We told you we wuz hardcore

[lisarea]

We have a pibble AND a punk rawk mohawk dog now.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1124/5108591898_52531b980a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5108591898/)
img_1524.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5108591898/) by lisarea (http://www.flickr.com/people/lisarea/), on Flickr

Buddy is about 13 years old, and was in the shelter because his owner lost his job and his home. He misses his old family, but he's already warming up to us. And for such an old guy, he really gets around.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4127/5108096905_fa37bc8e26.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5108096905/)
img_1526.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5108096905/) by lisarea (http://www.flickr.com/people/lisarea/), on Flickr

Shut up. The DOGS are our nice things, not the dirty slipcover.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1105/5108461947_84dcccc4db.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5108461947/)
img_1541.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5108461947/) by lisarea (http://www.flickr.com/people/lisarea/), on Flickr

[livius drusus]

Shaggy dog! I love a shaggy dog. Looks like Buddy and Z are already thoroughly comfortable with each other.

[vremya]

Sleepy puppehs! :aww:

[One for Sorrow]

:aww: I had a dog who looked a little bit like Buddy, and she was the BEST. DOG. EVER.

Though yours are pretty nice too, I guess.

That's a nice looking family you've got there. Congrats, Mr. Pea and Matlock.:cheer:

[wei yau]

Hey, Buddy is sensible enough to cover his head in shame over that dirty slipcover.

Good boy!

[BrotherMan]

That's sad and terrible that Buddy's buddy lost him to the avarice of the free market. I'm glad there are folks like ZZ who take in older dogs so they don't meet an otherwise untimely or unseemly end. I hope Buddy's buddy gets himself righted soon.

[LadyShea]

Oh man, cool dog, that sucks about his previous person though :(

ZZ looks like she's gonna take good care of him

[Doctor X]

:dogglomp:

--J.D.

[The Man]

That's an awesome thing you did and Buddy is a gorgeous dog.

Shame about his owner; it's a sign of the times.

[lisarea]

Yeah, I feel awful for Buddy's owner. He was crazy about this dog, and the form he filled out when he surrendered him is heartbreaking.

And ZZ really is a hero. She's sharing everything with him and being really gentle and respectful, which I knew she would because that's just how she rolls. There've been a couple of times when she was being a little too enthusiastic and crowding him, but as soon as he told her to back off, she did. So they're getting along really well, and I'm extra proud of ZZ right now.

Also, Buddy does not care about kitties even a tiny little bit, which is just the way Battlecat likes it. So he's a really good fit all around, and I'm glad we found him.

[vremya]

Looking at the second picture of Buddy out in the yard makes me smile - he looks so happy!

[Ensign Steve]

:aww:

[SharonDee]

My last ex-husband's first name was Buddy--no shit--and I have to say your dog is a lot better looking.

Also ... MOHAWK! :aww:

[Stephen Maturin]

That's sad and terrible that Buddy's buddy lost him to the avarice of the free market.

To people who are really crazy about dogs, not having a dog has a massive adverse effect on quality of life. The tragic bottom line for Buddy's owner is that he was compelled to give up his dog when he needed a dog the most. Fuck the free market. Fuck it right in the ear.

In any event, we'll do our very best to honor that guy by giving Buddy the bestest and mostest lovingest home possible. He's a very special little guy who's already become an indispensable part of the family. That's conclusively established by The Little Muffin's efforts to give the dog a Messican name ("Hector" in this case), efforts reserved exclusively for the truly beloved.

Also, major kudos to lisarea for checking that animal shelter website and becoming all brokenhearted over the fact that someone surrendered a 13-year-old dog. I'd blabber on and on about how much I adore you, but don't nobody wanna read that.

[Demimonde]

That's one great lady you have there, and you are a great guy for appreciating her as she deserves.

[lisarea]

Great news, you guys. Buddy just had his checkup this morning, and apart from him being deaf or close to it (which we'd already figured out), he seems to be in good health. He also needs a tooth cleaning, which we also already knew from his dazzling Shane McGowan smile.

Apart from that, the vet prescribed some Kool Aid and egg white "product" for his mohawk. After that, he should be good to go.

As far as deafness, vibrating collars are too expensive and anything I'd make would be too big for him to wear comfortably, so I'm thinking I might get a laser pointer and teach him to come when he sees the dot. He's already picked up a couple of hand signals, so I think he could figure that out.

lol and I had to stop right now as I was poasting because I heard a stampede while Matlock and the dogs were in the other room. Apparently, Buddy initiated some ridiculous happy running and romping party with Zsa Zsa!

[Ensign Steve]

I heard tell one time that dogs do even better with hand signals than vocal commands on account of they understand body language better than speech. I had a really dumb dog one time that was great with hand signals. I bet a smart boy like Buddy will pick it up lickity split.

