From commentor TK:
The big, sad-eyed black one is Ceili (KAY-lee), a mix of Irish Setter and Pointer. When my wife was in vet school, she worked at a genetics breeding colony at the university lab. When she was born, she lacked the genetic deficiency that they were seeking to cure, so they adopted her out. As soon as I saw her it was over with. She’s almost 10 now, and still an absolutely wonderful, sweet-natured girl who wants nothing more in the world than to be next to you. And swimming. Lord, does she love to swim. She is the best dog I’ve ever owned.
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The beagle is technically named Audrey, but she never answers to that. In fact, we pretty much just call her Beagle. She’s only got three legs – when she was six months old she was hit by a car, and her family brought her to my wife’s hospital. When confronted with the cost of amputation, the owner said, “Eh, I got a kid in college, might as well put her down.” My wife instead had him sign her over to the hospital, and brought her home “just to foster her for a few days.” Yeah, that was three years ago. Audrey is scared crapless of thunderstorms, sleeps burrowed under blankets at the foot of the bed, and periodically bays/howls at absolutely nothing. But she’s completely adorable and despite my initial misgivings about taking her in, I love her.
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Finally, we come to Louise, aka Weezer, the tiny black dog sitting on top of Ceili. Weighing in at a whopping 9.5 pounds, she is roughly 100 pounds worth of trouble. She and around 50 other dogs were being transported from a puppy mill to local pet stores when the truck broke down. Cops found 50 dogs inside in cages with no food or water in the back of the truck. Needless to say, the dogs were confiscated and distributed to various veterinary clinics around the area, one being my wife’s. When my wife asked me if we would foster one of the dogs, I told her “absolutely not.” A couple days later I went on a camping trip, and then came home to find Louise in my kitchen. My wife swore she was only temporary, but I’m not one of those people who can let an animal go after a couple of months. Especially not Louise. She’s so disgustingly adorable it’s borderline criminal. She loves to kiss your face, snuggle in the crook of your elbow, and belly rubs earn you a friend for life. She adores her big sisters and follows them everywhere, refuses to sleep alone and will aggressively snuggle up to one of them. Of course, she’s also massively destructive – she’s only a year old, but she’s destroyed books, doorframes, chair legs, dog beds, you name it. But damn, she’s cute.
R-Jud
RAGE. Good on you and the Mrs. for taking Audrey Beagle in.
We got our Zeno in a similar situation. He’d been hit, had to have surgery, and the owner didn’t want the bother: “Just put him down”.
So one of the techs called the lady who runs our local cat shelter, and the family handed him over to her. A few weeks later, when Zeno was all weak, skinny and had shaved post-op legs, we happened to come to the rescue looking for a cat, and he charmed my husband with his noisy purring.
stuckinred
Wonderful pups!
Keith G
Each face and posture so distinctively tells a different story. What a crew!
serge
Very fine dogs, TK. You’ve been blessed, or cursed it might be said, to be an animal lover. This little on-line community itself is blessed to have so many good people who can cherish these creatures. We know what so many others don’t, unfortunately, that what you give gets returned twenty times over in pure, unfiltered, unqualified love.
There’s a belly waiting to be rubbed…got to go.
Jman
This is quite the diverse pack. Could this be a quartet in the making? Little Wheezer reminds me of bitter apple-ing everything within puppy reach, funiture, woodwork, power cords…and sewing up partially defuzzed plush toys. Good times.
WereBear (itouch)
“B b b but damn cute” is a great stage. But we are all grateful when they keep the cute and lose the profanity.
Seems your wife knows when they are lovable! And it’s all I ask.
Southern Beale
Oh, my. You know, I don’t know a vet who doesn’t have 6 or 7 animals. So sorry TK but you might want to be prepared for a few more!
I once mentioned to one of the receptionists at our clinic that I thought our doctor disapproved of how many cats we have (8 1/2). She snorted, “he has 6!” LOL.
Occupational hazard. You collect what you do. I’m a writer and we are always tripping over stacks of books. My dad was a newspaper man and we were always tripping over stacks of newspapers and magazines. My grandfather was a geologist and my mom said they were always tripping over rocks.
Maody
Audrey looks highly suspicious of the photographer. Seriously, very nice pack of diverse pups. Dogs. Gotta love ’em.
