Big Mistake

I just read Ashley's post about rebound dogs, and for some stupid reason I went to a couple of Brittany rescue websites and looked at the dogs who need homes. I really want another Brittany. Our dog Rusty, who was our first child and who died last summer, was a fabulous Brit, and if the punk dog hadn't appeared on the scene when he did, I probably would have persuaded Hubs to adopt another Brit. I love the punk, but he has a complete different personality. We got Rusty a few months after we got married, and he was with us for seven years. He was a wild man with so much energy, and then after a long time he started to get stiff and slower and he was an absolute sweetheart who just wanted a little peace and quiet and love in his later years. He was great with the kids - so tolerant, in the same way that he was gentle and tolerant, but not exactly thrilled, with the seizure dog when s.d. was a hyper puppy. I could go on singing Rusty's praises forever. I miss him so much.

So I looked at all of these cute Brits, and it's probably a good thing that most of the ones I saw were too far away, really young, not recommended for homes with young children. Because that made it a little easier not to fall in love with any of them. Rationally, I know we don't need a third dog now. We had three dogs at one point, and it was too much. Two of the dogs were high maintenance (seizure dog being one), and it just wasn't working with trying to get two dogs trained to behave nicely. For now I need to focus on teaching punk dog to be a good canine citizen. He's getting better, but he still needs a lot of work.

Seizure Dog

I thought that, since I posted a picture of the punk dog, I should also post a picture of the seizure dog. He started having seizures just over a year ago. We're fairly sure that they're genetic. We've had him since he was 8 weeks old, and he'll be five in May. He was originally destined to be a show dog, but he was a little too wild as a puppy and didn't want to walk nicely for judges, and then he started showing a tendency toward hot spots, so we got him neutered and he's been a lovable bum ever since.

Yes, he also likes to eat limbs and bark. He has some nice bark bits on his tongue and mouth in the closeup shot. The darker teardrop shape on the tip of his tongue is always there. He's had it since birth, although it's much paler than it used to be. But unlike the punk, he learned to channel his energy into more appropriate hobbies. Both of them are really playful. Just need to get the punk to be more gentle in his play, and to get him to stop chewing on everything. I give them chewy snacks and such all the time but that's never enough for one of them.