Uh Oh... · 6:07pm Jan 23rd, 2015
Looks like my life just got more complicated... in a pretty cute way.
My wife has been pining for a dog for years, so the stars aligned in just the right way for her to get one.
Well, she thinks they did. I'm more of a cat person, so there are very few star alignments that I see as a good reason to get dogs, but she's the one who's home all the time now. She's taking full dog responsibility, and my wife isn't one to shirk her sworn duties. I still have about three weeks before the dog is permanently ours, so we will be continuing the preparations. My cat has been surprisingly good through the whole thing. I thought she'd flip her lid, but besides standing off to the side with a "What the hell is that thing" look on her face, she's been pretty good. She even walked over and sniffed noses without being overly freaked out. That was once of the caveats. The cat was here first, and if she can't tolerate the dog, the dog goes back. I'm pretty proud of her that she hasn't turned into a furry wreck.
So, yeah. Gonna be an adventure. I think my wife remembers having a dog a lot more fondly than dog ownership really is, but I'm pretty pessimistic. I often predict the worst, and I'm often wrong. I hope I am this time, too.
PUPPY
Cats are usually more tolerable of new puppies than one might think. I'm more of a cat person myself, but dogs make for decent pets too.
2742099 That's why I was pretty firm about getting a puppy as opposed to a dog. At least then my cat would be bigger and more physically mature, so she'd at least have that going for her. The puppy doesn't walk very well yet, and she doesn't make a lot of noise, so the cat has been fairly tolerant of her. My cat is quite skittish, so I was worried that she wouldn't even enter the same room, or she'd smell the dog and hiss constantly. She's still not too hot on the idea, but she's been a lot more accepting that I expected.
We will see what it's like when the puppy can run around and make a lot of noise. Not so sure about that part.
2742105
Just be glad you didn't get a small breed like a chihuahua or maltese. How can so much racket come out of those tiny things?!
That puppy is adorable!
I'm more of a cat person myself, but that doesn't mean I actively dislike dogs, heheh.
2742114 That would never happen. My neighborhood is full of tiny dogs, and my wife and I are sick to death of all their yapping.
Corgis are the smallest we'd go, and they are still pretty bark-y.
2742130 She's pretty cute. We will see how I feel when she starts barking. I'm more of an adult animal person. Kittens and puppies are too playful and all over the place for me, but it's really more for my wife.
D'aww. It's too bad they don't stay that cute and harmless, heh. I'm also pessimistic about dogs, and have had a tendency to be right about them, so far. But if your wife is handling the work, then I guess you shouldn't have much to worry about.
And yeah, cats don't tend to have much problem with small puppies, in my experience. I've even had cats that have gotten along with adult bloodhounds, though said cats were very confident and outgoing. Not sure you'll be that lucky, if your cat is skittish. Introducing the dog as a puppy has to improve the odds of everything working out, though. Good luck.
2742139
Or chewing on things. Or whining at the door to be let in when the two of you are trying to share a moment of intimacy. Well, to be fair, some cats (like my current one) will claw at the door and meow to be let in, but maintenance considerations for the dog--like where they go if you're not going to be home for a few days--are entirely too important not to think about. Our cat gets lonely when we're gone, sure, but he can handle himself.
2742114 Oh, my, you hit the nail on the head there!
I happen to be the proud "owner" (sometimes I think that he owns me more than vice-versa) of a 7 (going on 8) year old Chihuahua named Pedro (the name was definitely not my idea; he already had it when I got him), and let me tell you, for him being only six pounds, he can be quite the noise-maker at times!
Much to my brother-in-law's considerable annoyance.
And my youngest sister used to have a Maltese (sweet l'il gal, all-in-all), but she definitely had a way of letting you know that she was around!
But you wanna talk noisy?! Try a Toy Poodle. Those things are major, major yappers!
I should know; I had one ( a little male named Joey) for several years, back in the 80's and 90's.
Let me say this, though. That l'il darlin' that you have there? She is absolutely adorable! What breed is she? A Pit Bull or an American Bulldog?
She look like one or the other, and her eyes are just gorgeous!
Very sweet and hopefully we get to see more pics as things progress. I'm glad to hear the cats okay too.
As for thinking more fondly, as someone who has owned dogs all her life...It doesn't really happen. There are ups and down to dog ownership, but in the long run, they give so much in your life that the downsides are far outweighed.
To me at least.
2742178 She's a Bandog
We are hoping her eyes stay that color, but all puppies have blue eyes, so her's are likely to turn brown.
I grew up with a toy poodle. That thing barked so much!
2742182 I really do love dogs. My only real reservations are that my wife's job now is to renovate our house, and I think dealing with a puppy is going to me more than she can handle while working on the house full time. She disagrees, so we will see. The next is the cat, but she's been pretty good about it, so I'm much more hopeful there.
