Pondering a Puppy

When I was in junior high we had a dog. Her name was Duchess. She was a full blooded Collie. She was a great dog. Pretty much ever since we had to have her put down I’ve said that when I get a house of my own, with a fenced in yard, I’m going to get a dog.

If you know me you know that I have been in that situation for more that two and half years now. I have spent the better part of that time trying to convince myself that it isn’t such a good idea. The arguments I’ve used have been; there is no one home during the day to take care of a dog, they can be expensive, they are a serious commitment of time and energy.

Well, I have been completely unsuccessful in convincing myself that I should forget about this idea. Periodically over the past year or so the thoughts keep coming back. This has been the case over the past couple of weeks. It’s actually been to the point of causing me to do a fair amount of research.

The internet is truly an amazing tool when it comes to such a project. I found a couple of websites that offered information on pretty much every breed of dog known to man. There are specialized sites giving more detailed information on pretty much every breed known to man. There are a few sites that I came across with tools that help identify the breed that would best fit your life style. I have come to discover that buying a dog is a serious decision that needs to be thoroughly researched.

I used a couple different tools that are designed to match people with breeds. They asked questions about my lifestyle (busy or laidback), the number of people in the house, how much I want to exercise the dog, how much I was to groom the dog, and many other things. Both tools came back with similar lists of about a half dozen breeds. The two lists had four breeds in common, those were the Golden retriever, Labrador retriever, the Golden Doodle and the Labradoodle. My first question was what the blank is a doodle?

Come to find out that these are both cross breeds between a poodle (standard or miniature) and a Golden retriever (Golden Doodle) or a Lab (labradoodle). These are interesting, sometimes goofy looking, and dare I say it, cute dogs. Anyway this isn’t a discussion on breeds, but rather the decision to get a dog.

I start doing some research on the different breeds and learn what I can about them. All four of these seem to be a good match for me. The interesting thing about the doodles is they don’t shed, or very nearly so. The other interesting thing I learned is that going through a breeder will cost you anywhere from $500-$800 on the low end to $1200 to $1500 on the high end. With the average around a grand FOR A DOG.

In talking to a co-worker of mine I find out that one of my ‘dotted line’ managers owns a labradoodle. I talked to him about his dog. He’s had the dog for about 6 months and is totally happy with his decision. He said that training was a breeze, and all of his concerns going in, turned out to be no big deal. This helped in my thought process. I asked how much he paid and he said $850, plus all the first year shots and spaying, and all that.

I sent a note to a friend whose sister is a vet and whose mother is heavily involved in Leader Dogs,…you may know them too. My thinking her is I can ask the vet a few questions to confirm that these are the breeds I should be looking at. Also, I can ask her about rescue type situations, maybe get some breeder recommendations. If I can talk to her mom I can find out about adopting a ‘career changed’ leader dog, and not have to worry about training and temperament and all that kind of stuff.

I learned of an option that I didn’t previously know existed. I could also get a puppy from the Leader Dogs and raise it for a year or so, then turn it in and get another. Sort of like leasing a car I guess. The advantage here is that if a dog I ‘raise’ gets rejected I’d be the first person they would offer the dog back too. The other plus here, according to what I have read, is that they would cover all the major costs of the dog, during that year.

So, now the biggest issues I am dealing with are in two main areas. First, which road do I take: breeder, rescue, or leader dog. Next, do I have the time to commit to the training end of raising a puppy, am I up for the ‘potty training’, house training (temperament), socializing, and everything else that goes with it. Is it fair to have the dog in a cage, or ‘doggie den’ the whole day while I’m at work, and while I’m away from home?

This is where I’m at right now. I haven’t been given the contact information for the two people that I’d like to talk with. Once I speak with them I’m hoping that my concerns will be answered by people who know more about this than I do. Any comments would be helpful here to.

The Tigers Tale

I have been asked to comment on the current state of the Detroit professional baseball club known as the Tigers. Surprisingly I have done very little of that in this forum. So I will make a few comments.

This team has improved over last years performance. In the context of two years ago it is almost unbelievable the amount that they have been able to improve themselves. This is a credit, in no small part, to Dave Dombrowski the Tigers general manager. Without him I don’t think we would have signed Pudge or Mags or any of the other free agents we have.

Much of the first half of this season we were without our ‘complete’ lineup, due mainly to injuries. In spite of that we were still able to hover around the .500 mark and play competitively. Around the All-Star break we got all our guns in place and had the pitching staff running quite efficiently. I was feeling pretty good about my pre-season prediction of at least 82 wins and not being taken lightly in the wild card race. However something has gone foul.

As of July 25 we were 49-49, and within 4 games of the wild card spot (granted, with many teams to climb over). Well on the way, I thought, to fulfilling both of my predictions. Immediately after that we went on a west coast road trip which turned out to be very bad. Then just before the trading deadline we traded away our third closer of the season. At the start of the season we had, arguably, one of the better bullpens in the division if not the league.
We had two experienced closers and one good setup guy. I wasn’t surprised when we traded the first one to Philly. It actually turned out good because we got a good infielder for Urbina. I just wish they had traded Percival instead. Then a few weeks ago Percival suffered a season ending, and possibly career ending injury. That promoted Farnsworth to the closer role. Most Tigers fans were surprised when Farnsworth was traded to the Braves, leaving us with no experienced closers at all.

Since July 25 the team has gone 4-9 and slid into the outter reaches of the wild card race. Derek can attest to the fact that I was not one of the people getting their hopes up for a wild card berth into the playoffs, even after the team got off to their first respectable start in recent years. However, the performance over the past two weeks is going to make fulfilling my predictions much more difficult. The general conscensus, after the Farnsworth trade, was that the Tigers 'gave up' on their shot at a playoff spot. I don't think that was really ever in the minds of the management. However, it could be argued they gave up their chance at getting over .500.

I still believe this team has what it takes to finish the season with at least 81 wins. Which would give them the first .500 season in more than a decade. Now, whether or not I believe they will do this is another story. I’m not convinced anymore. Fortunately the moves they made this year will help in the long run, and the guys we have in AAA will help a lot in the near future. I’m not sure the goals I saw for this year will be met.

Enough about that.

There isn’t too much else I want to talk about today. So,….until next time…