spiritsmom

Wow, he is a stunning dog! Seems to have this quiet nobility about him. I bet he howls with the best of them though! This is the wolf dog/? right that you had posted about? I don't know much about the wolf hybrids, wouldn't know one if it bit me in the butt, so to speak! He is a good looking boy. About how much does he weigh?

My Mystic is 11 weeks so I know what you'll be going through! She poops outside just fine though, luckily. Here's what I've been doing: If Mystic does not potty outside I bring her back in and either put her in her crate or I tie her to me (I have a leash tied around my waist and tied another leash to that to put on her, the end of which was dipped in Bitter Apple to keep her from chewing on it). She doesn't have any alone time anymore, she is either in the crate or hooked up to me with several toys in reach if her mouth. She also bites at my pants leg and I keep a penny can handy (I have a few so I keep one in every room - soda can filled with some pennies and taped shut, makes a startling noise) and then I just shake it. She'll drop my pant leg and then I stuff a toy (always have one handy too!) in her mouth and say good girl when she starts to chew on the toy. I have no idea what they mean by tanbark other than maybe they are talking about mulch? I'm sure most puppies would love to eat mulch so that might be it. I have many toys of all different types from nylabones to stuffed toys (she gets those only supervised so she doesn't tear them apart). I keep a Kong and a nylabone in her crate and then I have a toy box upstairs and downstairs. I keep a few chew toys, sterilized bones and rope toys laying around so that they are accessible to her. I have some tug toys for the two of us to play with. Always want to keep that mouth occupied so she doesn't find other things to chew on.

I know, I think I was in shock as well as the dog. At the very least I had been hoping that someone would have been able to put her down quickly without causing her any more suffering. I really wonder what happened to her and why someone would leave a dog in her condition in front of a shelter that was closed till the morning. I'm thankful that I was going back to the building when I did otherwise I hate to think she would have died there in front of the door. If I came across another I don't think I'd hesitate to put him/her in the car when my own are there too. Now I have bigger car than I did then so it would be easy to keep my dogs in the backseat and put the stray in the cargo area since I have a pet barrier.

I did pick up a stray cat once with my own dogs in the car (Kara, Kyra and Spirit). I usually keep a cat carrier in my car for such things, but had cleaned my car out that day and forgot to put it back in. I went to the dog park with the 3 furkids and when leaving I heard someone yelling at me about an animal under my car. I look under and there is a cat! I guess she thought she'd try to get into the dog park, but thought better of it and stayed in the parking lot under MY car! I just reached under and hauled her out and stuck her in my car with the dogs. My dogs all like cats, but I wasn't sure how the cat would react. Just a little hissing and she curled up under the seat. Got her home without a problem and put up signs. No one ever called so I took her to work (the shelter) spayed her and she found a great home. She actually really liked dogs as it turned out and went to live with 2 dogs and a cat.

I did this once back when I first started working for the humane society here. I had gone back to work to drop a couple dogs off that I'd had at an off site around 7pm. When I pulled up there was a Rottie sitting in front of the door. I had my own dog, Snickers (now a bridgekid) with me also. As I got closer I saw that she had recently had pups (very droopy nipples) and had been badly injured. She had large chunks of flesh missing and what appeared to be an Ace bandage wrapped around her midsection (I never took that off as I didn't want to see what it was covering). Plus torn ears and all of it was fresh as she was still bleeding and ended up bleeding a lot more in my car. I started to panic since no one was there to help me with her so I just picked her up (luckily she didn't bite me as it's not wise to pick up strange large dogs, let alone ones that were injured) and put her in the car with Snickers. I quickly drove her to the E-vet about 5 minutes away. They wouldn't help me since she was a stray and I only had $100 on me. They wouldn't even put her to sleep for me since she wasn't my dog. Then I drove another 20 minutes to the county animal shelter with her and paid $50 to leave her there. Luckily (in a way) they put her to sleep immediately, it seems when they removed the bandage those injuries were very bad and she was quickly put to sleep. So that was the one and only time I've put a stray dog I found in my car with one of my own. Luckily she was in shock and therefore hardly noticed Snickers looking at her. I have no idea what I would have done if they had fought. I have picked up other stray dogs, but that was the only time I had one of mine with me. I still would do it again if I saw another dog while I had one of mine with me.

