Kenzi needs a dental and it does help a lot with keeping her sugar numbers under control but I'm with you and I don't like putting her under at her age ~14.

Both my dogs had a rough weekend. Hubs has been wanting a more friendly cuddly dog that is excited to see him when he gets home. You always hear about how loving pitbulls are and a lovely blue pit came up at the local shelter so I gave in (despite some nervousness. I'm not anti pit, just cautious about unknowns with something that stout). I've been wanting a younger dog to run with. This guy was such a lover. Great with people, minds, housebroken, not terrible on leash though needing work, not crate trained but easy enough to come around. Friday was great, Saturday morning was fine then he got over excited I guess and tore into Kye. I knew going in we couldn't have pecking order scraps between dogs like are normal. Pits are just too powerful. We got them broke up. Kye has a poke on his cheek and his ear got a little tore. Kye a big boy and held up alright but the incident was not acceptable. The rest of the day moved on without issue and if he even thought about giving the other dogs a sideway glance we would get onto him which he minds beautifully. Saturday night though he decided he was jealous of Kenzi getting any attention and went for her which we got in the middle of but was the last straw for him. Not going to put up with a dog that has that much power going after my old folks, so to the complete heartbreak of my husband I took him back to the shelter yesterday. I don't feel he was dog aggressive, just jealous and too powerful for my dogs to deal with any pecking order BS. It was an eye opener to the breed for my husband. I had a pit mix years ago who was wonderful but I had him from a puppy on a farm where he was exposed to everything all the time. I just don't have the time to be on top of a dog like that with such high stakes.

I feel terrible taking the dog back. He was the perfect dog if he would have just gotten along. He needed next to no work in any other place, clearly someone had put a lot of time into him prior to losing him, but I can't take those kind of risks with my dogs just so we have a dog in the house that will run up to meet you when you walk in the door. I'm fairly partial to being able to come home in peace without a dog under foot, but I get it, the huskies are mine and they act that way because I give them everything they need. We are almost 2 years out from Keno dying. He was our happy dog that liked everyone and would come to say hi and would lay his head in your lap and lick your hands if you were sad. The huskies are very get-over-yourself types.

Hubby needs a Golden retriever ( knowing upfront the cancer risks). Or maybe a lab.

Though I do have to say - our two, especially Z'ev, are overjoyed when we return home. Ami woo woo,woos, working from nose to tail and Z'ev just players himself against us, writhing around our legs. So maybe a someone for hubby that he raises and trains?

Honestly? Smart move with the pittie...

I find myself caught in a quandary and I don't know of a way out ...

Chuck, the fellow with the GSD pups told me yesterday that because of his health he's going to get rid of all except one of his Shepherds - he'll keep the older male and adopt out the two females and the five pups but he's having difficulty finding homes with people that he feels will care for the dogs properly.  We went out to breakfast yesterday and the problems he was having just getting his hands to work with the silverware was difficult to watch (arthritis and a neuropathy in his hands.) There are other concerns but lack of strength in hands / legs has really bothered him, he just can't do what he wants / needs to.

Deep southwest Texas  - everyone here wants (and needs) a good alert dog and a good guard dog and it's helpful if they're the same dog.  Now Avalanche is a good alert dog, there isn't much that goes on around the trailer that he isn't aware of and he's good about letting me know that something/someone that he's not sure about is outside.  As far as a guard dog ... naw, he mostly wants to go out and play with the animals out back and get attention from people who drive in.  Sky's worthless on either count.

Financially I can't afford to do much / any of the travel I've wanted to do.  I've wanted to "go home" to New York state for years but getting the $$$ together to do that just hasn't been doable.  If it's not batteries for the solar system (let's say $2500 a set, I think I'm good with the LiFePo batteries now [???])  it's been repairing the Jeep, replace the clutch, replace the water pump / fuel pump / serpentine and retainers ... it's only got 250K on it.  If I can't afford to keep it repaired to the level I'd like, I sure can't afford to replace it.

