DOGS as pets...are you owned by a dog? What makes them so special? Dog lovers of Askville, be counted?

Dog lovers of Askville, be counted. The special food, the Vet bills, the grooming, the 'poop scoop' detail...dogs can be a lot of work and expense...What makes your dog so doggone special? Is he/she really 'man's best friend'?

What makes your particular dog(s) so special? Share your stories.

Similar questions: DOGS pets owned dog makes special Dog lovers Askville counted.

Oh yes......I am owned by three. There are moments when I briefly ask myself why, but they are very fleeting moments. It is mostly when they are barking outside!

I cannot seem to stop them. Anything they see, they start a choir of barking and nothing seems to help. How special they are to me though.

I could not imagine life without any one of them. My first one was Mandy: Mandy is a strange dog. I swear she is psychic.

She will lie with her back to us in the evening and have her head turned just slightly around and her ears back to hear every word you say. It's like she doesn't want you to know she is listening! I couldn’t even begin to guess how many words she knows.

She has an uncanny way of figuring out everything you say. She will dart from the room if she hears a word that she is not sure about and may be something scary! She is a worrier - she must take after me :-) But she is the dearest "old lady" and would have made a wonderful mommy.

She still has her toys from when she was a puppy that she licks, and she is 10 years old. She loves the ocean and would bounce around in the waves all day long retrieveing a ball if you let her:-) The second rescue was Sierra: She is my squirrel watcher, and obviously frog watcher, my agility buddy and my biggest pain in the butt, as she barks at everything! But she is the love of my life.

She is so full of energy and so incredibly intelligent, but she has a mind of her own. She can drive you up a wall with her stubbornness and then be so submissive and needy that you would do anything for her. She is the best player of hide and seek.

She just loves when I play that with her. Or I hide pieces of kibble and she finds them and then gives me a high five! It is uncanny how she sniffs all around and always finds it!

The third rescue was Cody: Cody is a bundle of energy and has the gallop and mannerisms of a horse! He makes horse faces when he gets embarrassed. He also sneezed about 6 or 7 times when he is excited.

All you have to do is say "Cody sit", and he starts his sneezing fit and jumps around in circles before he sits. I really need to capture that on film sometime! Definitely not the best trained dog in the world!

He flies around the yard with logs in his mouth swinging them at the other substantially smaller dogs, which does not thrill them. He is a huge bundle of love and affection though. He would sit with his head on your leg or rest his paw on your leg gazing longingly at your face forever if you would let him.

He and Sierra are both Velcro dogs, so I am never alone :-) It is quite a menagerie around here. You call one and they all come. No one wants to miss anything.

There are times of jealousy, but they really are all fond of one another in their own strange way. They just don't always want to admit it. They will all stick up for each other, and I swear they are all partners in crime.

Their actions never cease to amaze me:-) No, the expensive food, the vet bills, the pooper scooping, the cleaning of throw-up that always has to be on the carpet, the muddy feet, the wet rain-soaked bodies........it is all just part of the package. I don't even think about what I do for them, as what they do for me is ever so much more. A million times over:-) Sources: My life with our dogs.

Doglover928's Recommendations Living With More Than One Dog Amazon List Price: $18.00 Used from: $0.49 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 2 reviews) You Are a Dog: Life Through the Eyes of Man's Best Friend Amazon List Price: $16.00 Used from: $2.92 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 13 reviews) Doglover928's Recommendations A Puppy Is for Loving (Orca Echoes) Amazon List Price: $4.99 Used from: $2.70 The Faithful Friend: Favorite Writings About Owning and Loving Dogs Used from: $0.23 Famous Authors Tell You About Their Beautiful, Loving, and Nutty Dogs Amazon List Price: $12.95 Used from: $0.25 .

Even the "Good Dog" misbehaved last night. My three dog are almost always with me. Last night during dinner, they were unusually troublesome.

One dog knocked over a drink on the coffee table, and shortly after I finished mopping it up, another dog came along with her happy tail and knocked over another drink. Kelsy, the youngest, peed on the carpet for no apparent reason, even though she has been house trained for years. After dinner, the two girls, Kelsy and Tess (center and right in the picture above) finally laid down and were quiet.