When will she have been spayed? At our shelter we do early spay/neuters too so I'm used to seeing puppies with sutures, lots of people are shocked that we do them that young, but hey they get done rather than wonder if they did or not. If my vet would do them early I'd have him do Mystic soon, but he belongs to the 6 month club. We remove sutures after 10 days (not 7 like some, just to be sure they are healed totally). Puppies go up for adoption the day after surgery so likely your pup will have just had surgery too. You can clean it with hydrogen peroxide, but this isn't necessary - only if she gets really messy down there. We clean some of them with this if they have a tendency to lay in their own urine/feces (some do). Don't bathe her, but if you absolutely have to: rub some vaseline over the sutures (fairly thick coat) to keep the water away (clean this off later) and don't direct the water onto that area (meaning, I wouldn't spray her belly). Don't let her jump on the furniture and block off (baby-gate) the stairs so you can carry her up and down. Not too much activity the first few days, you'll probably notice that the spay won't slow her down much for long! Check those sutures every day. If she starts to pick or lick at them throw a large shirt on her and tie it under her belly so it covers the sutures until you can buy an e-collar. The t-shirt works temporarily. Make sure the area doesn't appear red or puffy, if it does call the vet. Sometimes we see a small knot develop under the skin that is fairly firm, this can be caused by an allergic reaction to the suture material and she will need to be reopened and resutured. Some recommend putting the pups on a course of antibiotics following a spay. We don't do this, but you can ask your vet what they think. Usually they don't need anything for pain, but keep an eye on her and if she does appear to be feeling some pain/discomfort call your vet. I'm so happy to see that you are getting another pup. She won't replace McKay, but she'll help ease the pain of her sudden loss. You'll be so occupied with this puppy that you should only remember the happy times you had with McKay, not the ones when she was so sick. I hope this girl lights up your life again!

From the info I have learned they were created in the 1970s by crossing a Malamute and a German Shepherd. The Malamute added size to the breed. They come in both plush and smooth coats just like shepherds. Some people have still been adding more German Shepherd blood to them by crossing Shilohs with German Shepherds. They are not an AKC breed, they have their own registry, but can also be registered with AMBOR (the mixed breed registry). King Shepherds are said to be very large dogs created by the crossing of large German Shepherds with large Shilohs. I tell people she will look like a larger, longer haired German Shepherd when she's grown up since many people don't know what a Shiloh Shepherd is. Dog Fancy did a breed in brief of them a few months ago.

Mystic fit just fine into the carrier and that fit under the seat. She went through the flight home without a problem - she slept the entire way. She didn't much like the take-off or the landing but other than that she was fine. She's VERY tired now from all the excitement - the security people at the airport were in love with her and had to pet and hold her! She's done very well with the other dogs, she's very submissive with them. Right now she has her head on my feet, sleeping. No accidents still! I haven't crated her yet because she's been doing so well sleeping on my bed. We'll just have to see how Spirit likes that though. I'm going to take her by work tomorrow after her vet visit to get microchipped. She's really bonded to me and already starts to answer to her name. Here's a picture of her once I got home - as you can tell she was very tired! [img]http://www.fuzzybutts.com/Mystic%20sleep2small.jpg[/img]

I am still in Virginia with her and she fits just fine into the pet carrier I bought for the plane trip home so there should be no problems there. I am so in love with this puppy! She is even better than I had ever hoped! She's simply adorable and oh so smart. I took her for a walk and let her play off leash in the front yard. She keeps a close eye on me and comes whenever I call her. When walking she stays right behind me and will run into my legs if I stop! Right now she's napping on the bed in the middle of a puppy dream - she's twitching her legs. She conquered going up the stairs after some cheering on. She doesn't want to try going down yet. She is a talker! She grunts and moans when I rub her belly and whines at me when she wants to go out (very good puppy!). I have been taking so many pictures of her both awake and asleep. Her breeder said that she tested out to be a great couch potato type of dog with an excellent temperament. When we got home, the neighbor's kids when running by screaming (as they always do) and she didn't spook. She kinda just looked at them and then looked back at me! My other dogs would have freaked, actually they have in the past when I bring them here to visit and those kids make tons of noise. I am very impressed to say the least! She is exactly the kind of dog I have always wanted, not that I didn't want my other 3 but they all have issues. I just know that this puppy is someone special, she may just become a wonderful therapy dog in time! For my first time ever going to a breeder for a pet I am very very pleased. It was a wonderful experience and I just know that if there were more breeders out there like my breeder instead of those just trying to make $$$ then maybe we wouldn't have the problems we do with pet stores, BYBs and overpopulation. A lot of my friends are anti-breeding meaning they think nobody should breed any dog no matter what until the ones in shelters and rescues have been adopted. Most of them were [b]not[/b] pleased when I told them I was getting a puppy from a breeder. I felt I had to justify myself to them and then realized that I shouldn't do that. I myself am not anti-breeding, I just wish that only [u]responsible[/u] breeders existed to provide pets to people who wanted a purebred dog. That's about all I have to say, it's been a long day for Mystic and me. When I get home I will add more pictures of her to my website, most likely on Wednesday. This week will be full of firsts - first vet visit, first bath, first trip to the pet supply store, lots of people to meet and she's going to be microchipped too. I think we both will be exhausted by the end of this week!