He has one of the two male pups earmarked for his brother (in New Hampshire ...) and has asked me if I'd like the other male.  How about a real big "Oh, shit!"  Over the years I've wanted to get one of his pups, he's had about one litter every 18 months ... they come from European stock so they have excellent conformation (no sloping backs here, they all stand tall and straight!) No known problems with dysplasia with any of his dogs.  He's worked in security for much of his life and he and one of his dogs was doing search and recovery at the Twin Towers so as far as genetic history goes these are excellent (if unregistered) dogs.  Obviously this is probably the last chance I'll have to get one of them ...  the pups are about 6 weeks old now and we agree "not before 8 weeks" and I'd prefer more toward 10 weeks.

I'd like a dog I can go wandering on the desert with that I don't have to worry about just taking off (Avalanche and Sky won't stay anywhere close, they just go ...) someone who would stay within view / calling range would be nice!  As our quiet little neighborhood has been 'discovered' we have more and more people of questionable background moving in.  Some are great folks and some will literally walk up and take something off the porch / out of the yard even when someone's home - talk about gall!! I haven't had that happen here but others have. A good guard dog would be *very* beneficial ... (even it a GSD does nothing but stand and growl, most folks aren't going to argue with them!)

I'm in good health for my age - not excellent by a long shot but 'good' - and can expect to outlive the two I have here now ( damn it!! We should all live forever! ) and I can't picture not having a dog around the house.

Comes the concerns:  
1)  My two, I think, will accept another dog without too many 'discussions'; if I get this one as a puppy, I don't see a problem there but have to wonder how they'll work out over time.  Chucks existing male and his sire were generally good with other dogs that went over, if the visitor didn't start something they didn't.
2)  Avalanche likes to travel with me and is a great traveling companion; Sky not so much, if she has to go in the Jeep she'll sleep til we get there and back home again.  Can I expect two big dogs (Avalanche isn't heavy but he is tall / long) to co-exist if we go for a ride or will I end up taking turns with who goes?

Obviously, I'm rambling ... trying to decide what the right thing to do is - for me, him and all the dogs.  Any thoughts or comments will be much appreciated.

Sorry its not just there its getting like that everywhere. We had our camper broken into twice in 2012 at kirtland afb famcamp. So we got shadow. Even now ive thought about who will replace him for security.

Ive done a road trip with all 4 of mine in the back seat of a 4 door ram 1500 when they all got along. They all find spots that they are comfortable in. I usually leave shadow home though because he gets car sick.

Wel, I'm committed - or is it committable?  We shall see what we shall see ... at least with him being close - a neighbor at about 3 miles away - if Avalanche decides this isn't going to work I can return him.  I was over for a while this evening and Avalanche wasn't interested in me taking his leash off to let him in when I got home, he wanted to know who that other dog was first!

ETA:
Chuck told me the other day that part of the immediacy for his decision is that he's been diagnosed with some form of cancer.  He doesn't want to know and I can respect that (though it wouldn't be me by any stretch)  His wife's health is also failing and in honesty, it's a catchall as to who will outlive whom.  I know this falls into the TMI category but I hope it explains some of why I'm taking this pup now.
If such weren't the case - if I could expect Chuck to be around in another few years, I'd probably put off my decision for a couple of years.

What I do expect to happen is that Avalanche will look at the little monster and go "Who the blazes are you?" and he'll get answer to that in a year or so. Sky, on the other hand, has tried to play with Avalanche and I expect I'll see major chaos between Sky and <I have no idea>
The pups grandsire was Thor, his sire is Thunder, his dam is Storm ... so I'm looking for a decent germanic name that follows the pattern.  Blitzen (as in Donder and Blitzen [Thunder and Lightening]) comes to mind but I can't picture sticking my head out the door and calling for lightening, I might just get it!  Also can't see how to shorten Blitzen for a decent call name.

Blitz? And shadow has a similar name scheme. His grandsire was shadow something or another in chezch his sire was sombra Trujillo (shadow in spanish ) and he is shadow monster.

Id let them meet somewhere else and then bring them all home together.

Well, Germanic didn't work out as well as I had hoped, so I'm switching to Greek ... wonder how he'll respond to Zeus?  (Zeus, Thors father, uses lightning, etc) It's been a long, long time since I've had a pup (a real puppy) around and things like coming up with a name are 'interesting.' I've almost always adopted a dog with a name so I just keep the name.

Over the next couple of weeks we'll have a few meetups.  Avalanche because I'm more concerned about his behaviour...  then a couple of meetups with Sky more to see how much energy they can both expend in a short burst!  After it all looks copasetic I'll bring the miniature monster home.

