Off topic but I couldn't resist

I don't have a puppy picture but the photos are of my boxer, the first when we rescued him from the pound and the second 8 years later.

Roger

Harley as an older gentleman

What a handsome boy! Wow, he gets the blanket *and* the couch... he's livin' the life!

Our neighbor has a new pup that's half beagle and half pug... I think he looks like a miniature boxer!

linuxogre- Harley is very handsome. What a great dog to have ended up at the pound!
Our puppy has recently discovered that sofas and beds are in fact more plush than the floor (somewhat to my chagrin). She climbed up on the foot of the bed and trotted all the way to the pillows and plopped down. sigh.

beagle+pug= buggle?

Just came across this thread and have to comment!

Harley was a very handsome young pup and is still a handsome guy!

Pound pups are the best! Kudo's to you for rescuing him and giving him such a good life!


Oh, I love that - "Buggle"! I have heard of a "Puggle" and I thought that was the cross of Pug/Beagle? Buggle sounds so much cuter!

There are so many cross breeds with neat names and neat dogs nowadays. Have you seen the Labradoodle? A large Lab with curly hair like the poodle! How could anyone not love this one:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.allergyescape.com/im

hmmmm ... don't know what happened there. Let me try that link again:

http://images.google.com/images?q=labradoodle&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=images&ct=title

by thw way, sometimes you'd think it should be Mid Atlantic Gardening and Pet Lovers. so not too off topic

Here's an idea for you Sally. My stepson has a very large pitbull. He didn't want her to get on the furniture. So to solve that problem -- I kid you not -- he trained her to lie on his lap, or if he is lying down, to lie on top of him. That way she isn't on the couch/bed/chair, right? Occasionally we have her over when Jeremy is out. But I can't sit down or lie down when she visits, because she thinks that is the signal to clambor up and get comfortable. And she is anything but dainty -- many pounds of her, and many sharp elbows! And does she ever like to lick! But she's not on the furniture...

That is cute happy_macomb! Great idea your son had to train his dog. My sister and her husband have 2 large dogs, both over 100 lbs and my BIL likes to joke that they flunked out of puppy kindergarden years ago! They are lovable, friendly dogs but don't have a bit of obedience training and love to jump and climb on people. You can't sit down anywhere without one or both wanting to be in your lap! They are like 2 year olds and vie for attention!

My nephew has a pure bred English Mastiff that is 200 lbs!! He is huge. He thinks he's a lap dog too! They are called "Gentle Giants" and the name fits ... they just drool a lot and weigh a lot!

We started out that the new boxer wouldn't rule the roost like his predecessor did. Hah! The couch in my study is now his except for occasions when we have friends or family over and then if they give the least amount of encouragement they are likely to have a 95 lb dog in their lap. He is an absolute calf and when kids stay over is quite likely to end up in bed with them. Our schnauzer is stand offish and wouldn't be caught dead doing such things.

Cassie - 12 year old standard schnauzer.

What a pretty girl Cassie is! Oh how I miss having a dog in the family! Someday when some of our old cats (4) are gone we will adopt another canine! When we did have dogs years ago, they always were on the furniture. We consider our pets as members of the family .... they must be obedient and follow rules but there is no rule not allowing them on the furniture!

Our cats are allowed on furniture, but not on "tables" -- which include kitchen counters and desks. They're also not allowed to beg for food (if they are good and don't beg, however, they are likely to be rewarded). If we started bending either of these rules, I think it wouldn't be long before there would be cats on the dining table with their heads in our plates, helping themselves.

Actually, it wouldn't especially bother me to have my cat eat from my dinner plate. But it would freak out a lot of my friends & relations... and I'd rather have a better socialized cat that everybody likes, LOL.

Cassie is beautiful!

Oh I hear ya ... I do not like cats on the counter tops or on the tables! Luckily the 4 we have now do not attempt to get in those areas ... two are waaay too fat, one is too old and mainly stays in the bedroom and the other stays out on the screened deck most of the time!

My oldest sister has two large dogs and their son's VERY LARGE (200 lbs) dog ... two of them are so tall that their heads are above dining room table level .... interesting to be sitting and eating dinner and all of a sudden have this head appear next to your shoulder and staring at your plate! LOL

He sure is a gorgeous dog. We must see a picture of the 200 lb dog, plantlady! That's a lot of dog! LOL

Harley looks VERY comfortable and Cassie's a sweetie :)

hart, we had an English mastiff that visited us at Blandy's Arborfest - I think that one was only 135 lbs but way too much dog for me! The owner kept a pretty tight leash on him, but he lunged at Phoebe in her crate and made me just a little nervous even though the owner said he just wanted to play!!! Then we saw a gentleman holding his toddler right next to this dog's face so she could pet the "big doggy" - seriously, are some people just stupid? Would never do that with any strange dog and especially not one of this size!!!

