Hi Carol,

> Hi, hope you don't mind I changed the title, it was making me sad to see
> Pricilla's name still when she's awaiting on the other side of the rainbow
> bridge now.  'Never forgotten though'.

Yeah, understand.  It's ok.. it's more me being 'lazy' in not changing it so
it's not a big deal.  I'm still missing her so much so it's really better to
change it to be honest :)

[...]
> that the wife said 'no cats' once she got pregnant.  Same ones whom the vet
> went after on cruelty to animals with suspecting them to have declawed all 4
> feet with human nail clippers.  Cost me 800$ and only that low because he
> convinced the whole team to do the surgery for free (cost of materials etc
> only).  It was everything I had and i suspect some of them kicked in some
> money to get it down to that.

Yeah, that couple sounded terrible.. :(  poor kitties.  Glad you were there
for them.

> Yes, they often though at first just don't know much.  They have to observe
> them for a bit to get a feel for it all.

I think in this case, they just don't want to mention all the details on their
page, maybe to encourage actual visits, which is good.  Didn't work for us
though, since I was looking at the page online.... They said they'd had these
pups for a few weeks in foster homes ... Now that we've got much warmer
weather, I won't mind running out to shelters, rescues, etc. 

> Like, they didnt realize Apple was
> teething (they just said she liked shoes so put them all up).  Once glance
> around the foster home (nice folks BTW and a lovely home) made me suspect.
> There wasnt a single hard chew toy.  Foster mom kept mentining what a 'soft
> mouth she had'.  Yeah, only soft toys about.

Yeah, sure sounds like teething to me..

> Within 5 mins, she'd adopted one of Cash's old chew teething toys (he really
> didnt mind when she saw her light up over it and he had no objection at all
> when she left clenching it firmly to take it with her).  We checked the back
> of her mouth and molars not all in yet.  Not sure when the last of them come
> in but she's young enough we are sure she's still teething the last of them.
> Oh, and we tested her with shoes and once she saw the good chew teething toy,
> she ignored all shoes so we passed that back to the foster mom along with the
> toy and some suggestions since she hadn't had a teething 'pup' in 12 years.

hehehe :)  Good call there :)

>> bet.. For me, I stay away from  any pit mixes, but really that's kind of
>> silly.. there are some really laid back pits just like there are some angry
>> labs ..

> Sure.  Just like people, personality can completely change a 'trait expected'
> but i think it wise to use the 'general traits of breeds' to at least know
> what to check for.

Exactly...

> Apple only really had 2 problems.  She was TOO 'Alpha' (except witht he cat,
> but then she may have never met an ALPHA cat and not have known what to do

haha - I can just picture that one.. We've seen Lulu stand Toby down Lol Leo
just kisses Toby to death, and curls up with him to sleep (the boy thing
haha), but not Lulu :)

> there so ignored it for that visit) and she showed a strong 'one man dog'
> tendancy (which she pointed at me after the first 2 hours of checking out the
> others then apparently deciding).

> Neither trait works here.  Not to those levels.  Also, both are generally
> 'Pit' issues.

Yep.. that's true... Reminds me of the dog my father-in-law had.. super
beautiful shepherd, but definitely Alpha male.. not one I would have picked
for our dog ... I did pick his sister though from the litter.. she was a
super submissive calm girl.. the kids loved her.  Great dog..

> The Alpha bit thoug might also have been a little related to us muffing the
> intro a bit.  It was too fast and we didnt have neutral terratory options.

That's one of the reasons I'm not crazy about these 'forced' home visits.  Let
the dogs take some time getting to know each other.. Like we did with the
kittens..kept them 'out of reach' of the dogs for a day or so, but the dogs
could see them.. then there was no surprise when they bounced out of that room
haha  But it's also why I want a puppy, not a dog that's 3 years old.. I want
to train the dog, not depend on what the dog's been through, etc.

> It had to be at our house.  Seems to me though that would have made Apple
> less 'Alpha' at the start and Cash to have been terratorial?  What's your
> take?

Hmm.. could be, but some dogs just take charge of situations I think. I think
you made the right decision with Apple..

> Cash wasnt terratorial.  He gets visitors of friends dogs and has neighbor
> ones.  The biggest problem with him is keeping him from lickifying them to
> death.

Lol... he sounds like such a great family dog :)

>> >> Now we're looking to hear from this other fellow here in binghamton who h
>> >> full-breed female 7 month old lab that was mistreated.. she's reportedly
>> >> low-status, submissive.  She might work out.  I'll have to be careful whe
>> >> try to judge her personality..
>>
>> > Worht a try!  I figure we take our time here.
>>
>> I'm not in any rush either... still waiting to hear from the fellow who's go
>> her.

I'm going to have to email him again.. that bothers me somewhat... still no
reply from his last message.. he said he still had her, and lets set up a time
to meet her.. I replied, then nothing.. :(

> Might be a little slower there.  I think the local K9 folks may be mad at us
> for turning Apple down.  Maybe I said a little too much in the email back on

Hey, I'm sure they appreciated the information.

> 'why' butt he intent was to pass on a little more info they could use quietly
> to help find a better home.  No, I didnt blame at all.  I was very brief and
>explained only that the 2 dogs apparently had a personality mis-match (I didnt
> tell them Apple tried to sweep his front leg then back leg or bit him on the
> ear then go for his neck as in all cases, she backed out before breaking skin
> or Cash evaded quickly with no harm having been most likely a pack hunting
> dog for a time so skilled at such).

I'd bet you could tell the difference in dogs rough-housing and one trying to
dominate there..

>  I mentioned she appeared to have a
> marked 'one man dog' develop in the 5 hours she was here for me but that we
> couldnt tell if that was trainable around or not.

I can understand that :(

> Hehe i do have a fairly soft but well *distinct* voice with dogs.  It
> suprises me as i knew little of them before Cash.  Something Natural, not
> 'developed'.  Whole Cash 'knows' Don is the Alpha, he doesnt always listen to
> him.  When I get stern seeing it, he practically jumps out of his hide and
> does what i say within the limit of his training.  Like, he'd rather be
> walked by Don because he *knows* I won't let him pull too hard or run off to
> investigate every facinating scent (heheheh).  You can almost see the gears
> turn as I take the leash: 'darn, I have to be a good boy'

hahahahahahaha :)

[...]
>> it.. I shooed her off the table and left the room.. 10 minutes later Ron and
>> walked in the kitchen for more coffee and Ron said, hey, where'd you put the
>> coffee-cake?? He found the skeletal remains of the box and tin-foil tray in
>> sewing room on the floor   Silly boy :)

> Hehe better than Daisy-chan acting in collusion with Cash-pup to get his
> 'cone-head' off when he was getting over neutering!  I think I told ya but we
> finally caught them in the act snapping it off.  She sat on one end while he
> rolled in the other.  *snap* off it came.  Fortunately they didnt figure it
> out early enough to be a problem with the stitches.

LOL yes, was a good tale .. We've seen the kittens pull the whole
tablecloth off the table to get at 'goods' left on there... nothing is safe on
the table with those kitties!

Take care,
Janis

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