Meet Shady

I went up to the animal shelter right after work today and picked out my new dog.

We were wondering if she is really only 5 months old because she looks like an adult, but she sure does have the energy of a puppy.
I've had her for just over 2 hours now, and in that time we have taken a long walk, had a bath, raced around the house like a wild animal, and taken another walk. I wish that someone had been here to take a picture of me after the bath, because I was just as wet as she was.

She is finally starting to calm down, and she has been enjoying a rawhide and a hoof, so my house does indeed smell like a circus right now.

Wish me luck with my wild puppy!

Narrowing It Down

I went back up to the shelter today, this time accompained by Colton and Jo, Jo's friend Lori and her son. A lot of the dogs that I looked at earlier in the week are gone. The Australian Shepard and the Pit Bull are no longer options, although there was an even cuter Pit Bull puppy today. I think that I have ruled out the Pit Bull just because I like to take my dog to work now and then, and I think that their reputation would make parents object to that. So here are my two favorites.

This is the Bluetick Coonhound that I looked at earlier in the week. She is a biggger than I remembered. The card on her cage claims that she is 5 months old, but we think that she is an adult. Lori tried to get a look at her teeth, and they appear to be adult teeth. She is also about 20 inches tall, so she shouldn't get much taller. On the plus side she should be out of the chewing stage, and while she was very excited to see us she wasn't very vocal. One thing that I worry about with a hound is that my neighbors will kill me over her baying.

This little puppy is three months old and they are calling her a Catahoula Cur, but she is clearly a Bluetick Hound. For those of you who don't know what a Catahoula looks like (I didn't) refer to the photo below. While she is absolutely adorable, she was chewing on my fingers and the bars like crazy, and she was howling her little head off.

I put a hold on the older dog, but if little is still there tomorrow I could change my mind. Feel free to give me your input, and feel free to suggest some names as well.

HELP!

So, I think that I've decided to go with a shelter dog instead of adopting a greyhound. I went up to the Davis County animal shelter today, and it just broke my heart. I wanted to take them all home. Because I am never going to be able to make a decision by myself, I need some input. Anyone who is in the area and wants to meet me at the Davis County animal shelter on Thursday at 3:15 is welcome to do so. I am also going to be going out to the West Valley animal shelter on Friday at 3:30 if anyone is interested in making the trip with me.

For those of you who cannot come and help me in person, I would still like some input. At the moment, these are our candidates.

This little girl is pure Pit Bull, and she is about 6 month old. She has the wide Pit Bull snout and huge paws. I think she is an ugly little thing, but she is a major lover! She couldn't get enough of licking my hands.

This Australian Shepard is about 1 year old. She is very friendly and as a plus she is already spayed and housebroken!

This mutt is estimated to be 1 or 2 years old. If she could have melted through the bars and into my arms she would have.

This is the dog that I will be going to West Valley to see. Her profile says that she is a Pit Bull/Lab mix, but that face looks like boxer to me. She is about 2 years old.

This is not the picture of the dog I saw, but it was the closest one I could find. The dog that I saw was darker brown in the areas that this dog is black, and she is some kind of a smaller cattle dog. She was so scared that she wouldn't really come out into the open, but she is full grown and she looks like she is about the size of Butch.

The last dog on my list was a Bluetick Coonhound puppy, about 5 months old. This is not the acutal puppy, but this is what she looks like . She was a very happy little girl.

Please give me your input and let me know what you think. I need all of the help that I can get! Vote in the poll on the sidebar and/or leave a comment.

My Plan

People have been asking me what I am going to do now that Tick is gone, so this is my plan. I have applied to a greyhound rescue group to adopt a retired racing dog. I mailed my application today. If my written application is approved then I will be invited to the home of the people who run the organization in Ogden for a personal interview. If I pass the interview a representative will then bring a couple of greyhounds to my house for an inspection, and to see if there is anything in or about my home that would disqualify me. If I pass the home inspection I have no idea how long it might take before I actually get a dog. My understanding is that they get the dogs from Colorado, but this particular organization does not have pictures or profiles of adoptable dogs on their web site. If you want to look at some adoptable greyhounds you can go to www.recycledracers.org and click on available dogs to view some profiles. These dogs are in Colorado, but I don't know if this the place that the Utah group gets their dogs from.

If, for some reason, I do not qualify to adopt a greyhound, then I will be going to one of the local animal shelters to find a dog that strikes my fancy.

100 Things To Do

I got this from Jessica's blog. If you haven't seen her blog, copy this list to your own blog and bold the things that you have done in your own life. I see that I still have a few things that I need to do, but there are a few of these things that really don't interest me.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a Solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been on television
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (no, but I enjoy buying and eating them)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Totally copied a post from someone's blog to your own

Tick is Gone

A few days after Christmas I noticed a lump on the back of Tick's right leg. Those of you who knew Tick knew that she was a lumpy animal, but I could see right away that this lump was different. Not only did it look different from her other lumps, but it was in the same place where I had a cancerous tumor removed about a year and a half ago. Since Eric and I had already talked about not putting her through any more surgeries, I just waited and watched. The tumor grew really fast, and this morning I noticed that her entire leg was swollen. I knew that wasn't a good sign, so I called and made an appointment for her. Eric said that the cancer had spread to the lymph node in her leg and that the blood wasn't able to circulate well through it any more. He said it would be a matter of days before she died, and since I did not want her to suffer I decided to have her euthanized.

The bright spot in it all was that she hadn't seemed to suffer up to this point. I could tell that her leg wasn't bending much when she walked, but she was a happy girl and anxious for her treats right up to the very end. I didn't have to go into work today, so she spent the morning chasing her treat ball, eating pig ears, and snuggling on the couch with me.I got her on January 26, 1996, so I had her just 6 days short of 12 years. I don't have the words to write a lovely tribute like Jef did for Bryce, but I will miss her.

So Here We Are Again

As the second member of Denise's crisis management team I was once again called out this morning. Denise had spent the night with a friend in Morgan, and on the way home she lost control of her truck on the icy roads and rolled it down an embankment.

Luckily Denise doesn't have any injuries. She thinks the truck rolled 6 times. She says the scariest part was when the truck came to rest and the cab filled with snow. She was afraid that she was going to suffocate before she could dig her way out. She managed to crawl out the window and some people had already pulled over to help. They took her to Ogden Regional Medical Center as a precaution, but she says that she isn't even sore. After another CT scan of her head and some X-rays they released her. Denise thinks that her truck is totaled but the representative from her insurance company says that will have to be determined by her agent. To add insult to injury she was also given a ticket for an improper lane change. I am voting that Denise be locked in a padded room in order to prevent her from further injuring herself. If she keeps this up the crisis management team (me and JoLyn) are going to need to be paid for our duties.