Wordless Wednesday: Bedtime Dogs Edition

The Ozzman Cometh

I love when I'm able to report happy news! And of course it's only happy for me and the dog involved, but...

If you read my post a couple weeks ago entitled "The Legend of Ozzy" you'll know about a dog that I'd had since he was born that was very near and dear to me, and I had the opportunity to get him back from a rescue group. (Read the story, I don't have time to sum it up again, lol.)

So, yesterday I planned on getting up at 5:30 am to drive the supposed 3 hours 40 minutes to where I was supposed to meet Heidi, one of the rescue people from Peke N Chin Midwest. Well, I was rudely awakened by my son at 3:30am and was unable to go back to sleep due to excitement. (Nick says there's something wrong with me that I keep waking up all night, but he's so wrong and that's a whole nother rant for another time.) I picked my friend Susan up around 7, we went to Casey's to pick up breakfast and coffee (I bought some No Doz, which was absolutely useless) and were on the road at 7:30am. Oh, and we had to listen to her boyfriend rant for about 10 minutes about how bad of an idea it was for us to be driving.

So, the trip was supposed to take 3 hours and 40 minutes according to Mapquest. Unfortunately, no one has explained to people that when the weather is bad and there's snow all over the roads, you should DRIVE SLOWLY. It's like a huge secret or something because we counted almost 40 cars in the ditches and this main interstate I needed to get on was closed for a couple hours due to a semi accident. Well, I got COMPLETELY lost. I even asked for directions from several gas station workers, who all kept telling me how to get to the interstate that was closed. Finally, the vet where I was meeting Heidi explained to me how to get to the highway that would be a back way in. I found it and swore not to deviate from this highway. Unfortunately, the blowing snow made visibility near zero most of the way and I had to avoid running into snow drifts. It took me about 2 hours to go 40 miles. In the meantime, I had to be lectured by a couple people over the phone about how stupid I was for driving there. No one understands my passion for animals and I HAD TO get Ozzy. I mean, how many times have animals made you cry? How many times have they yelled at you or put you down? Seriously, animals are like so much better than most humans I know.

Okay, so I get to the meeting point and there he was! He was exactly like I remembered and I was thrilled. I was exhausted, traumatized and on the verge of tears, but seeing Ozzy perked me up and made me feel like I could go on. (If Susan hadn't been with me, I probably would have been in a ditch curled in the fetal position crying to this moment.) So we snagged him up, chatted with Heidi and hit the road... more precisely the interstate. I was NOT going back on that highway we took to get in.

Visibility started getting bad around dark and sometimes I had to putter at about 10 mph, but we managed to get home in about 4.5 hours. I had never been so happy to see my house (cause you know I hate it.) Ozzy slept in the bed with me and it felt like he had never left. I think a part of my soul has been restored (which is good since WIU is sucking most of it away) and despite the verbal tongue lashings I got from so many people, I think it was worth it. I know he will have a good life here and I know that I need positive things and he makes me smile. It makes the world a little more okay.

Now, waking up to a cranky family this morning almost made me want to take another 12 hour road trip,.... but that's another story, too. I'm just so thankful to have him back! (The picture is one I took of him awhile before he got shipped off.)

The Legend of Ozzy

As you may or may not know, I used to breed pekingese. I had originally bought them as pets, but it's the best breed ever, so I decided to breed them. (Yes, I already get hate mail from people who are mad about this, so don't waste your breath.)

Anyway, our first pekingese was Pookie. Pookie had a litter of puppies, two boys and a girl. Being our first litter, we sold one to a couple in Minnesota and I couldn't resist keeping the two boys and named them Ozzy and Gremlin. Their personalities were like night and day, but Ozzy was the coolest dog in the world! He was so ornery, he was spunky, he was loving, it was amazing!

Well, when Ozzy was around 3, I was having problems with him because two of my females would fight a lot when there were puppies and then Ozzy would decide to jump in and he would cause the most damage. I decided that maybe Ozzy and Gremlin needed a new home, but I refused to separate them.

