455: Before and After
Posted by Lucy on March 9th, 2010. Filed under: Uncategorized.I love makeovers. Just love them. There’s something about a good before-and-after that makes visual the act of transition, from what you used to be to what you are. I love makeovers in movies (Pygmalion or She’s All That, I don’t care, I’m in), I love them in television (What Not to Wear, anyone?) and I love them in…
… dogs.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but I have a poodle. Well, Jenny has a poodle. Well, we’re sort of co-parenting the poodle. The funny thing? We don’t even like poodles, either of us.
Here’s what happened:
When Sweetness and Light and I moved in this past summer, we moved in with Jenny and her three dogs. Three. Wolfie, Veronica and Milton, three of the most adorable little dachshunds you’ve ever seen. The girls have never had dogs before, because dogs are too much work and I’m not doing it, but now they had dogs and they were so excited. They played with them every day, and one day, Light asked Jenny an innocent question which would change our lives forever.
“Fake Aunt Jenny,” she said, “what did Wolfie look like when he was a puppy?”
And Jenny described Wolfie, but then thought, Hey, I’ll just show the kid. So she grabbed her laptop and typed in “www.petfinder.com.”
I can hear some of you out there making noise, already putting two and two together. For those of you who are like, “What? What’s up with Petfinder.com?”, let me try to explain. Let’s see… have you ever gone into a pet store, or an animal shelter, and seen a puppy or a kitten in the adoption center, and thought, “MINE!”? Doesn’t matter if you actually took it home or not, that’s really between you and your feelings on cleaning up poop, but for certain people – I would argue, most of the population – there’s this moment, just a split-second, when upon being assaulted with any kind of fur-contained cuteness, there comes this primal urge to snuggle said cuteness and claim it as MINE.
Well, those people shouldn’t go to Petfinder.com.
Jennifer Crusie is one of those people.
This woman’s MINE! reflex is stronger than… well… that of anyone I’ve ever met in my life. The last time Crusie went on Petfinder.com, she adopted three dogs. Yes, ultimately, one of them went back to the original owner, but that was only because the original owner begged, and we’re sidestepping my point… she adopted three dogs. In one sitting.
Okay. We’ve laid the groundwork. Let’s get back to it. So, Jenny goes on to Petfinder.com so she can find a dachshund puppy who looks like Wolfie and a few days later, Dachshund Rescue of Ohio was here with seven dachshunds running around the back yard.
And one poodle. One very, very, tiny white poodle. One very, very tiny white poodle with no kneecaps in her back legs. One very, very tiny white poodle with no kneecaps in her back legs who could keep up with all the dachshunds running around, and then some. This little thing could run circles around the entire pack, and she wasn’t intimidated by anything. Jenny was enamored with a little dachshund puppy named Baxter, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off the poodle. This was just a few weeks after I’d left my husband, I was still reeling from all the bad luck I thought I had, and I was watching this little dog with no kneecaps refusing to let life tell her she wasn’t good enough. If that poodle had a middle finger, she would have flipped life off for even suggesting such a thing.
“Oh, she’s so cute!” I said, over and over again, as we watched Baxter and the poodle tumble around in the grass, chasing each other everywhere.
“Yes,” the rescue lady said. “Someone left her in a shopping bag at the end of the driveway. Probably a breeder.”
“We’ll take them both,” Jenny said, then shrugged. “It’s not like I can separate them, and it’s not like I’m giving up Baxter. So, my puppy has a puppy. That’s life.”
So, we took in Baxter, and changed his name to Lyle for his likeness to Lyle Lovett, and we took in the nameless poodle and called her Mona, and now we have five dogs. Mona has gone from three pounds to ten, and one of the big joys in my life is taking her to see the groomer. The last time I did that, around Christmastime, they fluffed her up until she was just two little black, beady eyes poking out of a giant cottonball. I wish I took a picture; I didn’t. But just trust me; it was hilarious.
“There’s something wrong with you,” Jenny said, as I giggled with Mona on my lap while we were on our way to the groomer last Thursday.
I snuggled the puppy. “Oh, come on. She needs to be groomed.” Then I giggled again.
