JackieMaya

The first time I took Jackie swimming, she was having fun wading around in the shallow water, but she wasn't quite sure about actually swimming. Then I started swimming right next to her, and she would swim wherever I went. Then she decided it was really fun!

One of my rescued Golden-mix dogs, Maya, is deathly afraid of the hose, and I think I might have a good idea why. She was an owner-surrender, and her previous owners kept her tied outside for 8 hours a day, and she would bark all the time. As she was only 1-1/2 when I adopted her, she was (and still is) a puppy and had lots of energy. My guess is that they sprayed her with the hose to try to get her to shut up. Now that she has an older (by six months) "sister", Jackie, and a fenced yard, she can run around and play as much as she wants and she's a great dog! So there will be no cleaning Maya off with the hose, that's for sure!

Here is a picture of Maya, my Golden Retriever/Husky mix, showing off the blue spot on her tongue. I call it her birthmark. [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0VgAXAyAaZ2WdQwmWD!oqYoXs9GJZ75!YmcdQu*KNYH!4LEeO959N05mAc9AADD!4ixcKnNeDXxLMTmYL8xbJw40KxJ63ilptN2Azx070rQLysoYmqeBo!A6RNVADOOWb/DCP_0018.JPG?dc=4675421942118632065[/img]

Here is a picture of the hole that my girls, Jackie and Maya, dug next to the house. [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RQAWA2YTgoSdQwmWD!oqYuEbZ9gpF!dBrH3KKnBM11JraPZEz1dxh8*odFe4cz7jlhhF8AfxzBLBCUpmQASWkFlVdyfh*ESQXEmFEzrBW04/DCP_0001.JPG?dc=4675415459657388916[/img] and here is a picture of the proud girls showing off their work. [img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0RQDiAmcTvoSdQwmWD!oqYnqMC*UwhaMee!gCknQMyEtuC5WSDKwGIr2kmIi3zPYRl3Cz1fw5j!W80hEPWDQBv1PX8EnixMrmLuP*sTEKKVE/DCP_0002.JPG?dc=4675415459713987041[/img]

I'm definitely no expert, but I also think that the vet is wrong in saying to wait to have the dog neutered. I've had horses for most of my life, and there is the same type of myth that if you wait to geld a stallion, that he will get taller or bigger when, in fact, the opposite is true. The longer you wait to have a male dog neutered, the more testosterone you'll have to deal with.

When I adopted Jackie from the shelter in February 2002, I didn't know if she was a fence jumper, so when I had her in the back yard I put her on a very long cable so that she could use most of the yard, but not get to the fence. She decided to use only one part of the yard to do her duties in, and after I turned her out in the yard without the cable attached, she continued to use the same area. I call it the "minefield." When I adopted Maya in October of 2002, I left some of Jackie poop in the minefield, hoping that Maya would also just use that area. And lo and behold, that's the only place she'll go too! Jackie taught her well! If I throw a ball for Jackie that lands on the other side of the minefield, she'll go around the minefield. She NEVER walks through the minefield unless she has to poop or pee (even though I keep everything picked up regularly).

One of my dogs, Jackie, sometimes doesn't want to eat when it's warm outside. She definitely eats better in the winter than in the summer (even though she eats and lives inside).

HazelNut, the "before" picture of Hazel's foot looks exactly like my Jackie's feet! I always say that she wears bedroom slippers! Both of my girls have hairy feet and I leave them, and they get along fine. And they don't slip on the floors.

When it came time for me to get a dog again (after being dogless in apartments for 20 years) I definitely wanted a Golden Retriever and I ended up finding my two Golden mix girls on Petfinder. Jackie was rescued from the pound, so we think she's Golden Retriever/German Shepherd (and the shelter guessed maybe some Collie thrown in for good measure, but I'm not so sure about that one). Maya was an owner-surrender, so I know that she's Golden Retriever/Husky. My family has always had either yellow labs or Golden Retrievers, but the Goldens have always been my favorites.

Does anyone have dog doors for their big dogs? My two girls weigh 65 pounds and 75 pounds (Golden Retriever mixes). They spend a LOT of time in the back yard playing, and I thought it would be nice if they could come in and out at will (while I'm there). I have a screen door, and I think having a dog door in it would be nice. Or do they make whole screen doors with the doggie opening?

I used to have a Golden Retriever/Yellow Lab cross, and I referred to him as a Golden Retrievador. :lol:

I really have to give the guide dog puppy raisers a lot of credit. I know that I would have a REAL hard time giving up a puppy after raising it. I don't think I could do fostering either. I would probably end up with a houseful of dogs because I couldn't give up any! Hats off to you!

Both of my girls are microchipped. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have them tatooed also. I never thought of doing both. I might have to check that out.