Hate to admit it, but since Phoebe's arrival, we've had to feed our cat on the counter :(( I'm sure anyone visiting would cringe to think the cat is eating off the same counter where we sometimes prepare food, but at this stage it's the only way I can keep Phoebe from eating the catfood! Of course, I could feed Lucky outside, but figure he has enough to contend with since Phoebe's arrival and we don't want to upset the kitty now do we? LOL

Alright, second time in a row that Sally has me laughing. You say Buggle, and I was thinking of Peagle. I think that is cute too. ha-ha

Yep, gardening and pet ownership seem to go hand in hand. I am Mommy to three mixed breeds who we rescued. They are our entertainment committee. Yep, they get on furniture too. On occasions I will do a double take....here I am sitting on the very edge of the middle of the couch, becuase I have dogs on either side of me who are taking up most of the space.

On vacation I saw a dog that I was calling a Miniature Collie. Someone on here pointed out that it might be a Sheltie. I looked them up the other day and am going to consider this breed down the road when at least one of the current dogs are not with us.

I hope that everyone is having a good day.

Ruby

Shelties are wonderful dogs, but be prepared for their seemingly boundless energy. My in-laws had one when DH was a teen... he would snatch the baseball cap off DH's head... you'd think that dog had springs in his feet!

Hey, Phoebe's your cat... and you do scrub your counter on occasion, right? Not a problem. ;-)

It's getting colder... Kitten spent most of the night *under* the covers, at my feet. He's like a little furry hot water bottle!

Debbie, when we had dogs we had to feed the cat on the counter too. The cat had the end of the counter dedicated to him and the microwave separated him from the rest. We allowed him any place high to get away from two 115-125 pound dogs. Later I had a shelf built to put the microwave on to free up counters space and he got his own shelf. They've all since passed and we have one cat now. He's never shown any interest in getting on the counters, but then he's always acted more like a dog since we got him.

Not interested in the counters?? But.. but... that's where the humans keep the enormous bowl of sardines and whipped cream! At least, Eliot seems convinced that there's something up there that's worth getting into trouble for when he goes looking....

I think your Eliot thinks there's something interesting everywhere, doesn't he?

We feed our cats in a basement bathroom, and installed a cat door (actually a cat "hole") in the door -- the dogs can't squeeze throught the cat hole so they can't get at the cat food.

Who, me? I didn't! I wouldn't!!

Hey, linuxogre, any cats taking refuge from your pups? So many seem to be cat and dog owners.
We have made similar adjustments, our cats now have to eat up high and out of the way.

Ruby: Isn't it funny how we seem to let our "critters" take center stage. They get the best seat in the house while we sit on the floor sometimes! We at times have 3 cats in bed with us and they are large, overweight cats and they have to have my side of the bed, never hubby's! Even with a king size bed they seem to want their space which leaves little room for me. One of the cats loves hubby's favorite recliner! He will pick her up and move her to the couch and she stands up and looks at him like he's crazy, then goes and gets in his lap in the recliner. She doesn't like any other chair or the sofa - only that leather recliner! Another one will only get on the desk chair in the study.



Critter: Your Eliot is really growing up! Still a handsome guy! Look at that expression!

Hart: I don't have a current photo of my nephew's dog "Bubba" but this is him at 4 1/2 months old. He was all legs and so clumsy ... couldn't get out of his own way! When we go to visit at Thanksgiving I will have some photo's of him now that he is so huge!

No cats in our house. The boxer loves people but is totally intolerant of cats. Old as he is he gives it a good try when one of the neighbors cats encroaches on "his" territory. Perhaps if he had a kittten raised with him he would be more accepting but I wouldn't want to take the chance.

The schnauzer simply ignores them - "Cat -- what cat -- I don't see any cat" but then she is death on chipmunks.

Dogs may be domesticated but their predator origins aren't too deep.

Roger

Isn't it funny how some dogs don't seem to even notice a cat, while others really, really hate them! My friend has an older dog that has always tolerated cats wandering through their yard. He could care less about the cats, but when he was younger actually killed a squirrel in the yard! He has slowed down with age but goes crazy when he sees a squirrel on their back porch or in the yard! This friend's "Granddog"really, really hates the squirrels too and will go after them every chance he gets ... barking and snarling and trying his best to get ahold of one!

Awww, look at that face. Huge and still cute. Thanks for posting the picture.

Critter, I meant to tell you a while back that your kitty sure is growing up to be a beautiful cat.

Squirrels A.K.A. tree rats are the ultimate enemy of my two mutts. Of course with many large trees there is never a chance that they would be caught. The squirrels constantly are raiding our bird feeders so the dogs feel it is their duty (between naps) to drive them off. I gave up after trying all kinds of guaranteed to work anti-squirrel devices and just try to lure them away from the bird feeders by putting pans of sunflower seeds and peanuts at a distance. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. On the other hand squirrels can be hilarious when trying to get to a suet cage or the like so it is kind of a love - hate relationship with the little varmints. It did almost come to total war when they gnawed into my gardening bin to get at the bags of sunflower seeds.