“It’s not bad enough she’s got no kneecaps,” Jenny said – she really likes to make a big deal out of the kneecaps – “but you’ve got to enjoy it!”
“Hey, she’s got mats in her fur, and she needs her ears and feet shaved. It’s a necessity. The fact that I get untold amounts of pleasure out of it is just–”
“Wrong!” Jenny said, and we laughed, and we brought Mona to the groomer… who then told us that they couldn’t fluff Mona because the mats had gotten too bad, they’d have to shave her. So, I got my before and after, but sadly…
… no beady-eyed cottonball dog.
Oh, well. There’s always summer…
March 9th, 2010 at 6:47 am
Mona is too cute.
I have a black poodle (wanted a dachshund but they shed) and the results of having him groomed are akin to having two different dogs–he comes back smaller, indignant, and squirrely.
He’s very athletic and his massive bark scares the bejeezus out of the UPS man, who now dumps packages in the general vicinity of our door and hoofs it back to the truck like sixteen devils are after him.
March 9th, 2010 at 7:55 am
I claim to NOT be a dog person. It has something to do with the poop, I’ll admit it. But I am not immune to cuteness. My daughter has a chihuahua named Henry who has stolen my heart. (I doggy-sit occasionaly) And I think a shaved Mona is adorable. You can see her little face and she looks like she is asking “Do I look pretty?”
March 9th, 2010 at 8:13 am
Aww. She’s cute shaved.
I have this problem with kittens. We only have one, but I’ve never really understood the ‘crazy lady with a lot of cats’ problem. I could easily own 10.
March 9th, 2010 at 9:04 am
Lucy, honey, we have 2 dogs and about 15 cats. But they all live outside. We live on a farm, so they cats wander from barn to barn, hunting birds and mice, then bringing the occasional dead one to the back door for us to admire. Oh, joy. There is no more fun than opening the door and nearly stepping on a dead bird or a pile of feathers. These cats do NOT lick me!
March 9th, 2010 at 9:30 am
Awww, cute! My dog is the kind that doesn’t need trimming, and this is the closest I’ve come to regretting that. I mean, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with mats and brushing, but I do so love a make-over. And I already promised myself I wouldn’t cut off my hair until I really gave it a chance to be long (by which I mean, long enough to put in a loose ponytail). Maybe I could shave down one of the cats. Or maybe I could do the safe thing and stick my arm in a blender. Phooey.
Oh well. Love Mona’s new look!
March 9th, 2010 at 9:30 am
I had one of those MINE! moments a few weeks ago when my brother’s cat had kittens. One of them was an albino. It was too damned cute to resist even though I’ve owned cats before and alread knew that I hate changing litter boxes. I caved. Now I’m getting a new kitten next week. I’m going to call her Captain Lou. Off to buy a litter box…
March 9th, 2010 at 9:37 am
Incidently, I’m not a poodle person, but that Mona is a cutie. And I can’t blame Jenny for caving; that Petfinder.com is a horrible place for weaklings.
Can’t wait to see the cotton ball photos come summer.
Hmmm…think I’ll get a sparkly red collar, too…
March 9th, 2010 at 9:55 am
She’s adorable! Okay, flashback disclaimer starting now: Growing up, we had a Bouvier des Flandres, and she was amazing. She’d herd the chickens around the back yard, give the cats baths until they walked crankily through the kitchen with a wet mohawk, and was perfectly content to have us climb all over her at all times. She had long hair that would have to get shaved every Texas summer so she wouldn’t get heat stroke, and she looked so funny and small after that first haircut – bare dog with pointy ears and a fringe of hair to protect her eyes. (She came with built-in sunglasses. How cool is that?) I got her for my fourth birthday, and anyone who’s had kids should know that giving a four-year old a dog with papers means they’re going to get a crazy name – Fancy Huggable Kissy Katharine. It was descriptive of her personality and of course we had to share my middle name. Right?
Man, I miss that dog…
Currently, I have a tiny parrot named Nancy, whose MINE moment was entirely on her part. I was adopted by a bird who was so lonely and clingy that she flew over the curtain to be with me while I was showering. Now she has a pumice stone to sit on in the corner every day, and she’s quite content to nap in the steam. She’s spoiled rotten, but darn it if she doesn’t make it completely worthwhile with her adorableness.
