May be moving to Oregon

Adorable. Baby looks like it loves the whole experience.

I think it's really good for kids to grow up with animals. I've seen children raised in apartments with no pets that are just terrified of a kitty or dog. They burst out in tears at the sight of one!

Can't imagine how long it took to clean the slobber off the baby and his/her clothes. LOL

That's just too funny!

Beth: My great-nephew is in that category. He just developed a terror of dogs one day - nobody has any idea what triggered it. He's 6 now and fighting the fear. I took my year-old and very stable dog, Magic, down to Corvallis to celebrate my dad's 89th birthday with the entire family.

The dog was laying in the middle of the room half-asleep and the kids were roaming variously. My nephew (the 6-year-old's dad) said to the kids, "Be careful of the dog's feet," meaning, of course, that the kids should pay attention and not step on the dog's feet.

There was a pause, and then I heard my great-nephew, who's the oldest of the great-nieces and nephews, say quietly to his little brother (who has no fear of dogs), "Oh, he has claws."

LOL. For some reason, he thought that his dad was warning them to beware of the dog's claws. Magic did great with the kids, mostly ignoring them, but not avoiding them. And I think we made some progress, but it make take awhile in this case.

Here's Magic.

Magic looks very sweet! Probably just what the boy needs to get over his fear. Maybe he can slowly warm up to petting him?

Yes. Somewhere I have a picture of the kids sitting around the dog specifically for that purpose. And this was at the suggestion of the boy who was afraid (I told you, he's trying). He's sitting at the butt of the dog as far away as he can get and still be touching him. LOL

Interestingly, his fear is much like that of people who are afraid of flying, etc. He's not afraid that the other kids will get hurt. They were all over Magic (one of them we have to keep any eye on - he's much as his picture below makes him out to be . . . happy and afraid of nothing) and he was fine. He just has this fear for himself. My niece-in-law, his mother is from France. She says, "He's a little bit neurotic. He gets that from my side of the family." Too funny.

Here's his cousin, Dashiell, who clearly has no fear, much to his parents' chagrin. Not sure why Dashiell's face got cut off, but you get the idea.

My mother has never gotten over her fear of dogs. She never managed to relay the fear to me or my brothers, thank goodness. We've always been cat people but have had dogs after we've left home.

Here's my Monty.

Monty looks very content in that basket!

oh, Monty and Magic both look so sweet.

My husband was pushing my daughters in a double stroller when they were younger, and a huge dog came after us - barking drooling, fur up on his back - took them years to get over it! The dog was unleashed in a front yard (it wasn't his home, he was being watched by the person in the house - not closely enough obviously) My son wasn't around yet (in my stomach at the time lol) and he adores dogs, of course HE;s allergic to them.

Awwww. Monty's beautiful.

My mother has always had some fear of dogs, too. I think that, in her generation, people paid a little less attention to temperament and good behavior, at least where she lived. She seems to have gotten over that with the dogs we've owned. Maybe her fear is not as bad as your mom's.

I have both dogs and cats. Some days I'm a cat person - some days a dog person. It depends on my mood and the kind of activity I'm up for. My dogs are more like cats than some dogs, too.

Here are two CH kitties I adopted last fall. The last kittens for me for awhile, I think. The little calico girl is a terror. I came home the other day and she had one of my parakeets in her mouth - she had knocked over the cage and caught him. So much for her polydactylism and CH disability.

He's way too big for it but he insists on sleeping there all day, every day.

oh look at those kitties! How cute are they?

Here's a picture of my oldest daughter with my brothers dog, Lola - she is a darling (kinda looks like Alf from that tv show) she helped the girls conquer their fear.

Sweet kitties, I wish I could have one but with 8 dogs it wouldn't be practical. Here is the old Oregon farm house in Scio.

My DH sent me this one from his cell. He (Monty) discovered the coolness of my dwarf weeping cherry.

I don't know how I acquired the fear, maybe because I had to walk past 3 BIG dogs that barked and were not confined. Later I was bit by a neighbor's dog. It used to come out, bark, sniff and walk off. One day it decided to bite me!

I really like WELL behaved dogs. Those that don't jump up, or keep bothering me if I show no interest in them. Alas, I am a cat person on the whole.

Gee, I wonder.

Mom's fear is bad. She stiffens up and if she's in a car, won't get out.

We had a mailman when I was a kid TERRIFIED of our dog. Frisky would bark and rush the screen door and jump up and down in a frenzy. One day the screen wasn't closed all the way and Frisky got out. He ran right past the mailman and up the street!!! The guy was never afraid after that!

This message was edited Oct 4, 2007 2:25 PM

I won't get out if the dog looks the LEAST bit aggresive. I will wait for the owner to tell me it's ok.

It may be a phobia...my husband has lots of those so I understand it. He can't help it and the fear is irrational.

It is a phobia. she's 84 now and there's nothing to be done.

Willie and Salsa are best buddies!

TootsiePop - Lola looks like she could charm anybody. I really think it's true that your experiences shape your feeling about animals in general.

I'd like to say that my dogs are well-behaved, but they do get excited about seeing people and they do like to jump up on the couch next to you and cuddle. Alas, I've been around dogs so much that I sometimes forget that people don't like to be "sniffed" or "licked". LOL I'm turning into a dog!!! I see that as a compliment. Sad . . .

8 dogs, Beth, you're a saint!!

I don't know if a fear of dogs is really irrational. Just like a fear of flying isn't irrational. There is a very real possibility that something bad can happen. It really just depends on the risk you want to take.