Roger

I figure my yard is an ecosystem in its own right, down to predator-prey balance. We'll never get rid of all the voles, tree-rats (my friend from western PA says that too) groundhogs.

LOL Roger: Yep ... Squirrels ... love em', hate em'. I think it's just impossible to keep them out of the feeders! And, yeah ... they will chew through anything to get at food. Many years ago we had a huge wood deck outside our screened pool enclosure. I would put peanuts on the deck railings for the squirrels. Well, one time I ran out of peanuts, didn't get a chance to stop at the store to buy more (kept forgetting, actually). I happened to be out back in the pool area and the durned squirrels had chewed through the screen .... they knew that's where those peanuts were coming from! I quit feeding them after that. They are so cute and funny to watch, but can really be a nuisance can't they? We have friends that when their daughter was real young had a pet rabbit. Her dad built a large rabbit hutch/cage and it was on their screened back porch. Squirrels chewed through the screen trying to get to the rabbit food!

Thanks. Eliot is such a love bug, and of course we think he's beautiful too! I'll have to get a photo of him all poof-tailed for Halloween... He's got this hysterical ridge of fur along his back (that's where he had that bad scrape when he was found, and I guess the hair grew back long and stiff there), and at times it stands straight up, like the crest on a razorback hog!

Thankfully, the squirrels haven't really found us. They're fun to watch, but what a mess they can make in the garden! Birds, though... when there's a snowstorm and I don't want to hike down to refill the feeder, I throw birdseed out the back door onto the deck. Mobs of birds come to eat, and Blake just loves watching them... it's like "kitty TV!" Eliot has been enjoying watching the fish in their tank, so I can imagine what he'll make of the birds at the window feeder this year.

This photo is from a couple of weeks back... The cats have betta fish in their water bowls! (oh, they're not spoiled... no, no, not at all!)

That is just waay cute! He's found a new toy in that Betta fish! Seriously, you have them in the water bowls?? What a great idea! I bet the kitters love it! But, what kind of water bowl? that it holds fish and has a place for water to come out for the cats to drink? I'm confused. I think that is such a neat idea. My cats would go crazy!

Does Eliot ever do that "Scardy" Cat sideways dance with his fur sticking straight up??!! I just love to see kittens when they do that!! We have one cat that still does it once in awhile when she's playing .... and she's @ 12 years old! I crack up every time! It is just so hilarious watching them do that dance!

Lin, you're making it more complicated than it is... It's just that the cats drink out of the fish bowls, which as goldfish type bowls placed where the cats can reach them. They like "fishy water" even better than water out of the toilet, LOL. Don't think too much about what is flavoring the water.

Blake doesn't pay the fish much attention or try to catch them. He thinks that fish (to eat) comes in little cans! So far, Eliot has stayed out of the water, although I did see him near the bowl last week sputtering and sneezing in a way that said he might have shoved his nose into the water trying to catch the fish.

And yes, Eliot does that funny sideways skitter... I've seen Blake do it once or twice too, when he's enticing Eliot for a romp.

Here's our loong cat Blake, stretching up for a drink...

That is just too cute! Your pic's could win a photo contest for sure! That just tickles me seeing cats drinking out of fish bowls that actually have fish in them!

I betcha before long Mr. Eliot will stick his paw in that bowl trying to bat at the fish!

We have a 150 gal Salt Water Aquarium that has a lid on it so the cats couldn't get in but we've had aquariums for years and the cats have never even paid attention to them! One used to jump from the sofa to the top of the huge aquarium and then up to the top of the television cabinet up near the ceiling .... but they've never seemed to notice the fish in the tank.

Lin, that's a gorgeous tank, and it just sparkles! I'm ashamed of how mine looks by comparison... the fish don't mind the algae, granted, but they don't really show to advantage either with all that gunk! LOL

That reminds me... I haven't entered a single photo in this year's contest, and I'd better hop to! I think the deadline is today...

That tank is my husband's baby! All I do is feed them once a day. Salt water fish take so much care ... seems like he is doing something every single day to that thing! Checking levels of ammonia, nitrates, nitrites or something! We only have 5 fish in there and a couple of Coral's ..... he doesn't want to add new "critters" because he has to set up a quarantine tank to put new stuff in before adding to the established tank and it takes time which he doesn't have much of these days! This thing is so huge it takes up way too much room in our small living room. I would be happy with a 20 or 40 gal tank!

Yep ... today is the deadline for the photo contest! I thought about entering a pic or two, but I am not a good photographer so figured maybe I would wait until next year to enter .... have some time to practice! LOL

I'm having a tough time picking out kitty pics for the pet category...

I think the one of Eliot and "Mo" Betta has to be included, because it's just too funny.

There are a couple of Eliot that make me go, awwwww...

Look at those eyes!

But I also like this shot of the two of them together, "helping" me write a DG article...

Which one do you think? Right now, I've put in the first one of Eliot on the back of the couch.

and I should probably apologize to Harley for hijacking his thread with photos of those darned cats!