[lisarea]

I almost said that ZZ has hand signals for most of her commands, but then I realized it's really only the basic ones. And then, thinking about it, I realized that we've got practically a full-blown pidgin language, based largely on the fact that I talk to dogs a LOT, and she understands about a million different key words and phrases.

I figure I'm still going to talk to him, but it's going to be weird not having him respond to words, so we're going to have to work on a pidgin sign language. Dog Sign Pidgin, or DSP, we'll call it. (We already do a happy wave for a general "Hi, good boy" greeting, and he has a Buddy-specific sign we're working on that means "Don't follow me," for times when a guy has to go into the bathroom or leave the house.)

He's already been a lot more fun than we'd anticipated, so I think that part will be fun too.

[JoeP]

so I'm thinking I might get a laser pointer and teach him to come when he sees the dot.

Hand signals are cool, but you really need to do this laser pointer thing.

Please also encase the laser pointer in a replica phaser. (Not a real phaser. That would be irresponsible.)

[Doctor X]

To people who are really crazy about dogs, not having a dog has a massive adverse effect on quality of life. The tragic bottom line for Buddy's owner is that he was compelled to give up his dog when he needed a dog the most. Fuck the free market. Fuck it right in the ear.

In any event, we'll do our very best to honor that guy by giving Buddy the bestest and mostest lovingest home possible. He's a very special little guy who's already become an indispensable part of the family.

It is really dusty in here. Yes. It is the dust.

Damn it.

--J.D.

[lisarea]

Yes. Exactly, you guys.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1228/5121070149_b5a70b9dbe.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5121070149/)
img_1606.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5121070149/) by lisarea (http://www.flickr.com/people/lisarea/), on Flickr

[LadyShea]

The purple walls make you hardcore, the dogs make you very soft and fluffy. They are awesome.

[Stephen Maturin]

I knew they'd work it out! So the tiny 22-pound terrier gets the brand new supersize dog bed while the big fat 70-pound pibble gets the little bed. Who would've guessed!

[vremya]

Is ZZ really huge or is Buddy really small?

[Stephen Maturin]

It's mostly that Buddy is really small. He weighed in at 22.5 pounds at the vet's office yesterday. We're accustomed to having dogs whose heads alone weigh that much.

[BrotherMan]

Thanks a lot, vremya. Now you've given ZZ a complex. It's going to take lots of hugs and pattings to get her over you calling her really huge. So very mean!

[lisarea]

It's also hard to tell from this picture the size difference in those beds, and that would tend to exaggerate the size difference of the dogs. The one ZZ is in can be fully contained in the one Buddy's sleeping in.

When I tried to get another angle to better show that, though, both dogs got out and attackerated me.

Here is the best shot of what they look like right now in their appropriately sized beds. Zsa Zsa dragged hers across the room then did this big drama queen flop, because she is being emo about her walk being late.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/5121449281_c7561e2205.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5121449281/)
img_1620.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5121449281/) by lisarea (http://www.flickr.com/people/lisarea/), on Flickr

Oh, and ETA to Matlock: Zsa Zsa is not fat! Stop body policing the ladies!

[vremya]

I had to look at Buddy's picture again, he's so cute! (And tell ZZ I'm sorry, she's gorgeous!)

[lisarea]

BUDDY UPDATES!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/5162173624_62a9176982.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5162173624/)
img_1668.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5162173624/) by lisarea (http://www.flickr.com/people/lisarea/), on Flickr

It has come to my attention that some of you are not paying nearly enough attention to our lives, so it behooves me to provide you with some household updates to assist you in keeping accurate records.

Contrary to what the shelter records indicated (:alarm: FRAUD! :alarm: FRAUD! :alarm:), Buddy is not quite the sedate elderly gentleman we'd been expecting.

I think we'd all sort of pictured the dogs living peaceably together and all, but hilariously, they are now total BFsF. When they go for walks, they walk side by side, actually touching most of the time, and Buddy will climb all over Zsa Zsa and cuddle up with her to sleep which is super cute and we get to look at it all the time. Ha ha!

Most ridiculous, though, is that Buddy instigates terrifying games of tag and bitey face with a dog a third his age and three times his size.

He will come up from behind and headbutt her, then make this little "HA HA" playbow and run away, goading her into terrifying, thunderous high speed chases. Like, seriously, we humans just plaster ourselves up against the walls to avoid being mowed down by the horrible dog juggernaut.

I do not have any pictures of this as I revert to pure survival mode when it happens, but here is a picture of Buddy peeing with Zsa Zsa in the background. I think the dogs stole that little yellow football from the neighbors. Mostly, though, I poast this picture because you can see his mohawk real good in it.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4045/5162175692_ed37bdb076.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5162175692/)
img_1655.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5162175692/) by lisarea (http://www.flickr.com/people/lisarea/), on Flickr

They have already gotten yelled at twice--once by me and once by Matlock--for being too rambunctious in the house. And it takes a lot to be too rambunctious in this house, what with us not having nice things and all.