Subconsciously, I heard Porter doing something in the kitchen. It took me about five minutes to realize that I'd better see what he was up to. He had stood up and put his front paws on the counter and eaten half of our dessert.It seems that carrot cake is Porter's new favorite food.

I just gave him the look (I didn't have to say anything) and he looked very sheepish and apologetic as he slinked off to sit in the corner. That's about the most trouble I ever have with them. Imagine having a friend or a child that you could say the worst thing they ever did was spill your drink and eat your dessert.

On the positive side, they go with me on hikes in the woods and in the mountains, they go for walks around the neighborhood with me, and they sit quietly and watch me work in the yard. They are almost always a pleasure to have around. I've picked up thousands of bags of dog poop.

Before I had a dog, I used to laugh at people walking down the street carrying a bag of dog poop. I was just thinking the other day that it will be very sad when I no longer have to pick up any poop. The worst thing my dogs will ever do to me is break my heart when they die too young.

I plan to enjoy them thoroughly while I can. Video .

Dogs take your life by stealth. Then it's too late! All dogs are special.

I have had Samoyeds and then two chows. Chows are a complete shock! Our Samoyeds were strictly limited as to where they could sit and go in our house.

Chows just ignore any directions and sit where they like! They are the most defiant, stubborn, recalcitrant, aloof, disobedient dog I have known. You become their staff.

One favorite trick is to come in the outside door but stop half way. They do a four paw lock up and refuse to move. They are a strong and barrel chested dog and are hard to budge.

They move when it suits them. Another trick to cheesed scratch the door to come in and when you open the door they just walk off! But chows have a long history.

They are the original foo (temple) dog of China. Their statutes are everywhere in Asia. You have two outside the LA Chinese theatre.

They are usually found at the entrance to front doors to ward of evil spirits. Buddhists monks had them as guard dogs and this is most likely where it started. Chow are very clean.

They are also very personable and select one favorite person. They are very intuitive. If you cross them they will sit and face the wall.

They are a lovely and interesting dog. Sources: Personal experience Chowfan. Jexebellion's Recommendations A New Owner's Guide to Chow Chows (New Owner's Guide To...) Amazon List Price: $12.95 Used from: $0.25 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 4 reviews) Chowfan.

Jexebellion's Recommendations Book of the Chow Chow Amazon List Price: $39.95 Used from: $0.69 Average Customer Rating: 3.0 out of 5 (based on 3 reviews) .

We have two dogs... Ryman line English Setters from Decoverly Kennels (decoverlykennels.com). And of course, they ARE special, just as everyone who's ever loved a dog knows that that dog is special. This is Nash, my spouse's first Decoverly.

He's been gone now for 9 years, but he lives in our hearts. We do any grooming ourselves--daily brushing, they get trimmed around the neck and ears and feet several times a year. They don't have as much coat as setters going to show).

They do shed, but unlike short-hair dog hair, their fur is very soft and silky and generally vaccuums right up. I DO make a point to sweep every day--these dogs are about 65 lbs each. They get walked 2ce a day, and there's a bag of poop bags by the back door, and places on their leads to stow the bags.

There's a good-sized fine here for getting caught NOT scooping, and besides, it's the polite thing to do. It's not a huge deal, once you're gotten set up for it. They don't get any thing special to eat, unless I feel like making something.

I do make the occasional dog treat, usually because my spouse has brought home wild game...For example, he got a deer last fall. When he putchered it out, all the little fatty meat scraps and the fat off the meat went into a big tub. I ran it through my meat grinder twice, then put it in my big cast iron dutch oven and baked it until all that meat and fat was rendered--then mixed it with a couple of cups of oatmeal, and filled mini-muffin tins, then let it set.

You would have thought the dogs had died and gone to heaven, they were so thrilled. Those treats went into the freezer and lasted quite a while. Easy to make, and the dogs adored them.

Same with venison liver. My spouse brought home his own, AND several of the guys he hunted with didn't want their--so while we ate our share, I took the trimmings and ran them through the grinder, too, added oameal, and dolloped it on cookie sheets, baking in a slow oven until it got leathery. Again, the dogs loved it, we froze the treats, and doled them out over time.