Hurricane? Cane - come...

Causes I suspect it will be a hurricane in your house for a while.

When my youngest granddaughter was a toddler she was called the human tornado!

Or son's of Thor: mothi or magni (mane)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B3%C3%B0i_and_Magni#:~:text=In%20Norse%20mythology%2C%20M%C3%B3%C3%B0i

Cain, only spelled with a K, was one of the name options my husband wanted to call the pit and I decided I didn't want to put that juju on him going back to the original Cain and Abel. Didn't want to set him up for killing his brother, Kye. While he still had a go at it I don't often want to push my luck further. Kinda like getting struck by lightening if calling for it. I'm not good at names until I've been around a dog for a bit. Need to be with them and just feel through some stuff. You are brave jumping into a puppy. Kenzi doesn't tolerate small puppies. Bigger puppies I think would be okay but when they little they are too much like cats or 'coons and she wants them dead. That 2 year old range is where I feel most comfortable.

@amymeme A golden is what I suggested to my husband. I do lean toward fluffy dogs. Only found one in the area so far and it's a female around 5 years old and they want a $500 "donation". I swear these rescues are getting crazy. We did run across a St. Bernard mix that caught his interest but it's a senior with some fairly major medical issues that's being rehomed due to the expense and he decided he just couldn't put himself out there to get attached to something that may only have a year or two depending on what is going on since the dog is already 11. That would also put us with a pile of senior dogs at 10, 11, and 14 years old which could equate to a lot of deaths in a fairly tight time frame.

Spiders sire was fenris.

@twisterII if you want to come to colorado dumb friends league is overwhelmed and the Alamosa location usually has great pyr mix types that were too nice to protect sheep. Also lots of huskyxsheps that lean more in the gsd side.

For the right dog I will go about anywhere, though do hesitate too far on an untested dog for car sickness and dog friendliness. Right now I'm working through a case of kennel cough the other dog brought in. While he was vaccinated for it all that did was make it where I couldn't tell he had anything. This is the first time I've ever had a rescue bring it in. I thought kye had it when we first got him and so kept everyone at a distance until he was seen and that wasn't his issue. The other house was set up better for quarantine than new house if new dog can't be around cats.

I like the looks of some of the dogs that dumb friends league has. Not exactly sure what they mean by single family dog home though. As in the dog should be the single dog in the family or just need to be in a single family house, no apartments, rentals, etc.

There are so many dogs that go through here, it's really discouraging.  Grand Companion's is one I particularly like but our local shelter is also active in transporting animals out to where they can be adopted.  I'm constantly amazed at the number of dogs who just seem to appear here ... are they dropped off or lost from some tourist (though I don't think I've ever seen a 'lost' poster from a tourist) or did they just wander this way ????

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Just dawned on me ... yeh, as I've said before I'm slow ... but I'm going to be housetraining a puppy when it's cold outside!  And you all know just how much I (do not!) love cold weather!  

I'll ask Avalanche if he wants out and he'll go stand by the door, or he'll just go stand by the door leaving me to decide whether he wants out or he's just watching the neighborhood.  It'll be a while before puppy reaches that point but I'm not gonna be impressed by puppy messes for very long!  (( Oh, please make it not too long!! ))

We'll see how crating him overnight works.  I still have Sasha's crate set up and I'll be using that for 'overnighting.'  It's a 36" crate but I don't think it'll be too long before it fits.  Avalanche is about the same size as Zeus' sire (though I've never had them side by side) and he curls comfortably in Sky's crate.

And ... have to go wait for the mailman since I've got a box coming in today.  The mail boxes are about 3-4 miles away.  Beside 6 of the USPS's community boxes we have this:


I'm told that the community boxes were put up by the community not the USPS. Since there are now over 50 ( fifty!! ) standalone 'rural' mailboxes it's quiet a cluster. I've been setting there waiting for the mailman and watched several people going up or down the highway, stop, turn around and take a picture of them (in fact, this is one a fellow took and sent to me.)