March 9th, 2010 at 10:15 am
@ Lora – Your description of the UPS man made me spit hot chocolate! So funny.
I have three dogs, one of which is a harmless black labX who barks, bares her teeth and sticks her hair up on her back whenever a stranger, UPS man, meter reader, etc, comes to the house. UPS won’t deliver if she’s home!
Oh a couple of times he’s thrown the box on the lawn. Once it was books and it was raining, luckily I got there soon enough and they were okay. And a couple of times the Yellow labX (actually he’s a german shepard crossed with a golden retreiver, but he looks just like a yellow lab) has eaten packages left on the lawn. So hopefully the UPS guys have learned not to leave them when the dogs are out!
March 9th, 2010 at 10:38 am
We call the MINE! the Puppy Hangover. Whenever people ask why we don’t do same day adoptions (except in very very rare cases where we already know the people, have their records already, and are 100% damn certain this person will never wake up the next day and go “oh crap, did I just adopt a dog?”, we always explain that it’s because we want to make sure there’s time for the Puppy/Kitty Hangover to pass.
I hope you guys send lots of photos to the previous fosters of your petfinder pets. I’m sure you already do, but if not, I’ve made it a personal mission to suggest it to people. It seems to easy for people to forget, but it means so much to fosters. I cried the first time an adopter sent me back photos of one of my previous fosters (14 year old LeCat) and a description of how they spent their days together.
Also, I love love love Petfinder. I applied once for a job promoting it and sadly got a response that said they had already filled the position. I do update the Washington Humane Society’s foster cats on our petfinder page.
Yay for adopting!!
March 9th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Puppy Hangover is a real thing. I hear you. We have a gorgeous longhaired dachshund who came to us through backchannels and was seventeen pounds of bones and teeth when we got her. At that time she was named Sugar and she was afraid if you even flipped open a towel in her vicinity. Now, she’s thirty-two pounds of solid red warrior who will sleep under my feet as I flick towels out of the dryer and fold them. She terrifies anyone who has balls enough to walk past the house. She is my heart dog, my joy, and I don’t even care that she loves my husband more than she does me.
Our other pup we took right out of the pound only a year ago. He’s part beagle, part something else, and dumb as hell, but the sweetest dog ever. He’s afraid of EVERYTHING and it’s all we can do not to be offended that he won’t come when we have pool cues in hand, won’t come if we are standing anywhere near the vacuum, won’t come if our voices are anything but bright and happy. We have to remind ourselves that it was six years ago we got Marlo and it took awhile before she turned into the Warrior Princess we love so much now.
There’s something amazing about dogs (cats too, possibly, but I’m too allergic to find out) that help heal your broken soul. Ours rule the place and we don’t even pretend different.
March 9th, 2010 at 11:09 am
You said you had cats, but I’m glad you’re co-parenting a dog, too. Dogs and books seem to go together. Groucho Marx said:
“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend.
Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”
I know this because my husband quotes Groucho with aggravating regularity, eyebrows going up and down and pretend cigar in hand. His mother always laughs hysterically.
March 9th, 2010 at 11:14 am
My worst MINE! moment came when I was looking at out humane society’s webpage for a puppy. Instead, I stumbled across an adult cat that I really, really needed. I stepped on the urge for two weeks (secretly checking the website compulsively every day to make sure he was there) before my husband found out and took me to go get him. We have one dog, a double-dapple mini-dachshund named Katie, and while I would love another, I’m too worried about how my babydog would react if she were no longer our one and only. Even my tough husband dotes on her, crooning, “Who’s my big dog?!” which is ridiculous, as she’s smaller than even our smallest cat. Mona is absolutely adorable-is that the hint of a pink bow that I see on her left ear? I’m a sucker for a dog in drag, and this post is prodding me to do something about the fact that Katie is smelling fairly doggy, which is quite a feat for a doxie-I love taking her to the groomer because she’s always afraid that I’m leaving her there FOREVER and is ridiculously grateful and obedient for a few days afterwards…and now you know far more about my dog than you ever needed or wanted to know…
March 9th, 2010 at 11:34 am
Bouncing Betty, I hear you on the animals who are scared. I texted my boyfriend in amazement when my current foster, 15 year old Keen, (cat) actually let me pick him up and pet him on my lap for a whole 45 seconds two days ago. He’s a good cat, but it’s obvious that it’s going to take him awhile to trust anyone. He does at least know that we are providers of FOOD! and has gotten up the courage to approach, stop a foot away, and meow and meow until we go to see if his food in his dish is more than ten minutes old and stir it up to pretend it’s new and then he’ll happily eat it all, then repeat the procedure.