I do the same with chicken livers if I see them for $.50 a lb at the grocery store. Waiting for the bone-jar... Vet bills... Well, the dogs DO get their yearly checks, the flea and tick meds, their vaccinations for the various nasties, and a course of antibiotics twice a year to prevent Lyme disease problems, because our vet is seeing several dogs a week coming in with Lyme even OVER the vaccine. Then there are the accidents... Evan decided to snap up a bee one day, and since the sting could have constricted airway, we hauled butt to the vet, me holding the bag of frozen peas on the rapidly-swelling jaw.

And the close encounter with the porcupine... Not a horrible batch--bus still, about 75 quills. He went into a thicket while they were hunting, and my spouse figures (not having seen it) that Evan popped over a log and landed right by this guy and got swiped once with the tail, then sprained his shoulder getting away. My spouse carries a leatherman tool for this very purpose.

He got most of the quills out, then carried Evan back up to the logging trail (65 lb of unhappy dog)--once on the trail, they took it easy back to the truck, where we got out as many more of the quills as we could...then a trip to the vet's, several hours away, but of course, still after hours when we got there. Evan's question--when do we get to go HUNTING? Shana is another matter with the vet bills.

When she was 4, she was diagnosed with an oral malignant sarcoma--several vet visits for diagnosis and then a trip to the Mattew Ryan Vet Teaching Hospital in Philly for treatmetn, which consists of removing the growth and a substantial margin. PRICEY--what, $4000.00 all told? But there, not only did she get the best of care, she was also part of a study on such cancers, and has made her contribution to medical science.

AND--the average survival for dogs dignosed with the particular cancer is 18 months. Shana is now 9. Five years later, she's still Queen SHana.

She, however, lost her lower jaw from right behind the eyeteeth. Shana, pre-surgery, after a successful day in the field. Shana, post surgery--that little tip of tongue hangs out that little bit, and though it isn't at all obvious, you can see that the lower jaw line is shortened.

The jowls hide it. Because both dogs are athletes, they are prone to the same sorts of injuries that athletic humans are--note Evan's sprained shoulder... Shana also had an ACL surgery, and is showing signs of needing another. We go for their annual check and shots soon, and will have her evaluated for it.

Man's best friend? If not the real thing, the best imitation of it I've ever seen. These two never knew a stranger.

They adore people, especially small children. We do outdoor sports trade shows, and they are a HUGE booth draw--and seriously, you cannot DO that with dogs unless you are utterly certain of their behavior in public. I've had small children use my Evan (and he was 2 at the time--hardly more than a puppy) as a pillow in the booth.

These dogs are bred to respond to, to form close bonds with, their humans. They are working hunting dogs--my spouse is an outdoor writer and writes about hunting over these two, and a HUGE part of that is the relationship between the gun and the dog. But these dogs do more--they are literally 65 lb lap dogs, all winter.

They're very bright--Evan, especially, is very curious, and what's more, is curious about things up over his head. I have a cookbook shelf over the pantry door--had to move the books to fix a leak. Three weeks later?

I put them back, and he sat there and stared at me, then the book, me, then the books, until I took one down and let him sniff it. Then he'd figured it out and it was ok. But he NOTICES and asks about such changes.

You should have SEEN him the first time we turned the cieling fan on! I thought he'd climb me like a tree. Our pattern for dog acquisition is this... We always have an older dog and a younger dog.

When Shana gets to be 10 or so (Evan will be 7 then), we'll go talk to Ken at Decoverly and discuss with him what we're looking for in a pup. He'll call us when he has a suitable litter on the ground, and we'll come pick out a little holy terror of a pup, who'll immediately steal our hearts--then give all that heart-love back in droves. This is what chosing a puppy entails.

I think that's my son under that pack of pups. That little bit of love wrapped up in fur will heave his cookies several times on the way home, and will chew things and have to be watched like a hawk, and will bug the big dogs and have to be put in his place. He'll have to figure out who's boss (NOT HIM!) and learn his place and the rules of the household.

He'll be introduced to the joys of bird-hunting, and will soon be the up and coming one. And when it comes to be Shana-girl's time, while she'll leave a huge, aching hole in our hearts, the younger ones are there to carry on. This is Evan as a puppy.