Nearly every ad here boasts champion bloodlines on their puppies/dogs, but the sire/dam themselves are 9 out of 10 times NOT champions themeselves and will likely never see a show ring. There's even an ad in the paper now that claims their dog is part champion, whatever that is supposed to mean. Ranks right down there with an example I exprerienced yesterday at work (actually I hear this a lot). A military couple wants to drop off their 1 year old female Siberian Husky. She is not spayed, so nosy me I ask why. Their response? "She came with papers". I can't wait till we get that girl later this week and spaye her little butt. My Keeshonds pedigree include 1 (only 1) champion 5 generations back so I guess that means they have "champion bloodlines". Plus... I adopted them from a rescue and they came with papers to boot! Now I really should kick myself for spaying them! Extreme sarcasm there. I mean they have papers AND champion bloodlines! Forgot to mention that they have horrid conformation and not very great temperaments (sorry girls, but you know it's true!). Ah but that doesn't matter because of their bloodlines and their papers! Actually, their owner (the one that dumped them at a shelter when they got to be too much for her) bought them with the intention to breed them with her pet store male (who was actually WAY too big/tall for a male Keeshond - I saw his picture) because of their champion bloodlines and their AKC papers with FULL registration. At least these two are out of the Keeshond gene pool thankfully! They really should not be allowed to pass any of their genes on at all, sounds harsh but it's true.

I work for a shelter where Bully breeds are automatically euthanized. We are allowed to release them (after we spay or neuter them) to rescues, but no rescues in my area will take them. Most of the ones we get are sweet, lick-your-face wigglebutts. We do get the aggressive one in every once in a while, but that's rare. Usually they are licking your face while you euthanize them, I've had several do that to me. I tried to save one, a sweet little brindle girl, but she began to get aggressive with my own dogs and as I had to rescue to send her to I had to put her down. She'd been abandoned by her owner and brought to our shelter. I fattened her up in hopes of rehoming her on my own, but it didn't work. There is a picture if her on my website in my euthanized animals page, her name was Kai. We've managed to save a few pit bulls and american bulldogs, but most go the way of the needle. I never understood how you can sell pit bulls in the local newspaper (and I'm sure some WILL be fought because the ones around here are not likely to screen homes) that are intact, yet we cannot adopt out vaccinated and altered pit bulls to screened homes. It just doesn't make sense at all. I do hope to one day have my own pit bull, but Ohio is very anti-pit bull it seems, plus I do not have my own house yet (good luck renting around here with a pit bull) and I can't afford the insurance yet. I know that when I get my pit bull it will be one from a shelter/rescue. I'd be thrilled to find a pit bull friendly rescue around here because I'm tired of killing the nice ones simply because they happened to be born the "wrong" breed. We put down a sweet 7 month old male a couple weeks ago - the guy's wife found out that it was a pit bull and demanded he "get rid of it". No one would take the dog so he had no choice but to bring him to us for euthanasia, he was a truly nice dog. Most of the people I work with love pit bulls and don't see anything "wrong" with them, but current laws here prevent us from adopting them out. I do not agree with that at all. We have to put down a 6 month old Lab mix tomorrow that is very people (and dog for that matter) aggressive - he nearly got me today. That dog is much more aggressive than the majority of pit bulls I see. So sad for that breed. I'm completely against BSL because I just know that it will only get the responsible pit owners. The dog fighters aren't going to care if pit bulls are against the law, they are already breaking the law.

I will do just that then once I get her! Thanks!

I finally got to meet my little (for now) Shiloh Shepherd! I think I may be getting a little female. Now I just have 4 more weeks to go till I can pick her up, she was only 4 weeks when I visited. Now the hard part, naming her! :lol: So far tops on my list is Raid the Wind's Mystical Spirit. Mystic for short. We'll see if I keep that or not. I did want to put the name Spirit in her full name as I have my bridgekid, Snickers' name in Spirit's Ambor/UKC name: Snickers' Evil Spirit. So now I want to put Spirit's name in the puppy's (she's not a bridgekid, just VERY special to me). Got a lovely dose of puppy breath and I can't wait for more! Although I do get puppy breath at work at the shelter, but this is just different. I have so many plans for when I get her, she's signed up for puppy clicker class and I will take her to the dog park at 4 months. Plus I want to get her used to water so she can go splashing in the creek with me and the others. This is my first actual puppy all my own, my others were 6 mos+ when I adopted them so this should be a new and fun experience. I'll post more info and pics (of course) once I pick her up!