What about teaching Touch to your dog with treats and the pool cue? Have the cue horizontal on the floor, the bestest treats ever, and a very very slow touch session every day? It’s been very helpful with dogs at the shelter with fear issues.
March 9th, 2010 at 11:38 am
Loved the photos! We had a Westie that went to the groomer. She took her work very seriously -appointments made two weeks in advance, bows on each ear when done and choice of nail polishes. However our Katie was not that kind of girly dog and did not like all the attention-give her mole holes and pond muck instead!
And ,yes, Pet Finder is addictive. Our daughter is a vet who owns 3 Russian Bear Hunting dogs-they are in great condition and she has shown them in international dog shows.After going to Pet Finder she adopted an ancient black terrier with few teeth, no hearing , bad hips and cataracts on both eyes. She was infatuated -his name is Tangent but I call him Troll because of the noises he makes while searching for crumbs on my kitchen floor. Everyone was surprised at our daughter’s choice but infatuation wins over common sense every time!
March 9th, 2010 at 11:52 am
I love Mona. All that spunk and determination in such a cute, little package. Throughout my childhood, we had a cockapoo we’d get groomed once a year. As someone else mentioned, it was like having two different dogs. Very much like Mona in these pictures.
We let them do the traditional cocker spaniel cut (I think that’s what it was) with the eyebrows once and we laughed for days. Not that it was bad, it just wasn’t her. She was the smartest dog ever.
As an adult I’ve had one dog and that was a Chow mix. Stubborn, goegous, tough as nails, and the most protective dog ever. Was a wonder when my kiddo was born. He tore threw a screen door once because he heard her cry. When she started to walk, he’d follow her down the hall tugging on her diaper just enough to make her sit. It’s like he wanted her to stay put to stay out of trouble.
Now I have Bumblebee, the cat who drives me nuts and remains breathing because of his cuteness. He gets in my cupboards, on top of my bookshelves, and claws at my carpets. He’ll be one next week and I’m looking forward to him getting old and too lazy to do any of these things.
March 9th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Makeover? Yeah, sounds like a good idea.
Thinking about what needs to change….
March 9th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
As a currently pet-deprived person, I love reading about people talking about their pets. Keep the stories coming, please!
March 9th, 2010 at 12:55 pm
She’s adorable!!
I LOVE a good makeover show! Remember The Swan? It was amazing! Women got plastic surgery from head to toe and then weren’t allowed to look in a mirror until they were completely recovered. At the end they’d be forced to stand in front of a curtained mirror and then slowly, the curtain would lift up and the woman would see her NEW AND IMPROVED self. There would be much weeping. Sometimes they would fall to their knees in shock.
I have no idea why that show didn’t last longer than a season.
March 9th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
I bet she’s super-aerodynamic now, though.
March 9th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
We have five dogs. An Akita named Keiko, a black pug named Oliver, two mixed breeds (german sherpard with something goofy) and then my new baby: A basset hound named Casanova.
I’ve always wanted a basset hound named Casanova.
When I was little, my father bred short-haired dachshunds for fun and then to put my oxygen-vampired-brother and me through college. I grew up around them forever. BUT! When I was 3, we had a poodle, named Pancake.
Wanna guess how Pancake died?
Ran over by a car. I was three. I remember that day vividly.
Never, ever name a dog Pancake. It’s just asking for trouble.
March 9th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
@Betty Boop-OMG, I called my daughter Pancake occasionally when she was little because I managed a Perkins and she liked to hang out in a booth with her daddy at the ends of my shifts. Crisis averted! *shudder*
March 9th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
My sister’s friend has the best Jack Russell ever, Olivia.
