Because we lost Guesly this week, I have started keeping an eye out on a new pupper for the parents who insist they are not ready for one but keep letting us know they want one that is small and five-six years old BUT THEY ABSOLUTELY ARE NO READY FOR A NEW DOG YET. So Joelle, Devon, and I all used our google-fu and I found one I am particularly fond of, and this afternoon I drove to his shelter to check him out.
He’s a great dog, so good I almost left with him my own damned self. Seeing as how I am not in the market for a dog, I did not, but I did get a good feel for him. I’m not giving you any pictures or anything because I don’t need a pressure campaign from you jackals.
I also stopped by the cat room, and that was a damned mistake. I could have EASILY walked out of there with at least three of them, each of which was magnificent in their own way. But I did not, so how about that self control!!!
RevRick
Self-control was the ultimate Whig virtue, John.
Old Man Shadow
No matter how much we love and grieve our pets, there are other pets waiting for someone good and kind to show them that love too.
Good on you and your folks for keeping that love flowing.
schrodingers_cat
You need 3 cats + 2 dogs and a duck.
John Cole
@schrodingers_cat: You know I love ducks, right?
Old School
Congrats on your future pets!
Burnspbesq
I imagine Jack Smith with a black cat under his desk, purring up a storm.
Patricia Kayden
Pets add so much value to our lives. Can’t imagine living without them (2 dogs and one parrot). Hope your parents find a nice doggy (even though they are not ready right now to get a new one).
Elizabelle
@Burnspbesq: And a Rottweiler on retainer.
Suzanne
We are also starting the new-pet search. I’ve never done it online before. I don’t know how I feel about it.
Jackie
How do you plan to introduce this perfect doggo to your parents? Take them on a random drive and “just happen to end up there?”
An adventure to be continued…
Old Dan and Little Ann
I want a small low maintenance dog to keep my black lab company. He turns 5 tomorrow. The doubling up of everything always throws cold water on my ideas. Food, vet, etc…. $$$$$
Suzanne
@John Cole: Can I ask which shelter? Trying to figure out which one locally I should support.
Quinerly
I might be checking out a brother for JoJo las Orejas tomorrow.
Santa Fe Animal Shelter.
Luke has been there since December.
https://petharbor.com/detail.asp?ID=A158790&LOCATION=SNTF&searchtype=ADOPT&start=4&nopod=1&friends=1&samaritans=1&nosuccess=0&rows=10&imght=120&imgres=Detail&tWidth=200&view=sysadm.v_sntf_adopt&nocustom=1&bgcolor=ffffff&text=4d4d4d&link=E76A47&alink=4d4d4d&vlink=E76A47&fontface=arial&fontsize=13&col_hdr_bg=BFA387&col_hdr_fg=ffffff&col_bg=ffffff&col_bg2=BFA387&col_fg=000000&miles=20&shelterlist=%27SNTF%27&atype=&where=type_DOG&fbclid=IwAR29pFw_MtkFHkYuBSrooS_MW6EhTwEVBaQu5cAvsRFwRCxNZV9zViNekyA
Elizabelle
The beguiling new little Cole parents’ dog might just have to persuade them, with its little canine charms.
Elizabelle
@Quinerly: Luke is a beautiful boy. And you have more than one chair in your garden.
Better buy a third, if you want to sit around out there.
CaseyL
John “Iron Will” Cole! It must feel rather strange, searching for a companion animal for someone else. There’s always a risk one of the critters will really, really speak to you; and then what do you do?
Do your folks think they’d like someone a bit more relaxed than a Jack Russell?
Quinerly
@Elizabelle:
I’m torn about this. Wanting to travel more….”drive around and look at things.”
A second dog traveling adds a lot to the mix. Plus, JoJo would love having a friend to play with. But, I’m not sure how this spoiled rotten Pandemic Puppy will feel about not being a single doggie. He loves his friends, but they all leave at the end of the day.
Lyrebird
@Quinerly: Oh what a beautiful doggo! Best wishes as you go see if he and you are a good match.
Thanks also for your reply downstairs. I also used to read Sully, FWIW, before he started shharing his racist side. And I used to hope for Fitzmas on FireDogLake, too. Time flies.