So when they say single dog home they mean no other dogs in the house. They do pretty extensive dog testing at least at the Alamosa location. They wont put dogs down for behavior reasons so they do have alot of other animal agressive dogs. Currently there is a 4 yr old deaf Dalmatian female that is very truck tested that i saw on fb today. San luis valley humane also gets big fuzzy type dogs and they go to one of the pets mats in colo spring or they have a location near san luis. Pagosa humane and one of the in home rescues get most of the dogs from the indian rez and mostly they look like squirt or husky cattledog mutts. And then crystal wilson has an on ranch open setup rescue in antonito and there is lots of camping/rv spots and she might light you pull the rig on her ranch for a few days to make sure its a good fit. On top of high kill transfers we have a huge number of dogs that get dumped and lots of ranch dogs that are just too nice to be livestock guardians.

So al nice mailbox line. Looks like an area locals call the creede telephone booth (only cell reception in wagon wheel gap) usps wont go up the 4x4 roads so everyone on marble mountain is in 1 cluster. Actually we have lots of mailbox lines and clusters like that. And having usps cut service. So residential customers of the 81154 zip not in town limits only get mail mon/wed/friday now. And half the time it doesnt come on those days either. Our post master retired and everyone but 2 people quit and no one will work for $22 an hour and have to drive thier own vehicle and pay for maintenance and gas. My neighbor quit after destroying 2 vehicles in 5 years. The route she was on was 300 miles a day.

Good news is, texas isnt that cold and german shepherds are born half trained. I met some younger guys from your area on Halloween. Bad elk hunt but very successfully killing bud lite. They were from 50 miles from alpine texas. Super nice guys. Most of the hunters are.

Snow is coming in. The dogs will be happy.

Let's see 50 miles from Alpine - that's Marathon, Marfa or Ft Davis, 'most anything else if in the over 200 miles range.

Snow is coming - my dogs will NOT be happy. Avalanche absolutely hates precip in any form, it was foggy this AM and he wasn't going out till *that* cleared. Sky'll go out in it but only to do her business and then she wants back in.

Avalanche made a jail break last evening - not really it was me being stupid! I let him in and then stuck my head into the kitchen to make sure the back door was closed ... with the front door wide open ( Sheesh!!!! ) After about an hour - with the sun pretty much down - I went looking for him and found him down visiting some ABNB campers. Funny part was that they'd been on a short hike and didn't know he was in their campsite till I pulled up and he stuck his head out around the corner.

I know that part of their reluctance to go out is that I spend so much time inside (that's gonna change) and they want to be with their pack. I'd be okay with that if they'd stay reasonably close to their pack leader when we go out!

Any one else having dogs whose internal clocks are still stuck on DST??? It's 18:00 and my dogs wanted out for dinner at 17:00 (the old 18:00) I'll feed them very shortly, if I have to suffer with the time change then they're going to join me!

Yeh I'm a mean old man .....

Yup

Mine seem to make the transition fairly quickly. That deer season happens right after is far harder on them because not only has meal time changed but the person feeding them does since I go stay at the other farm to hunt.

Al - how are you surviving this cold snap? Forecast had you down to 18⁰ tonight Do you even have heat down there?!!?

Amymeme wrote:

Al - how are you surviving this cold snap? Forecast had you down to 18⁰ tonight Do you even have heat down there?!!?

Well, your forecast was wrong - we got down to 13° last night.  Even with the propane heater on low, it took me almost an hour to get the trailer up to a livable temperature.  We're high enough at 4000 ft ± that when the skies are clear and the temps are low already we get cold so everyone has some sort of heat.

That 60° drop in temp yesterday, though, was a shock.  At 1400 (2:00PM) it was 74 and when I got up this AM it was 13 ... the last time I remember a drop like that was when I was still in the north country - say '64.

Avalanche and Zeus are playing rotating doors and that's coming to a halt.  They want out, "Dad, it's COLD out here, lemme in!", so they come in and 10 minutes later they want back out ... so every time I let'm out or in I get a blast of that 13° air - not gonna do that too often!

I hear you on the in/out repeat with the dogs. Z'ev drives me crazy with that.

Holy you know what. We just drop 4⁰ in the last 5 minutes. I was gonna say it's 30⁰ here but now 26⁰. Heading to 6⁰ by 4 PM. Husband not gonna be happy - Family room is low on wood, we had packed snow on the driveway last few days, it's been in the high 30s overnight and raining for the last 15 hours or so. So that driveway, at a 3% grade, is now a wet slushy mess that gonna freeze into a ski jump. The wood is stored at the top of the driveway of to the the side. The door where the wood comes in is halfway down the driveway. Think I'll have to dig out the Yaktrax!!!