He was simply totallt irresistable. We call that the "english setter bearing up bravely under tragic loss" look, and it is TOTALLY bogus. Sources: Personal experience... NancyE's Recommendations A Gentleman's Shooting Dog: Evolution of the Legendary Ryman Setter Used from: $200.00 Wow... You can still get the limited edition from us.

No need to spend $200.00 on it! My spouse wrote the book, so I know..

I was raised by Labrador retrievers.... who tried very hard to teach my mother the value of tongue washing her children. Rowdy kept demonstrating on her son Stormy but mom didn’t quite pick it up. Later, we were adopted by a little poodle, Snoopy, who came down the street to live with us as her people had a Doberman who was mean to her.(They also clipped her like a poodle one time and she was horribly embarrassed; we just left her unclipped and she looked like a lamb.) They moved and she just stayed with us til we lost her from old age and congestive heart failure.

Through a boyfriend I took on his mom’s antique miniature Schnauzer who needed a home. Timothy Whiskers was my first terrier (and he was a little fussy terror himself) who paved the way for my very own dogs as an adult. Demon and Rowan (left to right) Rowan was a rescue from South Carolina; a Russell mix with a large and loving heart.

Right after we got her, she came down with distemper. She survived that but it left her with occasional seizures. She also scratched her cornea badly later in life which made us acquainted with a great animal ophthalmologist.

She liked to guard the backyard and never barked unless there was something untoward. Twice it appeared to us that she really was barking at nothing and we went outside to call her in. Both times she kept looking up and so we did too... a hot air balloon festival was taking place and huge balloons were drifting over our house and eastward.

She could hear the propane jets doing burns before she saw them... just amazing to see this massive Porter Paints can fly by! Another time it was a large group of confused Canadian geese.It was clear they were disagreeing on which way to go and they kept circling and honking until they got it straightened out. She also got to meet the famous mathematician, Paul Erdos when he stayed at our house.

As he walked in, Paul (not a dog person) looked down at her grinning face and said "Vicious hellhound, do not eat me for I am old and my meat is bad". The thought of her as a vicious hellhound still makes me smile. Demon we got as a pup.. he was a pistol from the word go.

Not the hunter that our current boy Petey is but a ballmaster par excellence! He was super with any kind of ball and loved playing nose soccer with a basketball. When we would go for a walk, sometimes he would have to take a tennis ball with him... he’d get tired of carrying it but if he dropped it, I would have to pick it up and put it in my pocket as he wasn’t’t going to leave it.

He also made us invest in dog gates for all over the house after he went upstairs and grabbed one end of the toilet paper roll and pulled... and pulled... and pulled.. all the way down the stairs and into the living room. Stole my paint brush while I was not looking and took it into the den to eat on the carpet (I found it quickly before damage was done to it, him or the carpet (much..)) I posted an answer about losing them to this question: http://askville.amazon.com/dog-vet-today-waiting/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=9362368 Right now, we are owned by my avatar, Petey, who is another rescue from South Carolina. He has taught us about bladder stones and operations, special diets and pills and has now reached what looks to be a stable, healthy life.

He protects us from possums, squirrels, motorcycles and loud pool parties... I will never forget one of my dogs; my pack is always around me in spirit... Sources: my life with dogs unixcorn's Recommendations Dog Is My Co-Pilot: Great Writers on the World's Oldest Friendship Amazon List Price: $14.00 Used from: $1.09 Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (based on 20 reviews) I love this book .

Cat lover of Askville, be counted. " "Dog people... Do your dogs have a "special place" they take treats?" "What is the highest number of pets, you owned at one time? " "Rocketeer Question-How many of you have taught your pets- be it a Cat, Dog, Bird or Squirrel to lite a fire?

" "Where can I buy pets online?" "A city ordinance bans the sales of pets. Bc of that, how can I find the market value of my dog? " "O.K.Askville cat lovers.

A dog lover is tossin' ya a bone" "All Dog Lovers, take this fun quiz to find out if you know "What's Your Dog Saying? "" "Here is a dog question for you Dog lovers! " "Do dog lovers come in two flavors--one that really likes all dogs and another that only likes their own dog?

A city ordinance bans the sales of pets. Bc of that, how can I find the market value of my dog?

O.K. Askville cat lovers. A dog lover is tossin' ya a bone.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.