Elizabelle
@Quinerly: It is tough. But, perhaps the SF shelter would allow a try out period. They want Luke to find his forever home, too.
SiubhanDuinne
Yeah, right, like we need pictures to mount a pressure campaign.
JFC, John, it’s like you don’t know us at all.
Fraud Guy
My wife and I once went to a shelter to pick up one cat.
We left with a shih-tzu and a promise to come back the next week to pick up her packmate.
The next week we got a bottom jawless mini-yorkie, while waiting another week for the other shih-tzu to recover from a cough.
The next week we picked up the other shih-tzu, remembered about the cat, and picked him and another can surrendered from the same home because their separate adoptions failed and they needed to go together.
Two months later they had a pom with COPD and an elderly chihuahua found on a suburban street that needed homes.
The next month a friend gave us their arthritic scottie rather than put her down because her son refused to let any dogs near her grandson after their 100# lab had bitten the grandson.
Three months later my boss rescued the puppy from her sister-in-law instead of letting her lock the boston up in a crate 23 hours a day because it was too energetic.
Four months after that the daughter of a friend who had let us adopt one of her chiweenie litter had to give up three of their dogs because her husband was transferred to a new base that had a two dog limit, so we got two others of the litter and the father went to my wife’s friend.
It continues, but you get my drift…
Glidwrith
We have a pair of rescue kitties that each have personality issues. I miss my prior kitties who were just love bug cuddlers. I mentioned to my husband roughly two months ago that the next time I’d like to raise one from kittenhood and get another love bug.
Oops.
The Universe heard me. Not even a week later, my kids found a 6 week old kitten in the bushes crying his heart out.
His name is Nox, for his shadowy black fur.
JaySinWA
@CaseyL: John is playing the role of Cyrano
Villago Delenda Est
With the departure of Her Serene Highness about 20 days ago, I’m also in the market for a new pet. I miss her terribly, the paws on my thigh as I sit at my desk beseeching me to give her a treat or go outside, the lump on my side as I’m sleeping, even the occasional zoom about the tiny apartment. Probably in a week or two action will be taken. I’d like to find a Russian Blue at the shelter, but that’s far-fetched, so your stock American shorthair (Her Serene Highness having been a floof monster) is probably in the cards.
Spanky
For another data point, last time we went to the cat room, we did in fact leave with three.
Same as the previous time we went.
Spanky
@schrodingers_cat: Why a duck?
(Said in a Chico accent.)
Quinerly
@Elizabelle:
I had planned to foster this summer to see how JoJo would do.
But, summer got away from me between flagstone and turf project, houseguests, the eye surgery (plus, surgeon had to redo my left eye Mon….the lens rotated 90 degrees on its own probably immediately after surgery)….and the heat and no rain. It’s been a non break summer. Something everyday.
Quinerly
@Lyrebird: 💚
Jackie
Sorry, off topic, but just saw this:
“Donald Trump said he would announce next week whether he would attend the first GOP presidential debate, but insisted he would not sign a required pledge to support the party’s nominee,” Bloomberg reports.”
Will Ronna disqualify him if he refuses to sign the pledge? Or drop the stupid rule for others? Or exempt TIFG, but make all other candidates sign the stupid pledge?
CaseyL
@Spanky:
This is why I don’t go to shelters…
A few years ago, I was volunteering up at PAWS, a domestic and wild animal rescue organization. They have a rule for new volunteers: we can’t adopt for the first month we’re working there. They figure it takes that long to… acclimate, and not fall for every homeless waif we’re taking care of.
TaMara
I always take a friend when going cat shopping at the shelter. Otherwise, I’d come home with all of them. I don’t have a similar issue with dogs, probably because I lean toward the large size. Jasper has now been with us a year and I’d say he’s right at home (though it was some work).
cain
I got my 2 cats and my wife got herself another 2 kittens and now I’m taking care of 4 cats. Sheesh.
Roger Moore
@Villago Delenda Est:
I am currently in the terrible phase of knowing my cat, Jake, doesn’t have long. He has been sick for a while, but seemed to be perking up when given an appetite stimulant. Yesterday, the vet told me he has inoperable liver cancer. I know I need to give him the best for the little time he has left, but I’m still deciding if he should get chemo or not. I’m leaning toward not, since I know it can have very unpleasant side effects, and the oncologist thinks it won’t give him a lot of extra time. Apparently the liver’s specialty of detoxifying things means liver cancer tends to be resistant to chemotherapy.
