ESSlover

Ya know what, shush. I'm tryin to make me a freakin' tessalation, tyvm! Who needs to spell during math. :P :lol:

Whenever Carse gets zoomies in the snow, you see these frozen poops bein kicked up and thrown all over the yard.. its discusting.. :lol: :lol:

[quote name='courtnek']he's home, on high powered antibiotics, and inhaler and some expectorant to cough up the crap....damn kid....well, his girlfriend knows now and she'll rag him to no end if he does this again. he listens to HER (figures)......[/quote] Whenever Teddy's mom wants him to do/not do something, she calls me and asks me to make sure he does... He listens to me more then he does his mom.. :roll: :lol:

Ah yes.. Carsons a big play growler. And when people walk by the house. And when he gets excited. And when you try to take *fill in the blank* from him. :roll:

Carse is completely oblivious to injury of any kind. :lol: :lol: :lol: The cats, on the other hand, I can have a stomach ache, and they're right there trying to comfort me. Nikki's more like a dog then a cat though.. :lol: :lol:

Carson -- "............. :drinking: "

We got Carse from Mid Atlantic English Springer Spaniel Rescue (aka- MAESSR). After Mocha died, we knew that we wanted another Springer. We fell in love with the breed. Our house wasnt the same without the lil jingleing of tags. We emailed MAESSR and told them that we were looking, and all that fun stuff. About two months later, we got an email about him. Two days later, we drove to West Virginia to pick him up, sight unseen. They told us he had energy.. but we werent quite expecting it to the full extent that we got. :o The first time I saw him, and we sat down with his foster family, he jumped up on the bench and layed down in my lap. I was hooked.. We werent prepared to have a dog so high strung and high energy.. so we've had to adjust to that. He's much much much more of a puppy then any of us wanted, but we were hooked the first night. We had to do alot of work with him to teach him house manners, his foster family had him housetrained, but that was about it. :lol: He was alot alot alot alot of work.. When we were trying to get him to sleep the first night.. I was panicked. I thought he wasnt going to love us.. or like us.. I thought he hated me. We ended up sleeping around his crate so he could get to sleep. Three hours of him whining and barking cracked us. :oops: :lol: I'm gonna tell about the cats too.. just because.. Iunno.. they're close enough to dogs. :lol: :lol: Schnickle and Fritz -- When I was 3, my mom said that when I got potty-trained, then I could get a cat. I was three. When I got 30 stars (pee's :D ) and 15 teddy bears (poo's :D ) I could get a cat. So I drank shitloads of water, and within about three weeks I had that, and more.. :lol: :lol: So we piled into the car, and drove over to the shelter. We saw a few that we liked, but then we saw the cage with Fritz and Schnick in it. I saw Schickle and I fell in love.. My mom bent down to look in the cage, and Fritz climbed up around her neck. We fought for 20 mins over which to get.. we ended up getting both. All their litter mates were adopted, and we couldnt just leave one there all alone. I know, we're suckers... Nikki -- I'd been feeling really alone since Mocha died, and Carse bonded with my Dad. Plus, I'd been wanting another cat for awhile. Fritz and Schick are gettin older (they're 11.. :o ) and they need some new energy in their lives. We went off to the shelter after school one day, and saw a lil grey ball of fluff sittin all alone in a cage. Our number 1 rule was that we wouldnt take a baby away from her litter, if there were only two left. Number 2 rule - had to be a female, otherwise Fritz wouldnt be happy. We filled out the app. that day, and got her about 4 days later. She's perfect. Insane, crazy, ADD, has identity issues, but she's my baby. She reminds me so much of Mocha.. she just fits so well in our family.

[quote name='CoalSky'][b]Cropping[/b] and [b]docking[/b], I don't muchly care. If done properlly I don't see the big deal. Personally I think docking looks horribe on almost all breeds, but it has a purpose for those dogs that break their tails (I have never known one personally though). [/quote] Carson takes offense by that.. :P :lol: All the Springers that I've seen with full tails look quite rediculous. They have tiny, skinny, puny lil tails.. I can easily see how they could get it injured, even by just getting it stuck somewhere. They dont have those rough and tumble tails like labs do. [quote name='courtnek']docking and cropping had purpose in hunting and guarding dogs that goes way back. the tails were docked to prevent injury, and I have seen hunting dog tails mangled and broken. cropping was done mostly in guarding dogs to prevent the ear from being a point of grabbing by an assailant. today, unless the dog is working, it is not necessary, but I will advocate a dock for a hunting dog that has had problems with his tail in the past. Laurel's tail is permanently kinked, and had been broken while she was hunting. the vet says its ok, just watch the bump, but since she;s not hunting now I see no reason to dock it.[/quote] Our friends beagle, Emma has te same tail kink. Although, she's just a puppy, and her previous owner slammed the door on her tail. :o :o I've met a few other beagles who have tail kinks and such from hunting.. one that I know got her tail stepped on by a deer when she was chasing a bunny. Ouch! :o