The moral of this update is twofold. 1) When we do stupid shit like adopt frail elderly dogs with disabilities to be the companion of our energetic young pibble, it totally fucking works, and 2) our lives are like 900x as hilarious and adorable as any of yours, so in your faces.

[wei yau]

Oh hey, you kept the wheelbarrow...Li'l Muffin's Babby Stroller.

[livius drusus]

Next Halloween you should gel Buddy's hawk down onto his forehead so he can go as a Kewpie doll. Also, I don't believe that bit about him snuggling up with ZZ to sleep. Nope. Not a word of it. Won't believe it until I see it.

[lisarea]

Neither of these are ideal depictions of the snuggle, but this is the best I've gotten on camera so far.

Almost indiscernable, badly framed picture of two extraordinarily slatternly looking dogs sleeping amidst a few of the minor remnants of their path of destruction. Buddy is just starting to wake up due to the thunderous rumblings of my approach:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1171/5162169816_182008a32c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5162169816/)
img_1641.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5162169816/) by lisarea (http://www.flickr.com/people/lisarea/), on Flickr

Poorly lit (so as not to wake them), again poorly framed shot of a different nap, again capturing another little taste of the horrific squalor in which we live:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1114/5161561913_590434cb1f.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5161561913/)
img_1645.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisarea/5161561913/) by lisarea (http://www.flickr.com/people/lisarea/), on Flickr

Don't think I don't know why you're goading me into poasting these humiliating photos, either, drusus. GO AHEAD. CALL CPS! CALL THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT!

[livius drusus]

Poor Buddy has to cover his nose with his hind leg just to get a little sleep in that crackhouse. :sadno:

[BrotherMan]

LOOK AT THAT PLUMP SPECKLED PIBBLE BELLEH.

Also. What did you lace ZZ's food with? I refuse to believe she just "fell asleep" in that position on the stairs.

Also, also. A clean Buddy is a happy Buddy.

[lisarea]

LOOK AT THAT PLUMP SPECKLED PIBBLE BELLEH.

I KNOW RIGHT I LOVE THE BELLEH!


Also. What did you lace ZZ's food with? I refuse to believe she just "fell asleep" in that position on the stairs.

TROMPE L'OEIL! Those are just shadows on a regular floor. Which doesn't explain why she's lying on the floor with her head inside the dogbed. Only slatternliness explains that.


Also, also. A clean Buddy is a happy Buddy.

Ha ha. We did put off giving him a bath until the day before yesterday, just because we didn't want to traumatize him that much before he was comfortable with us.

And let me tell you this: That was the most insane and protracted case of the post-bath zoomies I have ever seen. I am no stranger to zoomies, my friend, but that one was in a class all its own. I do not even have the words.

[livius drusus]

At first I couldn't see the stairs and now I can't stop seeing them. It's the old crone No, it's the young lady. Crone! Lady! Crone! Lady! :headasplode:

[wei yau]

TROMPE L'OEIL! Those are just shadows on a regular floor. Which doesn't explain why she's lying on the floor with her head inside the dogbed. Only slatternliness explains that.


Don't blame her slatternliness, when the true culprit is yourself. She's sleeping that way because she has succumbed to a starch-induced coma from dinner.

When will you learn, Mr. Pea? You do NOT HAVE TO have a starch with dinner? Everyone knows this, I'm surprised you still haven't learned.

UNLESS YOU ARE DOING IT ON PURPOSE!

[Ensign Steve]

She can't help it. It's a mental block.

[lisarea]

OMG, that's the only way I can get her into the necessary suggestible state to indoctrinate her into open source zealotry!

Stop trying to tell me how to live, you SHEEPLE with your mental blocks and your thetans and your Atkins menu planning software for Microsoft Windows!

[erimir]

I totally thought those were stairs at first too.

They're positioned quite well to maintain the illusion, but I thought it was awfully strange for Zsa Zsa or Buddy to be sleeping on steps, particularly with ZZ in that position, so I checked to see if mine eyes did deceive me, and they did!

[Adam]

I still can't see anything but stairs. Well, also AWESOME PUPPEHS! But mostly stairs.

[Stephen Maturin]

So Lisa's perusing the Boulder Valley Humane Society's website and getting all verklempt and shit over the fact that someone surrendered a 13-year-old dog led us to adopt Buddy, which in turn contributed to this here (http://www.aspca.org/blog/humane-society-of-boulder-valley.html).

:woohoo:

[lisarea]

TIMESTAMPED! (http://www.freethought-forum.com/forum/showpost.php?p=890655&postcount=114)