I adore Olivia. When my sister M brings her to the apartment she shares with my sister G, Olivia and I have a play date–I throw a kong for her to chase for hours at a time. (Srsly.) If I step out for a couple of minutes, she sits by the door and whines, and I’m always very sad when she has to go home.
I tell my friend L about this and he says, “Coop, you need to get a dog.” But the truth is, as much as I adore Olivia and as much fun as we have playing “throw the kong”, I don’t want the responsibility. (I certainly can’t have a Jack Russell, since I’m out of the house almost 11 hours a day.)
So I listen to pet stories, and I look forward to my play dates.
(And I can’t ever get a cat, because my sister G is allergic to them, and since my sister G is my best friend…)
March 9th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Okay, I caved and went to petfinder.com. That is a dangerous website. If it weren’t for the huge pet deposits at my apartment complex, I would be in so much trouble.
March 9th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
I have an Airedale, so I’m very familiar with the makeover thing. His hair just keeps growing and growing (much like a poodle’s); when he’s super cute and fluffy, I know the time for grooming is nigh. (I keep meaning to get more scientific about it and make a gauge for his tail — so many centimetres in diameter means it’s time — but I haven’t yet.) After he comes back he is about half the size he was when he went in — it’s crazy! (But very elegant. He is not so elegant in cute-and-fluffy mode. Although nothing on earth will keep his beard looking neat.)
Anyway, all this to say that we have been through the total-shaving thing once or twice. Turns out regular grooming does help prevent the mats (although he hates it, especially when I do his feet — there is nothing more pitiful than an Airedale trying to lie on all four feet at the same time). I do get him clipped quite short on purpose at the start of summer, otherwise he ends up a solid mass of burrs and mud and sand and miscellaneous organic matter and looks completely homeless. So depending on the burr situation in Ohio, this might actually be a good choice for Mona.
March 9th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
We had a cocker spanial/poodle mix who looked like a bigger, blockier Mona. Since he was white, we used to wash him a lot in the summer and blow him dry on top of the air conditioner unit. My mom was in charge of cutting his hair and he would just lay there while she used scissors on him! But she never cut him and he never moved. In the winter time, Christopher would look like Beethoven with his full beard. In the summer, he looked like Einstein! He used to go to the beach with us in the summer and ride the raft with me so I would be safe in the ocean. When we both got older, I used to carry 35 lbs. of dog over my shoulders when he got tired on a walk. My neighbors thought he was a sheep. He and my huge cat (22lbs.) were best friends and would sleep together when ig got cold. I miss them both so I have three rescue cats and an ancient rescue Golden who is my shadow.
March 9th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
I’ve already spent an hour on Petfinder.com. Must…not…go…back……….
March 9th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
I went to petfinder, despite knowing that I shouldn’t. Bad move, Gina. Geez. My taller half has been talking about getting a dog, but I’m still unsure about it. Almost 32 and I’ve never had a pet, why start now? And while I adore kitties, and would love one, generally speaking it’s considered rude to have a pet that’ll send your mother into anaphylactic shock. So no kitties for me.
If we get a dog, I sort of want a Tammy-dog. To the rest of the world, those are Yorkies. But my godmother had one when I was growing up, named Tammy. And as a little kid, I couldn’t figure out that that was the specific dog and not the type of dog.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
omg… dying laughing @ Gina’s “generally speaking it’s considered rude to have a pet that’ll send your mother into anaphylactic shock”
March 9th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
I love the pet names – Christopher, Olivia and Captain Lou, Casanova, Katherine, Nancy and Henry. And Pancake? Oh, my. I love the name Mona, too. Our families had Ethan, big scruffy dog and Alistair the cat (sorry, Alastair but he looked like Alistair Cooke. At least it’s spelled differently). They’re both gone but we filled one of the empty spaces with Emma, part standard poodle. She looks like a gigantic version of Mona and walks me every day.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
I had a MINE moment but it took a few days after having my bunny arrive at my place. I got home from work to find my (now ex-) boyfriend cooking and cleaning for me and had picked up groceries (I should have known something was up then).
