Ohai! Iz me.....
Mar. 23rd, 2010 02:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
not_hathorYah, it's been a while since I wrote a substantial post here; the reasons being at least three-fold:
1) Lent/Easter is the second busiest time of the year here at work, and the boss has kept me busy Busy BUSY!!!! Plus we're doing our 165th Anniversary (?!?) in a few weeks, which has also been busy-making... not much spare time at the office since mid - February.
2) Still recovering from recurring cold nasties, meaning as much home time sleeping as manageble; evenings spent watching TV and finishing up my Knitting Project: since mid-November, 10 handknitted hats for the Homeless Teen/GLTB shelter, three sets of handwarmers, two scarves. Also a hat & scarf set for Step-Granddaughter's birthday in January.
3) And an addition to the family: Jethro, a sweet, affectionate, lovable Chow-Mix that came home with us from the over-crowded County Animal shelter at the beginning of March. We weren't trying to keep him a secret, just wanted to be sure things would work out between him and Bel before we made any formal announcements. Jethro (named for the N.C.I.S. character) was brought to our attention by our friendly vet, who remembered our efforts (futile, unfortunately) on the behalf of a pair of elderly female Chows last summer and asked if we could help, because of the over-crowding at the shelter (Chows being notoriously slow to be adopted, as a rule). One look at that adorable face.... and Bel didn't seem to object at the time, although they've re-enacted the Tong Wars throughout the house on a nightly basis since -- pretty sure they're playing, even though it sounds horribly vicious (no bloody stumps yet!)
We aren't certain what other breed is involved in Jethro's make-up; we suspect either German Shepherd or a retriever. Definately something more than Chow, especially in the ears, tail and back legs. He's rather vocal for a Chow, and he nibbles; the vet thinks his age is under two years as he seems to be still developing his adult teeth. Plus, he developed a few bad habits while he was in the shelter, so we've had to be extra vigilant about meals and 'walkies' -- 2 am, ugh! Jethro....
It's getting better, though this morning he jumped at the mudroom's screen door and jammed it shut; had to bring him in on a leash through the front door -- Welcome to Tuesday....good thing we've got the back sliding door as well. Needless to say, he and Bel have been keeping us on our toes. When they aren't trying to chew each other's ears and tails off (it's a dominance thing: Bel thinks she's the Boss, and Jethro wants to argue the point) they're actually sort of sweet together, swapping rawhides and letting us know that the Evil Squirrels are OUTSIDE conspiring with the neighbor's cat to TAKE OVER THE WORLD, bark bark bark bark!
So, that's been life at our house for the past two months.... what's new with you?
1) Lent/Easter is the second busiest time of the year here at work, and the boss has kept me busy Busy BUSY!!!! Plus we're doing our 165th Anniversary (?!?) in a few weeks, which has also been busy-making... not much spare time at the office since mid - February.
2) Still recovering from recurring cold nasties, meaning as much home time sleeping as manageble; evenings spent watching TV and finishing up my Knitting Project: since mid-November, 10 handknitted hats for the Homeless Teen/GLTB shelter, three sets of handwarmers, two scarves. Also a hat & scarf set for Step-Granddaughter's birthday in January.
3) And an addition to the family: Jethro, a sweet, affectionate, lovable Chow-Mix that came home with us from the over-crowded County Animal shelter at the beginning of March. We weren't trying to keep him a secret, just wanted to be sure things would work out between him and Bel before we made any formal announcements. Jethro (named for the N.C.I.S. character) was brought to our attention by our friendly vet, who remembered our efforts (futile, unfortunately) on the behalf of a pair of elderly female Chows last summer and asked if we could help, because of the over-crowding at the shelter (Chows being notoriously slow to be adopted, as a rule). One look at that adorable face.... and Bel didn't seem to object at the time, although they've re-enacted the Tong Wars throughout the house on a nightly basis since -- pretty sure they're playing, even though it sounds horribly vicious (no bloody stumps yet!)
We aren't certain what other breed is involved in Jethro's make-up; we suspect either German Shepherd or a retriever. Definately something more than Chow, especially in the ears, tail and back legs. He's rather vocal for a Chow, and he nibbles; the vet thinks his age is under two years as he seems to be still developing his adult teeth. Plus, he developed a few bad habits while he was in the shelter, so we've had to be extra vigilant about meals and 'walkies' -- 2 am, ugh! Jethro....
It's getting better, though this morning he jumped at the mudroom's screen door and jammed it shut; had to bring him in on a leash through the front door -- Welcome to Tuesday....good thing we've got the back sliding door as well. Needless to say, he and Bel have been keeping us on our toes. When they aren't trying to chew each other's ears and tails off (it's a dominance thing: Bel thinks she's the Boss, and Jethro wants to argue the point) they're actually sort of sweet together, swapping rawhides and letting us know that the Evil Squirrels are OUTSIDE conspiring with the neighbor's cat to TAKE OVER THE WORLD, bark bark bark bark!
