were pleasant to work with. I remember being in a work meeting two Presidential administrations ago where someone mentioned his concern around U.S. southern border issues and the guy right next to him said: "I don't think there should be ANY borders!"

And with all I've said, we have an extremely high gun ownership situation here, and our share of outrageous gun incidents. I do not know how we compare to the lower 48. I am personally more afraid of ME owning a gun hence I abstain. Those kids immersed in Japanese... They are biathloners of some local standing.

Sarah Palin can't see Russia from her house anymore. She left the State some time ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: Thompson
Date: 20 Jun 21 - 06:40 PM

I'm with Doug. On the other hand, service dog training bodies are always looking for good, kind and stable 'puppy walkers', which is to say, people who keep a pup for the first year, then pass it back for training and assigning. (Training, oddly, never includes 'give the paw', for fear it would teach the dog to knock a scalding teacup out of a blind person's hand.)

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Jun 21 - 08:39 PM

Over 20 years Robo has evolved into a Mensch with empathy and diversity of cultural awarness. All while living in AK?
I've noticed the farther north you go the more people rely upon each other in a unique way.

Consider a Borzoi for a loyal friend. Its a wonderful breed for the north. Its like a canine Cheeta of Siberia. Great hunter and graceful domestic behavior.

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jun 21 - 12:16 AM

I guess several of you missed the conversation starter mentioned earlier.

I don't take my three to dog parks - down here they are known as vectors for various diseases. I was at a recent early evening gathering of museum docents at the trendy party room of a downtown apartment complex and as I left many tenants from the buildings had large dogs leashed and heading out of the building and across the street to the city dog park. Poor dogs indoors all day waiting to get out for a pee. I imagine some of them have pads down for daytime needs, I've read about that. COVID working from home has made attention and access to walks easier for a lot of dogs; one wonders how returning to the office will work for those pet owners and their critters—back to the old days of hold it all day long.

When I walk the dogs these three are always interested in other dogs out walking with their owners, and if they were to get close it would be a tangle of leashes but it would be in their desire to meet and play. There are a couple of yards of friends with dogs who have invited us to stop by to visit through the fence, and when we do I offer a treat through the gate. Before another killjoy jumps up, I asked first, just as the next door neighbor asked before starting a daily routine of an over-the-fence treat for my dogs. I carry a few-ingredient type of treat because one of my dogs has allergies to wheat and chicken. They hear us coming and my dogs like to meet nose to nose through the fence.

None of this is like the old days (decades ago), when you just let the dog out and they came back when they were ready.

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 21 Jun 21 - 08:25 AM

Do your dogs mind being walked in the rain? Our greyhound will freeze at the front door, and yet she doesn't mind if it starts raining when we're out!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Going on a Trip to Buy a Dog!
From: Charmion
Date: 21 Jun 21 - 10:39 AM

I'm a cat person who enjoys meeting dogs while out walking myself.

One of the silver linings of the black cloud of COVID is that people of all ages, even those without dogs, walk for exercise far more than they did before March 2020.

I do feel sorry for dog-phobic people, however. Peak dog-walking times used to be early morning and late afternoon, but now it's any hour of the day, evening or night when dog and human feel inclined.