I wholeheartedly support dog rescues! I adopted Jackie (Golden Retriever/German Shepherd/Collie mix) in February 2002 after seeing her picture on Petfinder. At the time, I was taking care of my father at home through his final months of his battle with cancer. He was always a big dog lover, so I got Jackie partially so that she could keep him company while I was at work. He got to enjoy her until he was bedridden. My dad was very depressed but Jackie actually made him laugh out loud many times. And when he started getting real sick, she sensed that, and would be very careful around him. My dad passed away on April 5, 2002, and I don't think I could have gotten through that whole period without Jackie. She is my best friend. Then I adopted Maya (Golden Retriever/Husky mix) in October of 2002, after seeing her picture on Petfinder, so that Jackie would have a sister. They bonded immediately, even sleeping together on the same sofa their first night together, and are the best of friends. They have full run of the house when I'm at work, and they sleep on sofas. And they play and wrestle and run for hours outside. I can't imagine life without my two puppygirls. And I can't believe I was lucky enough to get two absolutely wonderful dogs from a rescue shelter. They are my friends; they are my life. [url]http://groups.msn.com/Dogomania/jackieandmaya.msnw?albumlist=2[/url]

I don't show dogs, but I've shown horses for most of my life. I always tell people who are nervous about horse showing to go in there and just plan to have fun! So what if you goof up? It's not the end of the world. Every show is a learning experience. The night before the show, visualize yourself at the dog show, showing your dog, and visualize everything going perfectly. It might sound corny, but visualization really helps! And like someone else said (I think), maybe you could do a little mock show with one or two other dogs. Go out there and have fun, and let us know how it went!

I would love to send in some video clips of my two girls to the Funniest Pets show sometime, but the video camera I have now doesn't allow me to download clips to the internet. Have any of you had your pets on any of the Animal Planet shows? If the Animal Planet was the only t.v. channel I got, I would be happy (and my dogs too).

I'm very sorry about your loss. I've seen several Newfie mixes on Petfinder also, and if I didn't already have two dogs, I would have gotten them! I love Newfies! I would definitely recommend keeping an eye on Petfinder, as that's how I found both of my wonder Golden mix girls!

Maya, my Golden Retriever/Husky mix, has a blue dot in the middle of her tongue. I call it her birthmark. I'll have to see if I can get a picture of her sticking her tongue out and post it!

Jackie, my black Golden mix, howls at sirens. Once she was in the back seat of my SUV when an ambulance drove by, and she stuck her head out the window and started howling! And she howls at the monthly tornado siren test. Maya, my yellow Golden, just looks at her wondering why she's howling. I'll try to attach a picture of Jackie howling at the monthly tornado siren. [url]http://groups.msn.com/Dogomania/jackieandmaya.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=382[/url]

I had never heard of ski jouring before I saw it on Animal Planet, and it looks like a blast! I might try it for fun next year with my two girls. They both love being outside in the winter, and one of them (Maya) is even part Husky! I like being outside in the winter too, so I think it would be a great activity for me to do with my puppygirls.

D'oh! :roll: I wish I would have thought of vacuuming my dogs yesterday after they came in full of mud and dirt, especially Maya, my yellow Golden girl! She's like a little boy who splashes through all the mud puddles. I tried hosing her off, but she would have NO part of that! Now she's just plain dirty, and the floors are a mess! Jackie, my black Golden girl, keeps herself pretty clean. I'll try vacuuming them tomorrow and see what they think of it. I vacuum my horse, and she absolutely LOVES it. I did vacuum Jackie once out at the barn, and she didn't hate it too much. I predict that Maya will bark like crazy and try to attack the vacuum (just like she was barking at the toilet plunger when I was putting it to use yesterday).

I've been feeding my two Golden Retriever mix girls Science Diet dry food ever since I've had them, and have been feeding them the Science diet large breed dry food for the last several months (which has glucosamine and chondroitan in it). After hearing what goes into most dry dog foods (including Science Diet), I would like to change them to a dry dog food with human-grade ingredients, but there are so many brands out there that I would like some recommendations. I definitely DON'T want to do a raw diet, but want to stick with a dry dog food, just a healthy one. Thanks for your help! :D

I have two Golden Retriever mixes, and of course they LOVE the water. Does anyone have any recommendations or ideas of where I could come up with a decent size kiddie pool that the dogs could splash around in when they're in the backyard? I have a tiny little hard plastic one, but there's barely room for one of my dogs to curl up in there. I live close to a lake, but one of my dogs isn't trustworthy enough to let off leash there.

I always wondered if perhaps one of my dogs (who I adopted from a rescue shelter) could have some Flat Coated Retriever in her. She was rescued from the pound, so there's no history on her, and her breeds are just conjecture. The shelter and vets guessed that she's a Golden Retriever/German Shepherd/Collie Mix. I always wanted to have a Golden Retriever and a Flat Coated Retriever. Well, I have two Golden Retriever mixes, and one is golden and one is black, so I guess that's as close as I'll get! :wink: I think Flat Coats are just beautiful dogs.

I took my two dogs (Jackie and Maya) to the vet yesterday so Jackie could get her shots, and Maya got a stitch taken out of her foot. The vet still had to clip Jackie's toenails, so I put Maya in my Pathfinder for about 5 minutes so that I didn't have to deal with both puppies at once. Well, when I got back to my Pathfinder, Maya had barfed in the back seat. When she gets nervous, she barfs. She must have been nervous about being left there without Jackie. So I cleaned up the barf in the back seat and put it in the garbage. It came time to go to work, and I couldn't find my frickin keys ANYWHERE. After 15 minutes of looking, I called my supervisor to tell her that I was still looking for my keys and I would be late (she's cool). After looking EVERYWHERE for 30 minutes, I decided to look in Maya's barf bag that was already in the garbage, and lo and behold, there were my keys. At least they weren't in one of the three full bags of dog poop that I had picked up within the last two days after all the snow melted! The temps have been in the 50s, and the foot of snow that we had on the ground is ALL gone.