I turned the corner into the living room…. and there was a bunny on my couch. A tiny, lop eared brown bunny that looked like it was about to cry if anyone noticed it. It was a rescue from a woman who was ready to “free” it into the wild in late February. In Ontario. There was no one else he knew who could take it on, so he took it to me.
But then a few days later, when I took bunny out of her cage for pets, treats and some sweet daily freedom, she very daintily started licking my hand and snuggling up against me.
MINE.
So now every night when I get home from work I have a bunny who is in a rush to be let out of her pen and makes her inspections rounds of the apartment and then hopes to wherever I am to keep me company for the rest of the night. She’s litter trained, responds to her name and runs the household.
The hardest thing I have is keeping off the petfinder.com site and the local humane society site. Because sometimes I think she could use a bunny friend.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:51 pm
Aww! She looks much like the dog we had as I was growing up!
He was shaved quite often. Despite good intentions, he would get mats very easily.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:09 pm
I have an Akita, Nikki. She’ll be eleven this year and I don’t even like to think about that. She’s fabulous, and so sweet and loyal.
Mona looks precious, and I like the haircut.
My friend has a Bichon Frize and when they’re groomed correctly they look like a marshmallow with black beady eyes. Anyway, one summer the friend asked where Nikki got groomed and how much I paid. I told her and she was stunned by the lower cost. She made an appointment and when she picked up Muff she’d been shorn and you could see the pink of her skin. Friend was almost too embarrased to walk her.
I think the dog loved it, and had the best and coolest summer ever. ; )
March 9th, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Lord, I love how you make me smile!!! Thanks Lucy!!!!!!!!
March 9th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
I do love me some makeovers. That What Not To Wear show…I miss cable.
March 9th, 2010 at 8:08 pm
I’ve been agonizing for about a year over whether or not my cat needs another cat to keep him company during the school day when my son and I are gone. There is of course the lurking idea that he likes being an only cat just fine (no sharing of the humans, you know). I just feel badly that he’s alone so much but maybe that’s my own personal neurosis manifesting itself. For all I know, he heaves a big kitty sigh of relief when the door shuts behind us. I know for a fact that he sits in the middle of the dining room table after we leave (kitty footprints– I find them in the strangest places).
March 9th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Oh my goodness. I have a rug that looks exactly like her before picture. If she laid on it, she would blend right in. It’s poodle camo!
We have a rottweiler-german shepherd-chow mix. Except nobody believes he’s part chow. He looks all german shepherd and rott. We have to make him stick out his purple tongue to prove it. He now greets people with his tongue sticking out.
Dogs are complicated.
March 9th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Also? You shouldn’t show Jenny this site:
http://dailysquee.com/
You can look at it, though. I have faith in your ability to navigate away from the cuteness when necessary.
March 9th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
I have a brother and sister pair of English Cocker Spaniels. It doesn’t matter how often I brush them, when their fur grows long, it matts. This is particularly true of the girl whose fur is more fine. We’ve done the total shave down. I try not to laugh when I pick them up and their legs look half as thick. Sweet, naked dogs. Laughing at their appearance does not foster good self-esteem.
This last time, I got them back to the groomer before the matts were bad so they were able to receive a proper Cocker cut. Not that I care whether they’re proper anything, but the groomers left the beginnings of their “skirts”. The theory is that these could eventually grow several inches into the long, swingy, silky skirts that you see on cocker spaniels in dog shows.
Who am I kidding? Why don’t I just wait until their fur gets that long and braid them into dreadlocks? My dogs chase each other in the back yard. They run around investigating the dog park with its black dirt. They don’t know it yet, but I’m buying them life vests and they’re going to learn to be boat dogs so they can go with me when I take the boat out to the sandbar and splash around.
I will never ever be able to maintain them in full Cocker coats.
In the meantime, though, I like their smooth backs and furry legs. It’s a good look.
Now if the groomer would only listen to me when I ask her not to put bows in Nat’s ears. He’s a neutered male, not a cross-dresser. Pyxi, on the other hand, rocks her bows.
March 9th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Oh my goodness, I don’t know which I like better — the before or the after. Kind of like 80s Eddie Van Halen and the lead singer from A-Ha . . . . Much adorableness!
