New canine addition for the holiday

[njsteve]

Our new addition.

We went to the grand opening of the new Tractor Supply Store in town a couple weeks ago. They had the local puppy rescue service there with a bunch of their adoptable critters. Of course I made the mistake of taking the family with me.

Just to keep the family quiet I filled out an application knowing full well that someone out of the 200+ people before us that signed up for this particular pup would get him, leaving me in the clear.

Of course we get the call two days later congratulating us. It turned out that out of those 200+ applications, just about all of them were disqualified! The rescue person read us some of their answers to the basic questions. They were scary.

Here's a sample of answers to the question "Where will you keep this dog?"

Sample answer:
1) "On my balcony on the 23rd floor."
2) "Tied to the same tree my other dogs are tied to."
3) "In the garage if the temperature gets below zero."

So I guess our answer of "In the house or in our fenced 2-acre yard when it's warm out" must have sounded miraculous to them.

His name is Widget, which as you may know, is the technical term for a hypothetical mechanical device of dubious usefulness.

He is about the size of a sub sandwich. We think he is Jack Russell and Dachshund.



Here's Widget being crushed by one of our other dogs, a female Basenji (also a rescue dog). Just to give you an idea of relative sizes, she weighs 17 pounds. In the background is our other Basenji. He's a grumpy 8-year old who went blind as a puppy from the genetic eye disorder PRA. He really doesn't know he's blind, he has adapted very well over the years. He's just curmudgeonly, which is a Basenji trait anyway.




The wife was preparing the house for the Holiday season. I heard a rustling sound and saw the pile of plastic wreaths moving. I pulled the top wreath off and there he was. This is his commentary on the season:

[Jeff H]

It's amazing how many people don't really qualify for a rescue dog. We were in the same situation with a nice fenced in yard and keep the dog inside(duh). So we qualified easily for a rescue dog. Dog looks happy already! We're still dealing with the chewing on everything with our dog. Rescue dogs tend to be an interesting mix a lot of the time. Our dog is a black lab/whippet/pit bull mix. Good luck with the new pet!

[Postsedan]

Very nice, Congrats.

Dan.

[njsteve]

One of the other "deal-breaker" questions was "Who is your Vet?"

The rescue lady said the vast majority of applicants replied that they didn't have one, even though they already had dogs.


You can definitely get some bizarre combinations with the mutts. This is one of our other rescued pups. She is a 50-pound, Yellow Lab/Siberian Husky mix. Check out the bright blue eyes and the Cleopatra eye-liner! Very rare option.

[Chateau Slate 66]

Thank you for getting a rescue dog. I don't know why people would buy from a breeder when there are sooo many good dogs that need a home. Here's our second rescue Sheltie.

[Mr70]

You guys should all be commended..
We always get our dogs from the local shelter,for the very same reasons you mentioned.

In the spirit of this topic,did anyone see this incredible video taken off a Chilean traffic camera?
It's an amazing testament of K9 Heroism of one Dog saving another during daily traffic.The beginning my be hard to watch,but rest assured both dogs were rescued shortly after this video was taken and are fine today

http://wtop.com/?sid=1539175&nid=456

[njsteve]

That sheltie's color is amazing. Looks like Picasso's version of a Blue Merle Sheltie.

We had a Sheltie for 17 years. He was my wife's dog before we met. He was a happy little dog though he got so pudgy in his older years he looked like a wooly bear caterpiller when viewed from above.

[Novadiecast]

Welcome to the Jack Russell rampage!!!!!!!

Here is my Jack Russell Mix and he is 12 pounds soaking wet and thinks he is the King. He rules my 85 pound Lab like it's nothing. They are a handfull.
[image][/image]

[77Z28]

Hey Steve congratulations on new addition. We had a Basenji dog which died about 4-5 years ago. Have not met many people who knew what a Basenji was. Our dog was brown and white, no black. Do you get odd responses when you tell people you have a bark-less dog?

Have a great holiday.

Todd

[markjohnson]

Nothing like a puppy! A dog's aim is only to please its' master (unlike a selfish cat). The world would be a much better place if people were more like dogs. You know, I once read that in the Canine vocabulary, the word 'lie' doesn't even exist.