I hope it doesnt spread to MD.... :-? :-? Last night I was at the movies with a church group, and we were walking into Starbucks and there was a georgous big ole lab/pittie mix. I asked the lady if I could pet him, she said no, that he wasnt too friendly with strangers. I smiled and said, ok, thanks! I thought to myself "YES! A GOOD OWNER!! :lol: " When we got inside, Caroline (friend) said, "If her dog isnt friendly, SHE SHOULDNT HAVE IT OUT THERE!" :o :o :-? :-? I told Caroline that as long as she knows how to handle her dog, and how to keep him from hurting people, she should have him out... to socialize him. Luckly my brother agreed, saying that she was a good owner, and not letting her dog be another pit bull statistic. Atleast he has some good sense in him. :wink: :lol:

[quote name='Michele']good point Hmmm regarding the declaw......and what about cats? Is it humane to rip their claws out?...[/quote] None of our cats are de-clawed, never have, never will, and in the future, I will never have my cats declawed. Even if its just an indoor cat... Eh. I think its evil. I'm so hypocritical sometimes. :lol: :lol:

It depends for me. I love the way Springers look with cropped tails. And it makes sense! Carse is a complete lunatic, if he still had a tail, he would've had it cut, burned, and stepped on by now. Out in the field, it just gets in the way. They have the skinniest, puniest tails.. its safer for them to be docked. On the other hand.. most dogs who have naturals ears, I like better then having them cropped up/down. My friends who have an Aussie, the breeder lets the future owners choose whether to crop the ears.. they chose not to. I think that Aussies who get their ears taped down just look funny.. but thats just me. :lol: :lol: Having prick ears or droop ears doesnt effect the dogs health or help it do its job better.. (unless its a gaurd dog, then you could get into whether or not they look "scarier" with prick ears).. while docking tails does help them. I think that when it comes to cropping that it should be left alone.. unless it helps the dog in some way or another, but docking should be the owners choice.

I've seen K9 Karma.. I like the dog, and the whole show idea is a good thing.. but she just bothers me. :lol: :lol: If its on, and I run across it, I'll watch.. but I'm not waitin for it to come on. :lol:

My parents suggested doing that with Carse, cuz he has such endless energy.. but all of us are scared of the treadmill. It shakes and is noisy.. and Carse is a baby... :lol: :lol: :lol: So, we resort to 10 min play sessions out in the frigid cold outdoors. :(

[quote name='Sabine']Thanks. :oops: Been there - done that. :lol: See: [URL=http://imageshack.us][img]http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/4393/puppycarousel18ac.jpg[/img][/URL] .......a so called baby-dane-carousel. :D[/quote] :o :o Da...dane... pup..puppy.. puppyyy..... *steals them all*

Our friend from MAESSR (where we got Carse), Joan, just lost her beloved Springer Norman the other day.. He was gettin up there in age, but still a complete doll face. When he came into rescue, he only had one eye.. but believe me, that didnt effect him in the least. He had an article in the MAESSR news letter called "Senior Moments".. Heres this months.. [quote]My last three years as a MAESSR dog have been so wonderful for me. Being placed in a home with a woman who had never owned a dog before copmletely worked to my advantage. I was able to train her that treats for every deed were mandatory. It was amazing, she would say "sit" and I would sit and sure enough a treat materialized. Sometimes I would just go sit and yes, she would pull a treat out of her pocket. The quality of the treats varied, but my favorites came from a bakeray called Dogma. I would do handstands for a treat from Dogma. The other thing I have enjoyed is all the love I have gotten as a MAESSR dog. Being a rescue dog somehow made me special in the eyes of so many people. My mom would tell me about all the good wishes people would send my way. Even if she hadnt told me, I could feel that there was a whole community lifting me up. From the outside looking in, perhaps my days seemed uneventful. But for me, having a warm bed or chair to snuggle in, regular meals, walks and lots of love made every day a great day for me. However, just to stir things up I ould occasionally misbehave. Counter-surfing was one area where I exhibited exceptional skill. I told you about the eight New York strip steaks last summer, but I didnt tell you about the 200 christmas cookies in 2003, or the lasagna in 2004, the countless loaves of bread, cookies, the party snacks, or the breakfast muffins. Yes, my mom would get mad but through it all, but I knew she would love me. And seriously, she should have gotten a clue that I would scale any height for extra food. My springer sisters, Kelly and Tasha have also been a joy to me. It is so much fun to race them and always beat them. However I must say that Tasha gives me a run for my money in beating me out the door for our walks. I have loved laying in a pile with these girls. As many of you know, there is nothing better then Springer loving. There have been so many things that I am grateful for in being a MAESSR dog. I am grateful for the countless volunteers who do so much to care for and place Springers. I will never forget riding in Heather's convertible or being loved by Teri Wiley and her family. I am also grateful to Billi Kerfoot for fostering me. Thank you to all of you. And now It is time to say good bye forever. I went to the bridge today, and am sitting here with all the special MAESSR dogs who have gone before me. I am waiting here to give comfort and friendship to those who come to me. I am celebrating my life on earth as a MAESSR dog, and I ask that you do the same in my memory. [/quote] Run free at the bridge Norman, you big clumsy dork. :angel:

Shall we send it in as the Cheech Memorial Fund? :D We need a name, dunchaknow.