Stay warm - hope you have lots of propane.

Well, our days heating is done and we got all the way up to 27°  Don't I wish that were degrees celsius!!  The water bowl is still solid ice - has been since we got up this morning.  They try to get a drink and, well, that just doesn't work.

Broke out an afghan and took a nap - that's two light blankets and one heavy afghan, felt good!  Nice and cozy!  I should stay warm overnight tonight.  Last night wasn't bad but I got chilled a time or two.

Last time I checked I had 25% of my 250 gal propane tank.  I'll have it filled when this is over just cause that's lower than I like it and I'm running it pretty steady!  I'm keeping a pot on the stove with a low fire under it to keep the humidity up - the air is dry and nasal passages are sore.

Zeus has met his match, Sky is getting him from her superior position on the couch while Avalanche is getting him from the floor! That'll teach him to be an aggravation!

@amymeme now it's my turn to return the question. With the weather I'm seeing up north, I hope you're able to stay safe and warm.

Who put the firewood halfway down the driveway, it should be up to them to get your firewood in for you!

Misunderstanding - the wood shed is at the top of the driveway and of to the side. Wood is all stacked and under cover. It's brought down the driveway to the front door in 18 gal tough totes, 4 at a time carried in a large garden cart. The issue is, with a sloped, icy driveway, controlling that cart on the down hill is iffy at best. Our wood of delivered in the summer to be stacked under cover until the following year - that is, wood delivered in summer 2022 won't be used until October 2023. So we're always a year ahead on wood.

Well, if I'd read what you'd written I wouldn't have misunderstood but I pictured you having to haul it up an icy hill ... at least this way you have mother nature helping with a bit of gravity ... << smile >>

I'm going to have to get some consistency going with Zeus' training.  He understands "drop it" and "set" both of which he does when he's not interested in being a puppy.  "Come" is good except when he's really into being a puppy so I've got the worst of them pretty much out of the way.  

I've have a harness that I'm thinking of using for heel, he has no concept there, just daddy making noise and while I'm willing to let him run, I do want him to hit a solid "come, heel" when I need it. So extremely different from a Husky! and easier than either of the labs I 've had 'recently' (past 20 years.)

I know, I'm expecting a lot from a 14 week old pup but I've said it before here "Raise the puppy to be the dog you want it to become." and this is definitely a case of practicing what I preach.

He's really good out in the yard - except for harassing the blazes out of Avalanche - he looks at vehicles going by but has no interest in them otherwise.  He'll come to me if someone is driving in the yard so hopefully I'm not going to have to worry about him chasing something down the road.

Pupford Training Treats - don't waste your money all three of mine turned their collective noses up at them.  On the other hand the Merrick treats, thank you @TwisterII, are just what the doctor ordered.  They're strong enough to get their attention but I haven't had a dog digging in my coat pocket (yet.)

And thank the gods, it's due to get into the 60's tomorrow ... maybe I can reconnect my water pips and get some water in the house again.

Nope, reconnected the part I knew was broke, turned on the water and found a flood under the trailer.  I *AM NOT* crawling under this trailer, I'm too old for that much fun, but do have a fellow coming out Saturday morning.  Oh well, I grew up hauling water from the spring, I guess I can get it by the gallon from the gravity feed from my tanks out back ... it's a lot closer than the spring was!

I filled the jug outside so the dogs have water there and they don't drink too much when they're inside (unless Zeus decides to flip the water bowl, he got yelled at enough that's stop(ped/ping))  One gallon for a light wash, one gallon for coffee, one gallon± for the dogs and part of a gallon so my plants don't shrivel up and die.  I can live with that for a couple of days ... if I have to

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Tried to get his collar off so I could 'expand' it a bit and found that it had gradually worked its way so that it was already at its limit.  Before I brought him home I bought another larger collar (and matching leash) but couldn't find the collar and gave that up as a lost cause - he either ate it or stashed it under something so he could eat it later ... finally found it, on the counter where I left it and of course that was the last place I looked.