We have a cat that was The Foreigner Cat. Ie: people would come in, want a cat, teach for a year, then dump the cat on someone else when they moved on. Poor kitty! It took at least 6 months before she’d come out of hiding. Then she was the neediest thing . . . finally, we got two kittens, and while she wasn’t 100 percent happy about it, it took care of the neurotic neediness. If you can be responsible for two cats, I think it’s a really good idea . . . but maybe we just got lucky.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:25 am
Sigh, every time there’s a dogblog here or at Argh Ink I get all broody and start a campaign to get to the animal shelter and pick up our own MINE!
However, my DH has had dogs in the past and knows that we shouldn’t have a dog. Because we’d have to get two dogs to keep each other company while we all go to work and school, and then that’s two dogs to take to vet and groomer and walking and pooper-scooping (although it has to be said that most people in Brussels don’t bother with that little detail).
All I can say is that the more pics you put of Mona, the happier I will be. I loved her as a 3lb puppy and she’s still cute as a 10lb teen, and I think her cut brings out all her gorgeousness. Sigh.
March 10th, 2010 at 10:35 am
I don’t even need petfinders to get in trouble. For a period of 2 years the house next to me was vacant for the most part, but occassionally the owners daughter and her dope dealing friends would move in for a month or 2 and then disappear for a few months leaving pets behind (btw, I do not live in the hood-this was in a good neighborhood.) First I stole a 2 month old kitten which I pawned off on my parents. Then came the cat we could hear trapped in the house. I just opened the unlocked front door and took her. Next was the puppy abandoned in the backyard who was left with nothing to eat except its own poop. I am not a dog person but couldn’t take her to the shelter and kept her for myself. What is really scary is that at one point the girl and her friends moved back in and she had a baby with her. The house was finally foreclosed and the drama ended-thank goodness.
March 10th, 2010 at 2:24 pm
I had an American Eskimo (think samoyed who got shrunk in a dryer) when we lived in Texas. I felt sorry for her with all that fur in unbearable heat, so I used to get her shaved like that every year. She was so spunky and cute with her short hair. Mona looks great!
And yes, I have petfinder.com blocked on my computer because I CANNOT have anyone else to take care of right now.
March 10th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
I raise Munchkin Cats and had 4 kittens two days ago. Three of them are shorties. Lucy, you and Jenny need some munchkins to go with your Dachunds. They are cats that have legs like Dachunds. They are so funny to watch them run around that you will laugh out loud. They also think they are big even though they only weigh about 3 to 5 lbs full grown. They are rulers of their domains. I have had more fun since I met them and they started telling me how to live my life. LOL
March 10th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Cats are better in pairs. I think it is a fact somewhere. I adopted two over seven years ago. Lincoln crawled into my lap and said I was HIS. Abby claimed Lincoln as HERS by reaching her paw out to touch his face while they were sitting face to face in their cat carriers while we were filling out paperwork. I think somewhere in there they decided they were MINE. They’re cats, I didn’t get to vote.
My mom’s original statement “two!!! what do you mean you got two!” Two weeks later she’d changed her tune to “it is really good you have both of them.”
March 10th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
I do so love your pet stories — well, yours and Jenny’s both. Mona looks lovely, and I’m sure she feels spry and spunky for springtime.
Maybe I’ll go to the groomer and see what they can do for me. Pretty bows behind my ears, you think?
Tawna
March 10th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
I think you’ve all convinced me– when school lets out for the summer, I’m going to get a second cat. My son will be beside himself with joy. My cat… maybe not so much initially but he was one of three in his earlier life before I rescued him so it should work out fine.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:26 am
Yeah, I’ve had to do that to mini schnauzer a couple of times, including right before the real cold of winter set in. Thank heavens I didn’t have to buzz off her beard too. She likes a little skirt around her waist and some on the legs or they look too skinny… but sometimes- well, it was so cold I actually got her to keep a sweater on this winter- little stripped jail-bird Misty. Just keep loving her and telling her how beautiful she looks, give her a couple of extra treats, and she’ll get by just fine. She is adorable and now at least you can see her beautiful eyes!