Tag: dog

  • Guilty Dog

    ht to Adam Walker Cleaveland

  • Real Live Dancing Dog!

  • Stoney swims!

    We adopted Stoney, a yellow lab, three and a half years ago. As I have well documented he is part of our family.

    Yet Stoney had one weird flaw. (beyond his love of humping middle school girls legs.) He hates the water. Most lab owners can’t keep their dogs out of the water and I couldn’t get mine in.

    Since we now lives just 15 minutes from the ocean I have gotten used to taking him to Ocean Beach dog beach every week for something I call, Beach Therapy.

    I did some reading this winter and learned the trick to getting reluctant dogs to swim. It involves lots of praise and play.. Two things Stoney really likes!

    About 4 weeks ago I got him to play in very shallow water. He came home wet and I knew he had a good time. Today, the water was a lot warmer and the tide was way, way out. Long story short, I was able to throw the ball into the water and he would go get it.

    He is still reluctant about bigger waves and doing more than wading up to his chest… but you could see instinct begin to take over. He even did that characteristic hop labs do to hurdle through water.

    Congrats Stoney, you did it.

    Now if only he could read.

  • Best Shepherding Skillz EVAR

  • Stoney — EXPOSED

    If you’ve ever met my dog… you get this one.

    Thanks to Gary for emailing this to me.

  • Pet Resue Works

    This is Stoney. In my mind he is the poster dog for adopting from a rescue shelter.

    Stoney joined our family in October 2005, just a month after we bought our house in Romeo. We had a half acre of grass that was fully fenced and it was screaming for a dog to patrol it.

    After looking around a little, we decided to check out K-9 Stray Rescue League in Oxford, Michigan. We liked the idea of adopting a dog who had gotten lost and finding him a new home. We especially liked that this shelter rescued dogs from other shelters who were going to put unwanted dogs to sleep.

    I can’t lie. We went to look for a dog hoping for a beagle. I’ve always wanted one… heck, I still do! But after walking around the shelter we knew we had to adopt one of the larger breeds they had in abundance. We had actually picked out a female yellow lab first. But the attendant looked at our family and said, “There’s a really nice male you need to check out. But he’s down at PetCo in Auburn Hills right now.” As soon as we met him Kristen gave me “the look” and our hearts just melted for him.

    All the way home we debated names. The kids wanted something like “yellow” or some other descriptive name you’d expect from a 4 and 2 year old. But I managed to convince them that we should name our dog after a favorite park, Stoney Creek. His name has since morphed to it’s permanent name… Stoney J. Baloney McLane.

    Today, I took Stoney to the dog beach down in Ocean Beach. Stoney is still transitioning into a west coast style of January. A year ago I’d throw his ball in the backyard and watch him lop through foot deep snow to find the spot where the ball disappeared into the snow. As he chased the tennis ball, other dogs, and did all sorts of dog business it suddenly dawned on me. He is both a great dog and a very fortunate beast.

    I kind of wonder what he thinks of sometimes. A crazy family who first gave him a great yard than one day told him “car ride” and drove him 2500 miles west and south? Does he wonder if he’ll get to go back there and dig up all his old bones? Or does he just try to forget about yesterday and focus on the present?

    Does he think about the family who first bought him? Does he think about the day he ran away from them and got lost? Does he think about his time at the Humane Society in rural Michigan? Does he wonder about the other 100 dogs from the K-9 shelter?

    Stoney is a great dog. He is disciplined and gentle. His worst habit is waking us up at dawn to let us know it’s time for his daily meal. He rarely barks, and when he does we trust it is for a good reason. He even likes the family cat, Lovely.

    I don’t know if you’re in the market for a family beast. But if you are, let me remind you that there are shelters everywhere filled to the gills with pets of all shapes and sizes. Puppies and kittens are great. But slightly “used” animals are still fantastic.

  • Dogs & Polar Bears Playing

    This video is crazy cool.

  • Stoney’s Diet

    If I’ve done the math correctly, Stoney needs to lose about 10 pounds before we move to San Deigo. 

    If his crate and Stoney weigh less than 70 pounds, he costs about $350 to ship. If he is 71 pounds or more, he’s $480. 

    Of course, we are taking him either way, but $130 is a lot of money. So this week he started his diet plan. I switched him from Iams Lamb & Rice formula to Iams Weight Control. We also looked at the bad and discovered that we were offering him about 50% too much food each day. Even “better” is the fact that Stoney is protesting the switch by not eating very much. When you put that with the fact that we’ll be gone for a week and he always eats less and spends more time outside when we’re away… this plan may just work. 

    Aren’t you glad the airlines don’t make you pay more for being overweight?