Man's Best Friend

[Shirley]

I found this awesome video on Reddit. It's worth the time.

[Steve of phpBB]

A few months ago, we finally joined the ranks ...



A three-year-old Australian shepherd/blue heeler adopted from a rescue organization.

Totally fucking awesome.

Yesterday was our ten-year Adopt-A-Versary.

Slower, fatter, and limps now every time he gets up. Same for the dog.

[rass]

Happy anniversary steve and steve's dog.

[Pruitt IV]

Happy Anniversary!

And that Japanese dog video is great.

[TankFarm2023]

Apologies for not posting this in a timely manner, but better late than never, right?


Three years ago, right before Xmas, my wife asked if we should foster a pregnant dog that had just come into the shelter where I volunteered. We were told that the dog, named Mary, was expecting 5 puppies after having an ultrasound. Even though we have two others, both females, we decided to make our holidays interesting, and brought Mary home on Dec. 20th. Mary was from GA, appeared to be a hound/shep mix, and was at this point, very, very large. Fortunately, all three dogs made peace quickly, and we prepared a whelping box in a spare bedroom for Mary. We were told to expect puppies before Christmas Day, but we had to wait until the morning of the 26th. She popped-out 6 in about 2 hours, then a 7th an hour later. Then the 8th 90 minutes later. It was both amazing and terrifying, and certainly the best Xmas presents ever.

The agreement was that we'd foster for 8 weeks, and return them to the shelter for spay/neutering en route to being adopted. Mary, however, turned out to be more of a challenge than we bargained for; she absolutely demanded that we get up at least twice during the night to let her outside, and got aggressive if we tried to ignore her. 3 weeks after the litter was born, she became menacing towards the puppies where food was involved. Several times, I had to intervene, for fear she'd kill a puppy or two. An agreement was made with the shelter to separate them, but that went awry, and we stopped fostering around week 5.

Being the foster parents, we were given the task of naming them. Born on Boxing Day, the names seemed obvious to me, but when I suggested Ali, Tyson, Liston, etc, the shelter was mortified. My wife suggested we name them after the archangels, and so we settled on Michael, Rafael, Muriel, Cassiel, etc. My weakness was for a little blue-eyed bruiser named Gabriel, who looked like a husky/pit mix of sorts. I wound up going in to the clinic the day they were all spayed & neutered, and got to spend some time with Gabriel one last time.

All the puppies were adopted pronto, except Gabriel. They diagnosed him as deaf, and likely blind. That came as a shock to my wife and I, as we never saw any signs to indicate his hearing or vision was compromised. I suggested we act immediately, and after the usual formalities, we brought him home. We were prepared to alter his regimen (no off-leash, except for our yard, etc) given his sensory issues and give him the best life we could. However, it became clear that he heard every single word, and woke immediately when the food bowls started clanging. As for his vision, he's the only dog in the house who can catch a treat. It does seem that he may have some slight difficulty with his peripheral vision, but nothing to stop him from romping freely.

This won't come as news to most people who've brought a puppy into their home with an older dog, but he absolutely adores his older sisters, who are real champs, given how rowdy he is. Anyhow, somewhere along the way, we started calling him Junior instead, as it fits him better. Having 3 dogs is nutty, given the cost of food and vet bills, but it seems good for all of us to have a youngster running around the house, wreaking havoc.

Now, hopefully I can attach photos, as I've yet to try that here.

[The Sybian]

Great stuff, Tank. Makes me realize I need to get back to volunteering at the rescue, I miss it so much. Can't wait to see pics, Husky or Shepherd mixes are my soft spot, and my rescue has been bringing in a bunch of litters of Husky-Shepherd mixes that are incredibly cute. As a side note, there is a connection between the blue-eyed gene and deafness in dogs. Not all blue eyed dogs are deaf, but there is a connection, which might be the reason for their misdiagnosis. Unless he is deaf and senses the food opening another way.

[Steve of phpBB]

That's so great.

[rass]

That's awesome Tank.

