Having been a member of several Yahoo groups over the last year or so, and always being a natural-born leader, I wanted to have a group to call my own.
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When I started searching Yahoo Groups I was astonished to learn that there are over 50,000 groups in the “dogs” category.
Wanting to make my group stand out in a crowd, I knew I’d have to come up with something unique, original and upbeat.
As the proud owner of two dogs when I was a child (Sam, a wonderful old howling Beagle; and Fritz, the scariest dog in the whole neighborhood –a German Shepherd Dog that my brother had gotten when he was a recruit at the police academy), I knew the special challenges that came with owning a pack of dogs.
I was fortunate enough to spend the lion’s share of my adulthood with my most loyal friend and companion, Timba, a black Labrador Retriever who lived to the ripe old age of 18 (that’s about the equivalent of a 125-year-old human). She died when I was 41 years old, and at the time I knew her longer than I’d known most people, including my sweetheart,Gil.
Shortly before Timba’s death, I adopted Hobie, a yellow Lab/Shepherd mix who instantly took on the role of the love of my life, but not the well-behaved “perfect” dog that Timba had always been. Nevertheless,Timba actually taught Hobie many things, and when she passed away that sad day on Memorial Day weekend in 2001, I was ready to have Hobie takeover Timba’s job.
But a very interesting thing happened. One September 4, 2001, exactly one week before “9/11”, my dear friend Nancy announced that her daughter’s dog, Oreo, had just given birth to a litter of black Lab-mix puppies. Missing Timba like crazy, and having such a good time raisingHobie, I decided I’d take a puppy when they were ready.
When 9/11 hit, it was like a ton of bricks to me personally. You see,I work in the travel business in a specialized “niche” market, and the terrorist attack hit our business hard.
Sad and depressed, I started visiting the puppies at Nancy’s farm everyFriday afternoon. Hobie actually picked out the pup we would eventually take home: Hector, a black Lab/Coonhound mix who howled from the moment we put him in our car one November afternoon, and hasn’t stopped howling since! I describe my Hector as “the nicest dog in the world.” He hasn’t got a mean bone in his body, and I often wishI could draw cartoons because he’d be a perfect cartoon character! If you watch Hector’s antics for a while, you can see what kind of canine must have inspired the creators of Pluto, Snoopy, Marmaduke, and all the other cartoon dogs!
But soon after Hector and Hobie, who are both male and very close in age, reached adolescence, I also reached my mid-40s. I would never change a thing in the world (except my leadership skills, which are often weak)! Having two dogs is often challenging, difficult and exhausting, but at the same time rewarding, fun, joyous and did I mention exhausting!?
It is that which perhaps sets this group apart from others. I want to hear from others who live in multi-dog households. Whether you feel outnumbered, or want your pack to grow to epic proportions, we can help each other grow and have some fun doing it.
Before I sign off, I have two requests:
1) Please refrain from personal attacks or flaming of any kind.
2) Do not ever say anything bad about Cesar Millan here. Go do that somewhere else. Bashing of the Dog Whisperer is not allowed.
Violators of either of these rules will be removed from the group without additional warning.
Now, claim that gate, come on in (in front of your dog)!
Welcome to K2’s Dog Park!
K2
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