Author Topic: my pack  (Read 5213 times)

Jodi and the pack

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my pack
« on: April 06, 2009, 04:36:45 pm »
I was so excited about finding this site and the leonberger info I was a bad doggy mom and didn't take the time to introduce my canine family to you all.

Here are my girls.  Sophie, my english setter, is around 3 years old.  We found her a little over a year ago while my husband was out hunting.  Sophie had been shot with a shotgun and left in a ditch.  My husband took her to a nearby country vet and thought that she would be humanely put to sleep.  After a month, however, the vet called and said she was recovering nicely and if we would take the time to drive the hour to his clinic she was all ours--free of charge.  Of course we made the trip there in 45 minutes.  When we brought her home she was afraid of everything and just knew that we were going to beat or kick her if we got too close.  Sophie and I enrolled in obedience classes right away and she became a completely different dog.  Within four months we were certified as a therapy team and now spend time in local schools.  Sophie was made for this work.

Ada, a black lab, followed a few months later.  She had been abandoned as a 6 week puppy along with her brothers and sister, and the woman who had found them was taking them to animal control the next day (which has a 3 day limit) instead of driving the extra 20 minutes to the humane society.  After making several phone calls and arrangements, Ada came home with us and the rest of the puppies found homes the same day.  We have had our big beautiful girl for one year and two days.  She's a little down and out right now from infection complications that have lasted nearly three months following her spay.  But everything is finally looking good and I know she'll be bounding around the house and yard soon.

Remy is my little leonberger puppy.  She's nearly 11 weeks and growing every day.  She was rescued from a puppy mill in Oklahoma.  She was the only puppy to survive after being rescued at 5 weeks.  She weighed only 3 pounds and wasn't expected to make it either.  Remy, however, thought differently.  Her mother was put to sleep shortly after the rescue.  She was supposedly nearly 6 years old, full leo sized physically, but only weighed 75 pounds.  The poor girl couldn't even hold weight on her back legs, from what we were told.  And even with all the effort her rescuers put into her she was ready for the rainbow bridge.  I know she is in a much better place with her other puppies and it's my mission to give Remy the life they all should have had.

In addition to these four-legged family members I have two cats (who are mad at me for bringing another dog into their house) a cornsnake, a chilean rose tarantula and many, many hermit crabs. 

I also have two beautiful little girls aged 5 and 8 years...but for this one instance they take back seat to the dogs!

I have already received so much encouragement and support on this site, that I thank you.  It's wonderful to be welcomed so warmly into your family!

Offline vmimom2006

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Re: my pack
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2009, 07:49:38 am »
WOW what a crew! Welcome. I am Connie and I have 2 grown sons and now have 2 great dane girls Athena & Aurora and loads of kitties  ;D
Mom to:
Athena 20 month Blue Great Dane
Aurora 5 yr Blue Merle Great Dane
Baby Tux cat-RIP 6/9/09
Mandy & Millie 10 yr sisters tabbys
Wheet 9 yr black shorthair devil cat
Lucy Lu & Buckley 8 month kitties

Jodi and the pack

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Re: my pack
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2009, 01:56:33 pm »
Hello and welcome to the rest of your pack!

I'll introduce myself again.  My name is Chris, and my crew consists of Keiko, husky/shep mix who turns 11 tomorrow, Gunther, 4 yr old great dane, and Nigel and Posey, two 3 yr old rat terriers.  I've also got 3 birds, a rat and a small tank of fish.  I feel a bit empty now as I'm down 4 pets from last year.

My sister used to have a rosehair tarantula (not sure if that's the same as yours) as well as a mexican redleg (I think that's what it was called).  I have a question on your hermit crabs.  Do they ever breed?  How do you sex them?  And do they lay eggs?  if so, how and where?  I've always wondered that.........l ol.

I think that the tarantulas are probably the same...from what my 3rd grader tells me...but that is definately not my area of expertise.  It was my daughters Valentine's present from dad (I opted to give her a stuffed animal and a diary).  My interactions with it so far have been purchasing crickets weekly and dumping them into the tank.

I do, however, know a thing or two about hermit crabs.  Ours are pretty tiny right now (my other daughter's Christmas present) so we'll have to wait until they are much larger--golf ball sized or so--to sex them, but I know it probably could be done sooner.  Basically the only way you can do it is to try to coax them far enough out of their shell to...umm...cou nt holes...  If you try to pull them out any farther than they want, you risk the chance of pulling them in half because they would rather die than give up their shell (even though the picky things change shells all the time).  As far as breeding goes...it's nearly impossible to get them to reproduce in captivity.  Hermit crabs have to lay their eggs in the ocean water (not just salt water).  A males then fertilizes them and shortly thereafter tiny naked hermies emerge.  They are squishy little things and don't develop their hard carapace until after they come to land.  Before they can do this, though, they have to find an abandoned shell from a snail, which has some kind of nutrients that they need right off the bat.  I'm sure someone somewhere has actually been able to create the perfect environment for hermie reproduction, but I think some things are just best left up to nature.  All odds are that we will never have baby hermies skittering through the crabitat.  Most hermit crabs that you will find in stores are actually from Florida.

On a side note...the puppy Remy loves the hermies at night because they "talk" to each other.  They make this weird little chirping sound and Remy will sit there and make her own little squeaks like she's speaking their language.  Which is hilarious unless it's 3 a.m.

Offline Morweena

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Re: my pack
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2009, 04:25:23 pm »
Wow thats quite a pack!
I'm glad those dogs found you when they needed you
Ruby - bullmastiff/malamute