Montysano
What breed is Weezer? After I left home, my dad (a lifelong beagle aficionado) took in a stray very similar to Weezer. Smartest dog I’ve ever seen.
Josie
What a great looking pack. Audrey feels the same way about the camera as my Teddi. I suspect they connect the flash with lightening and thunder.
JPL
TK, The dogs are adorable and your wife has a gentle heart.
What a lucky guy you are.
p.a.
@Maody: Suspicious, hell; she looks pissed. Did they wake her up for the photo?
Maody
@p.a.: yes she does. perhaps she wants a place on Ceili, too. when we were young, a stray pregnant beagle came to us, had 7 puppies and stayed. her name was Petunia because she laid in the flower bed outside my parents bedroom windows and smashed them all. never known a mean beagle, ever. they’re just roamers.
Kristine
They are all adorable. Audrey is indeed a Skeptic.
My adoptee, Gaby, is outside in the snow howling at the moment. She wants King to come outside and play, but it’s cold and he’s old. Plus, I think he hopes that if he hangs around me long enough, I’ll have forgotten I already fed him breakfast and feed him again.
SIA
What a beautiful pack! Good for you & your wife for taking them in. Thanks for these great posts Anne Laurie.
TK
Thanks, y’all. And to answer the pets question, we actually have cats too – used to have four, but over the last couple of years we’ve lost two of them. All of those are/were rescues as well. Our friends call us the Doolittles. Ha.
Oh, and The Weeze is supposedly half Maltese, half Yorkie, but my wife isn’t 100% sure of that. She’s a little shaggy in this pic, her cuteness grows exponentially with a haircut. It’s devastating.
Two fun facts about this picture: Ceili and the blanket – she does that herself. She nests. Drags pillows into piles and pulls blankets on top of herself. And secondly, Louise seems to have a thing for sleeping on TOP of Ceili. The big girl is very patient.
Trinity
I LOVE these posts. They keep me sane.
They are all adorableness TK. Congrats!
Scuffletuffle
What an awesome posse you have! Every one of them is teh cuteness, but collectively…my, oh my!
peej
@Southern Beale: I have to ask…how do you get 1/2 a cat?
Paul in KY
peej, I was going to ask the same thing.
As far as the puppehs, great looking crew. You & your wife have big hearts :-)
Tata
Don’t mind me. I’m just here for the mutts.
Hawes
Trio?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSwJ2rjUSdc
Svensker
That picture of the gang is so cute I’m speechless.
Elizabelle
They’re wonderful. TGIF.
You Don't Say
Love the look on Audrey’s face. They all look so sweet. Love these posts.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Everybody loves a 3-legged dog.
Liz
Just the antidote for yesterday’s Glenn Greenwald shit show of a thread. Thank you!!!
Zippity
My fiance’s grandparents have a 3 legged chocolate lab. Their 4 dogs will roam from the farm-following the creek, and ending up at our house-a good 1.5 miles away. We either load them up in the truck to haul them back, or call, and they come and get them, and drive them back. Well, one time, only 3 dogs made it over. We looked, and looked for Louise (her pal, Thelma had made it over). Walked the creek, hunted all over the woods with the 4-wheeler, took the dogs with us, and couldn’t find her. We all thought she was gone. About 12 days later, she walked up to the barn (from the opposite direction that they usually go), skin and bones, with one of her legs hanging only by the skin. It was right after trapping season was over. We think she got caught in a trap, and the trapper found her when he came to pick up the traps, and released her. Traps are supposed to be checked every 24 hours, so obviously, that didn’t happen. They reported it to the game warden, but nothing was done, we didn’t know who’s trap it was. They decided that she’d been through so much, and made it home, she deserved all they could do for her. So, about $1500 later, she gets along just fine, and she still goes with the other dogs, on their journeys over to our house.
asiangrrlMN
@TK: All your girls are simply darling. It must be so much fun to have the three of them around. Great stories, and your wife is a gem.
@p.a.: Agreed. She looks like she’s snarling.
Angry Black Lady
@TK: hey! i know you! cute pooches!
Iron Cooker
wonderful creatures they are, I know just how you feel because as much as we want to let them go we feel the same way when a new dog comes to live with us. Its impossible to turn a them away.