So, that's been life at our house for the past two months.... what's new with you?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-03-23 11:31 pm (UTC)Jethro
Date: 2010-03-27 06:32 pm (UTC)Not much new with me--doc upped my Metformin. And the mental health clinic I was going to has had state funding cuts, so I've been cut from their patient program in favor of people whose symptoms are much worse. I'm just depressed...in general, and over getting cut, of course. Bleah!
no subject
Date: 2010-04-30 12:25 am (UTC)GSD and any type of Retriever could not be further apart genetically (which goes to show how bogus 'what breed or cross' guesswork usually is, and the "DNA breed ID test" is no better) -- chow crossed with a retriever will have dropped or rosed ears, GSD cross will not.
Adult teeth are fully developed by 8 months at the latest.
Starting at about 2 years old (when the personality matures), ALL normal adult males are always dominant to ANY normal females, unless the male was neutered too young, in which case it can have a female personality (which means it may also fight with females rather than simply being the boss by default). The dominant dog usually *appears* to be the underling to the inexperienced eye, as it *graciously allows* the underling to steal toys and food, maul it during rough play, etc (just like a parent indulging a child) ... except when the boss really wants something, then all the boss has to do is stand there looking and the underling goes SIR YES SIR and backs down without a fight. -- Dominance within the same sex is more complex, but the behaviour between tiers is the same. Regardless, social position is inherited, NOT made.
If you've got a female that wants to argue with a male, fer ghu's sake DON'T bring another female dog into the household; one of them *will* wind up dead. Males may beat each other up, then go have a beer together; females fight to kill.
[/hat]
no subject
Date: 2010-04-30 02:42 pm (UTC)So, not Retriever. The GSD id is not exactly wishful thinking, more like being influenced by the N.C.I.S episode that inspired the name (GSD suspected of mauling; proved innocent, adopted and renamed by Abby the Goth forensics expert). I guess all we can really say for certain is that Jethro's 'other half' is long-legged, has upright ears, and soft smooth fur (i.e. not 'fluffy'. The 'long-legged' worries me a little, because the back leg structure seems to be 'CHOW' which isn't designed for 'long-legged'.
*sigh*
no subject
Date: 2010-04-30 04:15 pm (UTC)ALL Chow crosses have the blue tongue (or at the very least a heavily mottled blue tongue), which is dominant. Black spots on an otherwise-pink tongue does NOT mean Chow; the spotting trait is in many breeds. Lots of breeds and mixes can be post-legged (extreme lack of angulation) as a rear-end fault; it's not exclusive to Chows. Short nonfluffy Labrador-type coat is a dominant gene but can also result when two unrelated homozygous recessives are bred (wirehaired dog bred to longhaired dog equals 100% smooth-coated pups, cuz those are different genes and don't match up). -- You got a picture of this beast??
"Bowel mishaps" tend to be an inherited habit (often associated with other temperament or trainability issues), NOT learned. Sad to say I'd guess that's why someone gave up this dog in the first place. :( Contrary to popular belief, kennel dogs are generally VERY easy to housebreak even as adults, so he *didn't* "learn to be dirty" at the shelter. -- You can mitigate the midnight magic turds by crating the dog at night; indeed, you really have no choice but to do so (or find surprises every morning). Also, feed the lowest-fibre diet you can find, to reduce stool volume and cut down the "need to go".
no subject
Date: 2010-05-02 09:56 pm (UTC)The Carpet deposits aren't a constant thing, thank goodness; seems to happen mostly on weekends when the daily schedule is thrown off and we (admittedly) have been a bit careless about feeding times....
Both Jethro and Bel are eating 'Fit and Trim' -- Jethro's between-meal snacks have included at least two pairs of dirty underwear, part of a shoelace, an approximately two-square inch-hole out of a cotton kitchen towel, the straps off a pair of Cassandra's shoes, bites from Kent's old leather loafers, chunks from my imitation Crocs, and several rubber screwdriver handles are definitely worse for wear.... And that's not including the various chew toys, denta-bones, and beef-basted shank bones he's demolished.....Last time there was a chewing spree remotely similar in our homes was when Beldandy was teething.... fortunately that's settled down mostly (although the kitchen towel incident occurred this past week).
I'll see if I can import a picture to LJ.... He really is sweet-tempered and friendly.... and I STILL haven't told my Mom we have a second dog....
Urgh. She is NOT going to approve. On the other hand, SHE doesn't live here... but I'm STILL going to hear about it.