As luck would have it, the couple that bought Ozzy and Gremlin's sister had been thinking about getting another peke from me and decided they wanted Gremlin. Their daughter lived in the same town and said she would take Ozzy. It relieved me so much because I was so worried about letting them go. I cried when Ozzy left and a little piece of me knew that no other dog would be able to replace him.

About a month later, I got an email from the woman who took Ozzy saying that she had to find him a new home. She said he'd keep running out the front door and she was afraid he'd get hit by a car. So, she turned to PNC Midwest, a pekingese rescue organization that I was familiar with and had donated money to (not much, but I tried.) This probably two years ago.

On a whim last night, I looked at the organization's website, and searched for Ozzy. I saw a dog that looked identical, age matched and everything. I emailed the organization and guess what: it IS Ozzy! He's currently being fostered by someone in Wisconsin. We no longer have puppies, so no dogs fight and I feel like it was meant for him to come back to me! I have emailed the woman who runs the organization and asked what it would take to get him back, but I don't know what will happen. I'M the one who got him neutered in the first place, so I think that should count for something, but they have a large adoption fee ($250) and you have to go through a lot of obstacles to get a dog. Plus, he's in Wisconsin right now, so I'm not sure how they would get him to me or how I would get him.

Anyway, I thought I would share this story and I'm hoping for a Christmas miracle with a happy ending! The picture is of him from their website. I have a million adorable ones of him as a baby...

Wordless Wednesday: Pekingese Edition

The Morality of Dog Breeding

There are many taboos about dog breeding and breeders. I feel as though I am in an awkward situation at times because I know that there are people on both sides of the fence that feel passionately either way.

Here's why I breed: I bought my first dog ever as an adult on my own in 2003. I saw a couple breeds that I thought were cute and then researched the personalities until I found the one that suited me best: pekingese. One of the big sellers for me was that they are referred to as very catlike in personality- and I love cats! So, my husband and I found one we liked and met the breeder in Indiana (she was from Ohio). We fell in love at first site! Pookie was adorable! We treated her like our child and she couldn't have been more spoiled. We were so excited about how great she was that we thought we should get a couple more, breed and share the pekingese with the rest of the world!

So, we are small potatoes. We currently have 2 females and one male that breed, but also have two spayed females as pets, along with our adopt-a-dog Aidan. We have a fenced in yard, doggie door and the dogs are like family.

Now, I abhor puppy mills. Dogs were not meant to live in cages and to be used for nothing but baby making machines. And it also frustrates me when people claim that their dogs are "raised in their homes" like I do, then come to find out the puppies are kept in cages.

Case in point: our last peke that we got was from a breeder in Missouri. I asked all kinds of questions and saw that he was licensed and everything. When I went to his home, the kennel is in a building off to the side of his giant house. All the dogs were in cages! Sure, some had runs, but they were not on the ground and were wire bottom cages! It is unfair to say that these dogs have any quality of life.

So, I am behind rescue organizations, I love the ambition of no-kill shelters, but I also know that there are people out there who will only buy pure-bred and as we know, pet stores tend to buy from puppy mills, so I want to provide good representation of breeders who do right by their dogs.

I have posted a picture of our current litter of puppies that was born Friday, Feb. 13. These puppies will not see a cage as long as they are in my care!

Monday Mommy Trivia!!!

Is it Monday AGAIN?!

Okay, here's the rules again: you must use the address you want your $5 sent to through paypal. Otherwise, rules are simple. Answer the question correctly, win 5 bucks through paypal. Woot, here you go:

As you may or may not know, I raise pekingese- great dogs! For today's mommy trivia, it requires some research on my peke website and google.

First part: name my two potential "mommys."
Second part: Name my retired "mommy" and what is her daughter's name (the one that is part of our family)?
Third part: How long of a gestation period do dogs have?

The first two parts can be found on my website. The third part may be there, but would probably be easier to find using google.

Good luck!