I know a lot about dog behavior and signals, but I always ask before petting any dog and I am very careful when I'm out with or without my dogs. Some dogs I used to encounter at the dog park were totally out of control and it was the owner's fault, not the dog's. I did a lot of yelling at those people to, "get control of your dog." And I'm not generally a confrontational kind of person. But when it comes to the safety of me or my dogs, I get into robo-mommy mode. :-)

This one was right after Monty got shaved.

Some people just take it for granted that little dogs are okay and big dogs=bad. My worst bite came from a dog half Monty's size!

(Robo-mommy mode! That's good.)

This message was edited Oct 4, 2007 2:53 PM

Awwwwwwwww. That is adorable. Do you shave him every summer? How does he react? Does he adjust okay? I thought about doing that with my Maine Coon, Willow. But sadly, she was killed by a coyote this summer, so I don't have to worry about that anymore.

Kwanjin, you're so right. I love the story about Frisky and the mailman.

I had a repairman come to the house once and he told me that he was okay with dogs. Turns out he was frightened and so I put them away. But before I did, he kept lifting his arms up high when my Whippet, Nick, would walk by. Surely because of his fear. That made Nick think there was something going on (like did he have a treat?) and so he gave this guy more attention than he normally would have gotten.

Beth, I love all your photos of Willie and Salsa. They look like a couple characters, for sure.

Yes, we shave Monty every summer. He takes to it just fine. NOW!!! The first time they said he yowled and fought the whole time but after that he was like, okay, whatever, I've done this before and nothing bad happened! He even preens and shows off now. "Look at me!!! I'm handsome!"


Sorry to hear about Willow! My kitties are inside kitties. My Isis got bitten by another cat that came in our yard.

Mine are inside now, but boy it's hard to convert them. I wouldn't have been able to convert Willow - she was just made to be outside. She ripped up carpet at the sliders and was able to slide open the doors to get out.

I just wish that I hadn't trusted that the coyotes wouldn't come into a fenced back yard with dog scent everywhere. I wish I had gone out to collect her and make her come in. Learned my lesson there. I hope by winter that they'll all stop trying so hard to get out.

I do miss having the "help" me garden. I love to watch them chase little critters and bugs and bask in the sun. What I need, I think, is a llama or something to keep the property safe. Now, how am I going to incorporate that? Maybe I can make a "run" around the outside of the property for the llama. Hmmmmmm....

I don't mean the fear is totally unfounded, but it is not in proportion to the risk. DH is terrified to get on an airplane but he gladly drives the freeway without thought. Flying on an airplane is statistically safer than driving, so the phobic fear of flying seems out of proportion. He knows that rationally, but still has an irrational fear of getting on a plane or a boat.

I have all kinds of fears. Even ones I KNOW are baseless. Like vampires. Please tell me I'm not the only one. Buffy is my favorite show of all time but...

Vampires...as in the bats or the count dracula type?

Uh huh. Yup. Both. Those are the ones. Irrational but there none-the-less.

This message was edited Oct 4, 2007 3:43 PM

Yes, Beth, you're right. We have seen so many cases of dog-maulings up here recently, that I can imagine lots of people are tied up with fear. And, then, again, there are so many irresponsible owners.

I don't get that comfortable on the roadway thing. I am really frightened anymore when I'm out on the road. But so many people out there aren't and then don't drive defensively or anything close to it.

I would be terrified of vampires, but I just don't think there's much likelihood of seeing one. Kwanjin, are you saying that you tend to think that there are some around? :-)

wow - you just gotta love Willie and Salsa ! They look like alot of fun!

Sorry about Willow :( - we have Tiger, a big orange tabby. Someone dumped him when he was a year old and he just stayed in our backyard until we adopted him (well, the kids feeding him tuna might have kept him around). Unfortunately, he INSISTS on being outside some everyday. We just can't break him of it.

He's very sweet, the kids even push him around in a wagon or a baby stroller and he just lays there.

Monty doesn't look like the shaving bothers him at all !

Aren't those big boy cats something else? So mellow and happy to have attention. My boys hang out together (Dude, move over and let me have some sun). My girls tend to be independent (Thhhhhhht!! She keeps lookin' at me!!).

Many years of working in the scientific disciplines have probably affected my brain. I have never observed evidence of a vampire, but absence of evidence doesn't equate with evidence of absence. It could be possible. Vampire bats are real, and I would rather never meet one. I do like the harmless brown bats that I have seen around the house. They really cut down on the insect population.

Oh - I totally agree, the boys are so mellow. He gets along with the other cats in the neighborhood.... but we can't leave crunchies out anymore. The darn raccoons were making a terrible mess in the pond with the food -and ate most of the fish. Not to mention spreading my bag of fish fertilizier all over the grass (not what I bought it for !) They haven't bothered us since I brought the cat crunchies inside.

We have three indoor cats. Two of them insist on coming outside so they have to wear their harness and long leash that they drag around. They both think that a fenced acre is not enough for them that is why they have the leash. If they try to slink under or over the fence I can still hang on to them. Our third cat likes to come out in the summer when we eat dinner on the patio. She doesn't leave the patio, she's a bit chicken which is fine by me! We also have our dog "Cinder." She is a lab mix had her since she was a pup, she will be 11 on the 29th of this month. She's all gray around the muzzle but she is still a good gaurd dog, she has a very loud "mean" sounding bark when someone drives into the yard as soon as you tell her it's o.k. she is as sweet as can be. Here is a pic.

Cinder looks like a sweet old dog. I have a couple of 14 year olds dogs.