[quote name='rotten_two']aspen loves anyone and everyone who will pay him attention or treat him. gaia likes people once i have okayed them. i don't like most people, does that count?[/quote] Gaia liked me! :D :lol: Carse loves everyone.. you could be meeting him for the first time, but he'll act like you're his long lost friend who he hasnt seen in 10 years. :roll: Full on butt wag, kissin, lickin, rubbin up against you. Then he'll go to get the nearest toy in the room, run around the coffee table with it a few times, waits till we say "Ohh, Yes Carson, what a pretty *fill in the blank*", then he stops and comes over for more rubbin. :lol:

Boys will be boys, eh? Nikki will push her luck with the big boys too, but luckly Fritz is like her daddy, and doesnt do anything to make her bleed and whatnot, but enought to know her to cut it the smurf out. :roll: :lol: Keep an eye on that.. Carse got a bump from gettin a dog bite one time, and I know that cat bites are worse. Poor Ford... (psst! Nice goin PushyCat!! :wink: :lol: )

Oh goodness.. it sure doesnt seem like a year. :( I'm so sorry... its rough. I still get crying about Mocha, even though its been a year and a half. Today my mom asked if she could move her stuff (picture, ashes, sympathy cards, her collar) to a diff room, to put up Christmas decorations.. I just shook my head no and almost lost it completely. Its so hard loosing someone you love.. We only had her for 9 months. Its not fair to have them go so soon. :cry: Stay strong, hun. No need to say sorry for posting. Thats what we're here for. :wink: *** HUGS ***

[quote name='courtnek']OMG!! I dont know where you are located, but it must be somewhere near me...that was an EMPIRE commercial in the background.... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: the clip was cute. the dog really enjoys it. I tried that once, but Free hates mice, and kills the real ones she occasionally finds in the yard. she went ballistic and tore the fake one up almost as soon as it hit the floor.... :lol:[/quote] Court - We have Empire commercials here too.. I hate them. Hate hate hate hate hate.. 800 588 2300, empiiiiiiire *old man pops up* today! :drinking:

[quote name='Mutts4Me'][quote name='ESSlover'][quote name='Mutts4Me']As a groomer, I can't help but get a little twist in my stomach when a Springer Spaniel walks in... or cowers in... *shudders* Cocker Spaniels also make me nervous. I don't trust either, although there are a couple individuals in each breed that I like. [/quote] Ohh yes.. gotta love springers! :lol: There are bad apples in each breed, but they seem to be more in the springer family then others. Rambuncious little smurfs. :lol: [/quote] Well, more than rambunctious, the springers and cockers tend to be skittish, nervous, fear-biting freaks... makes our job lovely, especially when you get the owner dragging their wild-eyed, scared s***less spaniel in to be groomed, insisting not only is the little angel as docile as can be, but that the other groomers who've had to muzzle them in the past must've done something to hurt them, because Snoopy wouldn't hurt a fly. But no, I don't lump breeds together and suggest all spaniels are as such. I've groomed a couple of each who were rather stable and friendly... Just the same, like I said, I can't help the little twist I now feel when I run across a spaniel, especially of those two varieties.[/quote] I have never met a shy springer. Ever. :o :lol: Although, I have met a few fear - biters. They seem to be little babies at times. :roll: Like Carse, who had his hackles up and barkin at a freakin fly.. :lol:

How did I miss this post??? I'm so sorry... I cant imagine what its like. My thoughts and prayers are with you. :(

[quote name='Mutts4Me']As a groomer, I can't help but get a little twist in my stomach when a Springer Spaniel walks in... or cowers in... *shudders* Cocker Spaniels also make me nervous. I don't trust either, although there are a couple individuals in each breed that I like. [/quote] Ohh yes.. gotta love springers! :lol: There are bad apples in each breed, but they seem to be more in the springer family then others. Rambuncious little smurfs. :lol: I get uneasy around dogs that are very very very shy.. mainly because I cant read them as well.

:oops: Woops.. I knew that.. :lol:

Ahh! I love your tri colored bebe! He's such a cutie! I love collies in general.. on the list of my "to own before I die" dogs. :lol: