Empty Nest Syndrome **Open Thread**
By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on May 5, 2009 at 12:05 AM in Current Affairs, Open Thread
I am happy to report that ALL of our puppies have found new homes! On Friday, Leila (the brindle one) went to a post mistress in a nearby town; on Saturday, a family with several children (including teenagers who LOVE dogs) picked up Lucky (the woman said, as she was putting Lucky in the back of the car, “Now I have a new baby! I can’t wait to go buy him some things!” Translation: he will be spoiled.).
On Sunday, as I was grooming my horse, some folks came by to pick something up. I had Lani with me, and the woman was like, “Well, she’s awfully cute!” The man: “We don’t need another dog. We got two dogs. One’s a hundred pound German Shepherd. He could hurt her, just playing, of course, but still.” The woman: “He doesn’t hurt the other dog, and besides, we have a kennel to keep them separated if we need to.” Man: “Grumble.” Woman: “Well, what do you think?” Man: “(Sigh) Whatever you want.” Me: “If she doesn’t get along with y’all’s dogs, I’d gladly take her back.” Man to woman: “Well, whatever you wanna do.” Lani: Licking the man’s arm and face as he holds her, not squirming one tiny bit like she usually does, on which I commented.” Man: “I got a way with animals…” Man looking like a boy with a new puppy…So, she is going to go live on a horse farm, with lots of room to run and play.
Jordan, by the way, turns out to be about 4 yrs OLDER than we thought he was! Witness Protection and all that, but ironically, I had just said to him, “Jordan, you look GOOD! Are you SURE you’re 22???” No wonder he said no! Ahem.
So, thank you all for your support, for your queries about the pups, and for wanting to see photos/videos of them. They are all living with nice families who will take good care of them.
Here, then, is the last one we took of the three of them romping around:
I’ll get back to the serious stuff again soon, but after the VERY informative Live Chat on Torture Sunday night at No Quarter, PUPPIES are a good thing to see…
As much work as it was to have them all here, and as expensive as it was (and as it ever), that all pales in comparison to the joy, delight, and love they brought us. We will forever be thankful for the opportunity that presented itself in the form of a stray dog who needed a home…
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Rev. Amy—Thank you for the wonderful “and they lived happily ever after” puppy story.
Here’s wishing all earthly creatures everywhere, big and small, could find the same happiness!
Love your puppies Rev Amy but I’m a bit behind – who’s Jordan?
LOL – Jordan is our 16.2hh, 1,200 lb retired hunter/jumper standardbred, rescued by an area vet from a crazy lady threatening to shoot him in the head because he was having some lameness issues. I’ll do a new photo of him soon – he’s GORGEOUS.
Empty nest…Just remember all the squirming pile of puppies…
sigh.
Yet as we hear the graduation music and the young pups come up for their diplomas, you know that it was all worth it. Just to know that some of them will be the future leaders of tomorrow….
And with a wistful WOOF! You bade them Adieu.
.
Loved that musical ( the stage version—-we did it in High School the year the movie was released. Stage versions are always better than film versions, in my opinion)
…such a very sweet adieu song
OMG Teak that is our fav movie here my daughter and I watch it and watch it over and over….
So pleased to hear all puppies have wonderful homes Amy~~ what a blessing for them to of had such a loving home to start out their long journey…… may all your memories stay close in your heart~~
Puppies!
cutest ever!
Open thread;
Condi:
.
Smart kid.
Do you think Cheney knew this was going on when he was SecDef?
Cheney probably know about this training. I knew about it — but then I’m a military brat and we tend to pick up information.
When dad come home from a weekend and he is an emotional basket case, and he hasn’t used a razor on his face (I’d never seen him anything but shaved, except that one time) — kids will find out what the hell happened to dad. He flew missions over China, North Korea and Russia — and all the crews had to take the POW training. This was ages ago — and it was SOP for all crews under CIA supervision to take these courses.
Supposedly the POW camp training came about by reverse engineering whatever torture methods the “bad” guys were using. So does this mean that the present day US torture methods are reverse-reverse engineered to use on anyone considered a terrorist or just typical prison torture?
————–
Good job on the pups! Hooray for you!!
I was just thinking yesterday… good thing I don’t rescue piglets. I’d have to quarantine them! YIKES!
Oh, Stray – oh, dear…They are mighty cute, those little piglets…
And Stray, you know you have a home here with us, right?
Oh, I’m so happy for all of you, RRRAmy. Congratulations on a job well done. The pups will go on to have very happy, loving lives. Nothing better.
Can’t wait to see a pic of Jordan, I love horses, too.
Weren’t there some tears shed at their departing? I know I’m sad to see them leave.
No more pictures — sniff.
Are you kidding me?? Hell yes! When the vet tech took them before our trip, I couldn’t even talk abt them without crying! And Sun. night, I’d hear a noise and think it was them…
But thy have all gone to good, loving homes – oh – I saw Leo, the light brown with white at the vet yesterday when I was dropping off my chow/lab mix, Sweetie for more x-rays (they think she has problems with her cervical vertebrae). He remembered me! And he is SOOOOO cute. His owners said it’s hard to take him walking because everyone stops them to see him!
And Lucas’ people send us photos, too, so there will probably be more of the pups!
New Jordan pics soon, I promises!
Those pups got SO BIG! It’s nice to know they all went to loving homes–it’s everything one can ask for in the end. Is the mom (Lucy?) going to stay with you or go to your Mom?
RRRA, you are a good one, you know? So happy for you and yours and those puppies. It is always a bittersweet cry that feels the best; in those tears, we know, we love.
But you were great for and with them.
My middle son and his fiancee broke up and we inherited a rather large (107lb) 14 month old puppy. The good news is the youngest son’s fiancee adores it and they will probably take him in when they set up house keeping.
Meanwhile I get to clean up dog poop.
I need some opinions.
The missus and the youngest daughter allow him up on the furniture, a no-no in my book because sometimes he will snap if you sit too close to him. He’s very territorial that way. However this is one of many battles I’m not going to win. So the question is how do you break a dog of the snapping habit?
Nip it (pun intended) in the bud–it will only get worse. I would try leaving a gentle leader (buy one at any large pet supply retailer–it goes snugly around the muzzle and top of head) and a leash on him around the house. Any infractions get a small tug on the leash/leader with a firm ‘No’ or sound of your choice. It will probably take a day or two, then you can reduce the number of hours he has it on gradually.
This is a dominance issue. You must establish that he is the ‘low dog’ on the totem pole. The dog should follow commands from even the youngest child in your family. (Don’t feel bad about it–dogs don’t have self esteem issues like people do!) Taking him for daily walks also helps establish you as his leader. There are plenty of great articles about proper dog-walking techniques that you can read up on. Also, daily 10 minute training sessions in sit/stay/come/down commands (with treats for incremental achievements) helps cement your leader-follower relationship (maybe 3 per day). A trained dog is much happier than an untrained one because he has a place in the system and knows what to expect.
You have to decide what works best in your house and for your dog–all situations/dogs are different so what works for one family may not work for yours. Our dog never gets to go on the beds, which are the thrones of the hierarchy, but he gets to go on the couches since it is social time with his pack (us) there.
Best of luck!!
Possibly this person of note with a few bits from his biography will be over-looked here, but I am captivated by his post at truthdig, where he posts every Monday, if you’re interested.
Chris Hedges’ post, “Buying Brand Obama”, has much of what I’ve been thinking, not in the sense of “great” minds thinking alike, but of minds “thinking, period” variety. He has a BA in English Literature (Colgate University), and a master’s of Divinity (Harvard Divinity School).
Before March, 2003, I was against attacking Iraq, but quietly so as not to be trampled as the administration beat the warring drums and the masses rushed to embrace each other over our “getting this bastard.” Hedges was not quiet:
May 17, 2003, 2 weeks after Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech, Hedges delivered the Rockford College (Rockford, Illinois) commencement speech where he denounced the path Bush was leading us down. The reaction of the audience was so threatening that Hedges had to cut his address short and was escorted by security officials off the campus.
His employers, the New York Times,criticized his statements and reprimanded him.
Hedges left the Times to become a senior fellow at The Nation Institute, write books, and teach. His book, “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle” is due out in July.
Giving love and shelter to homeless pets is a measure of your wonderful character RRRA. Even otherwise decent people don’t always see how heartbreaking it is when pets become throwaways or how, like bread cast on water, the love comes back to you many times over when you give them love. Thank you so much.
a puppy is a gift and what a shame some people can’t see it or know what a wonderful thing our pets or companions are to us. i tried to take a nap awhile ago and two of my kitties joined me. of course they were concerned about dinner, but they are great!
No more puppy videos??? Bummer! (Boy, looking at this last one…I really wish I could’ve gotten Lucky.) I’m glad for you that they all went to other good homes, though. Thank you for sharing your puppy journey with all of us, Rev Amy. It made for a nice, peaceful break with all the news about the economy, torture, etc.