2742191 A what? Never heard of that bred before.
Thanks for the link so I can find out for myself, though.
Me, too, but you're right about that.
Pedro's were, too, then they turned the lovely shade of reddish brown that they are now.
Ohhhhhhh, yes, they do!
2742178
I've never had much, if any, experience with toy poodles (or even poodles in general), but if it was anywhere near as noisy as a toy long-haired chihuahua (I believe that's what it was) my sister had once, I think I can imagine...
2742201 Basically, it's a Pitbull/Mastiff mix.
2742202 Well, the only experience that I've ever had with a long-haired Chi was in the first Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie (and that was in a movie, so you can take this observation with a grain of salt, if you wish), but I know that the ones in it were mega-loud!
But yeah, they (Poodles as a breed) are loud, so I leave it to your imagination.
On another note, maybe what your sister had was a Pomeranian. Pure-blooded ones have a pretty long coat, and are pretty yappy l'il critters in their own right.
Plus which, they and long-haired Chis resemble each other pretty closely, so it's pretty hard to tell them aparts as breeds sometimes.
Although Poms sometimes are closer to Minature Poodles in size, so I don't know.
2742205 Ah. Thanks for telling me that.
And I went to that page whose link you posted. They do look like that.
2742145 I'm hoping my cat and the dog will grow to be friends, but I'm not holding my breath. I'll be satisfied as long as they can be in the same room comfortably.
I've got three mastiffs at my house; as well as a Labrador Retriever and two Chihuahuas.
2742328 Holy crap! You must either have a big house, or you're using dogs as furniture.
Huh. So that's what you look like...
Cute dog, too!
~Skeeter The Lurker
2742347 It's my mom; she loves dogs, here they are:lh3.googleusercontent.com/UMKIkxbduHx1-Du9ICo1L5NXetWLh41kU7tRYvYVKZk=s196-p-no ( The two on the far right are English mastiff puppies and they've only gotten bigger since, and the golden one is a fully grown Neopolitan Mastiff that is rare color and we've had her since she was a puppy lh5.googleusercontent.com/NVfZ4hygAKC7tzqjGrHQucsFdvBCzlFCKxIu6Sih_Q=s196-p-no ).
Here's the lab lh5.googleusercontent.com/qixf97AfcUTsb4wraaBiy6bx0hLcgUZ6VSVnQo68bL4=s196-p-no
And last but not least; the Chihuahuas: lh5.googleusercontent.com/41B9zfg06JjBwHfw-mi6AQj5HyIyUhtyHrYhn7qm_eI=s196-p-no
I, too, am a cat person:
scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/t31.0-8/218392_10150166264888997_3597403_o.jpg
Sadly, Frisby was put down a few weeks ago. Not that I'd seen him in the best part of a year – I don't really speak to my parents any more – but he was a proper little wannabe panther.
2742369 That is a literal pack of dogs. Too many dogs for me, but I do like mastiffs and labs a lot.
2742365 You can tell it's me because I'm frowning.
I am disappointed that you did not wear your red suit during the picture. You know which one. You could wear it, then hold the dog like a supervillain.
2742583 Don't worry. I have plenty more villains suits to wear with my dog. There will be lots of opportunities.
I'm thinking of getting a pink one, then getting my wife to sew some balloon onto the pockets. That way, I have a nice one for BABSCon.
Just wait until it pees all over your floor.
2742673 Oh, I'm super eager. I just can't wait...
2742509 My lab is the old man in the family and the neo mastiff is a derp
literally.
Have to share this. I grew up on a farm with large outdoor farm dogs. After one dog passed away, mom and dad brought home a German Shepard puppy, all paws and happy, who came galloping into the front door of the house when they got back. Now our dogs were *not* supposed to be indoor dogs, and normally it took a bit of work to keep them out, but we had a siamese cat who just had kittens upstairs, and she came down the stairs at a dead run and greeted that puppy with all paws full of claws. The dog slammed into reverse on the wood floor, feet flying in all directions just like a cartoon and went pelting around the house in the other direction. Well, our main floor was laid out like a donut, so the cat goes bolting around the *other* way and greeted the dog in the kitchen in the same fashion.
That dog never even tried to come in the house again.
Doggy! Also interesting to see thats what you look like.
I wish you luck with your new doggy life.
2742508 Cats are really much more suited to my personality. Affectionate, but not needy. Dogs are often too in-your-face for me.
Sorry to hear about your cat. We had to put my siamese down about two years ago, and it still hurts me to think about. He was an amazing, frustrating, weird cat, and I miss him.
2743610 Not the best pic of me, but that's me. I did have the BABSCon picture up here a while back, though I've lost a lot of weight since then.
2743062 That's kind of what I'm hoping happens here. I wanted to make sure we got a puppy so that my cat was at least on even terms at the beginning. Hopefully she will establish some kind of dominance early on, because that's going to be a big, powerful dog in a year.