[TankFarm2023]

Thanks!

Is there a Swamp recommendation on best methods to share? I suppose I can try shrinking them down to fit the 256 kb file limit

[Steve of phpBB]

Thanks!

Is there a Swamp recommendation on best methods to share? I suppose I can try shrinking them down to fit the 256 kb file limit

Set up a burner Twitter account.

Post picture to burner Twitter account.

Link post.

[bfj]

Great story.

You took in a pregnant mother named Mary at Christmas and resisted the urge to name a puppy Jesus. I admire you.

[TankFarm2023]

Thanks!

Is there a Swamp recommendation on best methods to share? I suppose I can try shrinking them down to fit the 256 kb file limit

Set up a burner Twitter account.

Post picture to burner Twitter account.

Link post.

Thank you, Steve!


https://x.com/farmer_tan40755/status/17 ... 57697?s=20

[rass]

Thanks!

Is there a Swamp recommendation on best methods to share? I suppose I can try shrinking them down to fit the 256 kb file limit

Set up a burner Twitter account.

Post picture to burner Twitter account.

Link post.

Thank you, Steve!

Edit the x.com to twitter.com and it will show inline.

And that is damn cute puppy

[Nonlinear FC]

Great stuff, Tank!

[TankFarm2023]

Thanks for the kind words, fellas, and the help. I'll just add that he's an incredibly sweet boy.

[rass]

Thanks for the kind words, fellas, and the help. I'll just add that he's an incredibly sweet boy.

We have the "I AM DEAF" tag on one of ours, except he really is.

[Steve of phpBB]

Oh my.

[Pruitt IV]

Holey Moley that's a good looking dog!

[bfj]

Dusty in here.

[Pruitt IV]

Dusty in here.

Dust storm.

[rass]

How does it compare to SVPs? Need to be prepped to watch this.

[Brontoburglar]

I can't watch that. I've seen it so much this week and just, nope. No. Pen's 10. I think about the impending day way too much. I want her to live forever.

Stout's rolled in shit twice the last month and gotten it on his collar too. So the impromptu baths have been fun. We bathed Pen Thursday night after he got one because of his yard habits (she was overdue for one) and after we finally convinced her to get in the shower, she gave me the death stare the rest of the evening.

[sancarlos]

I keep thinking that my old dog is on her last legs and on her way out. But then, she keeps rallying every time. She’s 15 1/2, which is pretty aged for a retriever mix.

[Pruitt IV]

It's beautiful and heartfelt, but even with a healthy 8 year old mutt, it was a lot for me to handle.

Don't watch if you have an older pup.

[duff]

Hate having to bump this thread, but the day happened that we had to say goodbye to our sweet girl.

Clover was only 11. Never thought I would have a dog, let alone a 12lb ankle-biter. She had been partially blind for the past two years after having a stroke. Thought she was done for then, but she fought through the tough times then.

This weekend was really rough. Not sure what happened. Organs were starting to fail. She hadn't eaten or kept anything down for three days.

I hate to put a damper on anyone's day, but this is my safe space. I just needed to tell people. Thank you all for being awesome (most of the time).

[DSafetyGuy]

Sorry, Duff.

[Giff]

So sorry, Duff.

[mister d]

Sorry, Duff.

[Steve of phpBB]

God, Duff, that's hard. I'm sorry.

[sancarlos]

Sorry, Duff!

[govmentchedda]

Absolutely sucks, Duff. So sorry.

[wlu_lax6]

sorry Duff.

[rass]

So sorry man

[cerranoredux]

Sorry, Duff.

[GoodKarma]

So sorry to hear.

[tennbengal]

Sorry duff.

[Nonlinear FC]

Sorry to hear duff.

[Johnny Carwash]

Sorry duff.

[Shirley]

Shit, that's not what I was looking for in this thread. I'm sorry Duff, but it sounds like you guys took good care of your girl.

[The Sybian]

Opening this thread is like playing Russian roulette, it's either great or the worst. Sorry Duff.