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on a lighter note~

July 17th, 2008 at 03:59 pm

Well, I still have plenty of economic questions, but today I don’t have much time to read and comment on the answers, so today's blog will be a bit lighter.
Yesterday Baseball boy and I scanned the internet to see about getting a new dog, since our beloved rottie passed away last month.

It is an exciting process, to pick out your new family member and anticipate all the precious memories you will build together.

I started out with the criteria that I want a guard dog. As I get older, and see more things going down around me, my "fear of the world" instincts have risen. I am too aware of being alone in underground garages, driving through hostile neighborhoods, and being alone in new apartments while baseball boy is on road trips.

Our rottie gave me the security due to her size. With her by my side, I knew no one would consider approaching me to do harm. But even she had her shortcomings. She was just the most people loving dog I have ever met. If someone actually did try and enter our apartment, I have a suspicion she would be the type to wag her little tail nub at them and follow them around trying to entice the intruder to pet her.

So new criteria, a dog that is a bit more aloof. A one man only dog. I have the years behind me to deal with a bit more of a guard dog than a lap dog.

My other criteria are to get the dog at a rescue. For me, the idea of buying from a breeder just means you are taking a home away from a dog sitting in a shelter cage, or abandoned on a road somewhere.

And ideally we want a dog that is around 1 years old. Our rottie was about 9 months when we got her and we lost sunglasses, a baseball glove, a retainer (ewww), and carpeting due to her chewing.

I have an application in to a swiss mountain dog rescue but since those dogs are not typically the type that needs rescuing, I could be on their waiting list a long time.

We looked at rottie rescues, but found a lot of half breed rotts, or rotts that were marked as not getting along with other dogs, kids ect. Plus, looking at some of the rottie faces- just opened up the wound on my heart from our last dog. I don’t know if I could bring another rottie into our house, let it sleep on our bed, eat from our dog dishes, and sleep on our couch without feeling I have replaced our previous dog.

A different breed seems like a different experience and a new dog. Not a replacement dog. Baseball boy has his heart set on another rottie though. I think he feels that no other breed will give him as positive an experience as our last dog did.

And then we looked at dog shelters in the surrounding area. We came across a few pit bull terriers that are definitely worth considering. The pit bulls are not very big, they average about 50 lbs, but I have met plenty of pitts and love their personality. I know that they look intimidating even though they are smaller.

A few problems with the shelters. Most won’t adapt to people who live 60 miles outside of their radius. I don’t know if Baseball boy and I count because we are here now, but will be moving cross country at the end of August.

Second, the adoption fee for one dog we really liked is $310!!! Oh Boy. For that price I could go to a breeder! I understand the cost of food, vets, housing and would gladly pay the organization in exchange for what they do to help the animals. But in another breath I really wonder how much of the general population they are turning off from adoptions?

Baseball boy and I ran the numbers, and $310 adoption fee, plus $50 to take new dog to the vet for a check up, plus $30 a month in food, plus $50 in dog toys/treats- that’s one hell of a start up cost to get a dog.

We decided to shelve it and wait until the season is over to re-asses our situation.

6 Responses to “on a lighter note~”

  1. FinanceWhiz Says:
    1216308203

    I applaud you for looking at dogs in shelters, but I agree that the fee is really high!

  2. homebody Says:
    1216309850

    I got my sweet doggy (terrier mix) from a shelter 5 hours away and the fee was $80.00, which was basically to neuter him. I live in California and found him on Pet Finders.org or I should say my daughters found him 3 months after my shepherd/rhodesian ridgeback passed. Perception is everything. MD was just here visiting with her two pit bull looking dogs, (mixed breeds, shelter dogs also) and they are very people friendly, but you should have seen the reaction people at the park had to them. Ha ha. It was almost funny since they are such sweeties.

    A friend of mine had a bull mastiff which was a big wuss, but appeared very aggressive by his barking and body language, but once you got close to him he would actually run (not from me of course, but he did that to my husband who he did not know as well).

    Good luck with finding a good fit for your family.

  3. merch Says:
    1216313810

    Well, whenever you post a question, I'll try to respond. But no look at Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg is the source of news, trading, securities, etc. in the professional investment community. This is what traders and portfolio managers use most.

    Bloomberg recently posted some news on the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee), the guys who raise or lowere interest rates, meeting. They basically said ``with increased upside risks to inflation and inflation expectations, members believed that the next change in the stance of policy could well be an increase in the funds rate.''

  4. Broken Arrow Says:
    1216340992

    I admit I giggled on more than one occasion when I read this post.

    May I make a recommendation? How about a little yippy dog? You already have brutish looking dog. Now, you just need one that will bark at just about anything to get the big dog's attention and join in the party. Being a smaller dog may also be easier to take care of, and without having seeming like you're replacing your friendly first dog.

    You know, for your dog to be so sweet probably means that you're a very nice person in real life. That's a good thing. I really like nice people the best.

  5. gamecock43 Says:
    1216353095

    yippie dogs (accessory dogs) are not for me. They are cute, and very adorable at times, but I like the larger dogs. Those are the dogs for me.

  6. homebody Says:
    1216391985

    I always had large dogs, I thought small dogs were just icky, turned my nose up at them basically. Now I have two (15-20 pounds) and cannot believe how much personality they have and how fun they are. They are way more active and fun than my other big dogs were. However, I would like a big dog again for the safety factor. I walk my dogs on a wooded trail around a water treatment plant that is an off leash dog park, but it does worry me sometimes.

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