The Pale Scot
Ralph returns a puppy to the Dog Pound – The Honeymooners
First saw this when I wuz knee high to grasshopper
It stuck with me
devore
Yeah, I can relate. hmmm. I don’t think the familiar ‘foster fail’ fits John’s visit to the shelter. ‘Shelter Fail’ ?
CaseyL
@Roger Moore:
Oh, no. That’s awful; I am so sorry.
FWIW,cats actually tolerate chemo much better than humans. There are some side effects (nausea, diarrhea) but those can be ameliorated with other drugs.
How old is Jake? The older the cat, the more difficult it is to balance quality of life and longevity. I lost Jeannie to mouth cancer late last year at age 15/16, and one reason I opted not to go for the chemo is that it’s simply not effective against the kind of cancer she had, and her quality of life (being increasingly unable to eat) went downhill very quickly.
Eric NNY
So, yes pressure campaign or no? I’m confused….
FastEdD
A couple years ago my favorite turtle Sisyphus passed away at the age of about 40. He was a painted who grew up with me-sweet personality who was nice to my students and loved to travel. It was tough to lose him but I found another painted turtle at the Humane Society named Skittles. Just a baby with a deformed shell they found by the side of the road. They told me he didn’t like people and he didn’t like to be held. Wrong! He’s sitting in my lap right now wriggling with joy. Red ears can be okay but they can also be mean. When I got Sis he came with another turtle- a red ear who wound up with the name Big Bitch. I still have her after about 45 years and she is still meaner than hell. If she’s around goldfish she doesn’t eat them, she kills them for fun and spits them out. Tries to bite anyone near her. I worry about Skittles because in another 40 years he will outlive me. I put a page in my will about where to release him. Turtles do relate to humans and are fun to be around. Their favorite entertainment is to watch me playing with the dog and to go swimming with us in the pool (no, they aren’t like fish and chlorine is okay for a short period of time.)
Can you tell I’m a turtle guy?
dirge
A few weeks back I asked for some advice about adopting kittens who’d tested positive for FIV. The consensus here being that the test isn’t very meaningful at this age, and at worst FIV is somewhat manageable, we went ahead with the adoption.
The three siblings have settled in, discovered the wonders of curtains and laundry baskets, and generally made an adorable terror of themselves.
Thanks to everyone who had something reassuring or encouraging to say.
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore: Yeah, it’s almost as difficult going through that process as it finally is at the end. I’ve tried to be philosophical about it, but realizing that Mocha was getting up there and observing her last month where she was getting more and more lethargic, was not even accepting kitty treats, and very obviously losing weight meant that the end was in sight does nothing to ease the pain of the process. You can see them deteriorating and nothing can be done, except to comfort them as much as possible and remind them how much they are loved. Mocha got the message on that, I’m sure. Finding a “replacement” is impossible…she’s got that little bit of my heart forever. But a new feline will help honor her memory, and I’ll again have someone waking me at 0340 for a feeding. So I hope it goes with you and Jake, who will realize, too, how much he has been loved and how much his love means.
Villago Delenda Est
@Jackie: He never feels any obligation to follow the rules. This maddens me no end. It’s one of the reasons he should never be anywhere near the levers of power ever again.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Roger Moore:
Best wishes and thoughts to your Jake and hopes for the best for both of you.
Fuck cancer.
sab
@dirge: Thanks for the report back. I had been wondering what you had decided.
Juju
@Quinerly: Luke is beautiful. He looks like such a good boy. You should get him.
Citizen_X
This is the John Cole equivalent of the tickling-the-dragon experiment, isn’t it?
TaMara
@dirge: You are a hero. May all of you have many furry years together.
Maxim
@Roger Moore: I’m so sorry.
TheronWare
@The Pale Scot: Same here! What a great episode!
Joelle
I know I’m going to find at least 2 new cats have randomly showed up at homecoming. I’m partial to the ginger Tomcat.