Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

:sillygrin :heart Uh huh IS SO TINY!

(but I still feel like they were pretty huge for 4 1/2 weeks :shifty)

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

Oh how cute. :melting

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

I just died from cute overload!!

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

4 1/2.... omigosh. Um. I retract.

I have brought home eight week olds who were smaller than him. He looks tiny, but I thought he was older. :lol

I will tell you, my after-a-bad-experience dog has healed my heart. I hope yours does that for you too. :heart

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

Ok, yeah, 4 1/2 weeks??? My big guy still fit in my hands at that age. Heck, I have a picture of tiny 18 month old Urchin carrying him around by his neck at 7 weeks. Mr. B is going to blow all of that out of the water. :giggle

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::)
 

What made you decide on a St. Bernard?

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

:roll

And your doggie is GORGEOUS :melting

I think Mr. Bultitude is supposed to be like 30 lbs at 12 weeks old when we go get him to bring him home :hearts

Well, it basically went down something like this :giggle:

I had a dog shaped hole in my life since Pantuke was rehomed. We grieved for a while and then started to notice the glaring lack of dog around the house again :shifty.

But I thought, "oh, I'll just get a purse dog. Then it'll be like not a dog. But sort of like a dog. And it'll be tiny and low impact."

But then I started looking at purse dog breeds and realized that with the tiny bladders and their tininess making them susceptible to being carried around and thrown and tripped on and fallen on my a toddling ds, I was all like, "nooooo! Nightmare potty training and potential dog injury all the time!!!" :shifty

So then dh and I talked more and were like, "Well, let's look at the medium sized dogs" :giggle. We wanted one that is known for being mega chiiillllll. (I mean, he doesn't have to be a TOTAL lump. But as an adult dog, I really think I could have spent 4 hours a day walking Pantuke and he would STILL have been too wired to follow commands or... not put himself through the picture window in the livingroom while leaping at moths on the outside :doh. 4 hours of walking is TOO MUCH for me. Too much.) So we got all excited about basset hounds :roll :heart

But alas. Again with the hard to potty train and the real deal breaker: they are known to wander of you let them off leash, ever. Like, take off after a scent and run until they can't run anymore and then pass out, wake up a few hours later and wander off to look for food. Not even HOME. Just food :lol. Not that I intend to let my puppy run off unsupervised :no ... but I want to be relatively confident that if he's playing in the yard with me and ds, he's not going to just peace out on us and ignore my pleas for him to coooommmmeee baaaaaacccck.

So then I started peeking at the true loves of my life in the dog world. The giant breeds :melting.

I don't know why I had never given Saints a second look before. I was always dreaming about Danes and Mastiffs :hearts

(I don't mind drool :giggle)

It was probably because I had images from Beethoven prancing through my head. :doh Those dogs were run amoks :giggle

But I got curious and started reading, and oh :hearts. They are known for being great with kids/families. And for being (of course it will vary within the individual dog, but still...) mellow. And reading about what they were BRED FOR, it is just precious. To go find survivors and either lead them back home (so they tend to have an excellent sense of direction, which is something I adore 'cause my sense of direction is the WORST ever. Not that I will go relying on my dog to bring me - or ds - home if I'm lost, but it's good to know that it's in him somewhere to do so) OR to just sit gently with them and keep them warm for days on end until help arrived.

They are often therapy dogs... I think every Saint I've met in real life has been a therapy dog, which is encouraging to me because when I was researching therapy dog training, most sites I visited asserted that therapy dogs are BORN, not made. And I would like to put this pup through training when he's ready, too.

I was really really happy to be able to meet and spend time with both parents this time around, too. So there's no guessing about what they are like. They were both so dreamy and so gentle with ds :hearts. They have neighbors with a one yr old and a 2 yr old and a child with autism :heart, and they are interacting with the dogs and puppies almost every day, which is also super happy for us.

I am so excited to see how it goes this time around. I'm trying to iron out a more solid routine and prepare so puppy can have structure when he gets here. It's good for ds, too, I think :giggle

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

You posted photos of khaleesi! She's so dang cute.

I'm excited that the father is a therapy dog, and trained in search and rescue. The breeder said that when she has panic/ anxiety attacks, he will come and place his head in her lap. Good genetics!

I'm really excited about how these pups are being raised. Inside. Household noise. Handled by children. Exposure to potential meltdowns ( cause they sure do happen around here a lot.) Cats. Four other dogs. Being kept with their pack until 12 weeks. Just awesomeness all around and a really good foundation for further training and a well balanced dog. :)

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

Reading about their mama and daddy has me just :melting Those are going to be GOOD dogs! :heart

I think breed matters, but immediate family matters more. Dogs from good natured parents that are easy to live with are as a rule going to be... guess what, good natured dogs that are easy to live with. :lol

---------- Post added at 04:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:21 PM ----------

How could you. :snooty I feel like I should cover his eyes. "Sort of like a-" pish. I never.

:giggle :heart

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

Yea exactly! I'm super excited about the breed because I need big dog. My Irish wolfhound passed last autumn and I am super skeeved out being alone with just small dog. I want large and intimidating LOOKING but with a breed that is likely to be calm and not extremely territorial. Just, stand there and look scary please. :). BUT, most of my excitement comes from this family. Yes, good dogs!

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

Awww! Too cute!

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

:giggle :shifty :heart

I'm really glad you said that about our puppies' parents :rockon :sillygrin ... 'cause it's what we are hoping/thinking, too.

Their owner was telling us that way back when the father (Captain) was much younger, she and her husband were egging him on, trying to get him to play a little rough with them, and he was so resistant to it. But he finally played back with her, just a little, and because he's so big, he accidentally bumped her in such a way that she hit the small of her back on the door knob behind her.

She has chronic back issues, anyway, so it REALLY REALLY hurt, and she crumpled to the floor in tears.

Captain responded by stopping immediately and going into rescue mode :roll. He lay down beside her with the utmost care and sat until help arrived. To this day, she said, she has NEVER been able to get Captain to do anything even remotely like playing rough with her. If she tried to encourage it, he would sit resolutely down. If she tried harder, he'd lay down. :roll "Nothin' doin' :snooty"

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

That sounds so wonderful! I'm not a fan of drool, but with dogs that great, it might be easily overlooked! We had to regime a dog because we just couldn't provide for her. Sounds similar to your situation with your last dog. We just could not provide what she needed, we are thinking long and hard about when and what breed we will get when we are ready.

Edit-we REHOMED a dog, not regimed it. ;)

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

ohmygersh. a St. Bernard. Aaahhh. He's gorgeous. :heart

(and ps I don't know your past dog story. I must have missed it - but it sounds like you just weren't the right match. :hug)

We want to get a pocket beagle. Small dog with a big dog attitude. :roll Our neighbour is the only breeder in Canada and it's sooo tempting. :)

Re: Coming out: We're getting a puppy (PICS ::grin::) (Edit: MORE pics, post 8 :giggl
 

Eee, Stiina! I am such a beagle fan.

But now I have a Chihuahua so my words mean nothing. :lol I am rather certain that Duck's puppy is already bigger than my dog. :shifty Duck's puppy's dinner may be bigger than my dog soon.

So you're (Duck and AR) like seven weeks from puppy, yes? Ooh, I bet they'll even have a decent start on housetraining. Love.