I am in love with these dogs!

[ThomCat]

This is me with JennaLaw's dogs on vacation in North Carolina. Molly, Jack and Cocoa.

Molly loves almost everyone. We're buddies now. :)

Jack is nearly blind, nearly deaf, and spends a lot of time lost in his own world. I spent the week giving him lots of love and attention so he has warmed to me and loves me now.
:loveya:

I don't know how much time he has left, but JennaLaw had better get used to me spoiling this dog with love as long as I can.

Cocoa is apparently kind of stand-offish and doesn't like a lot of people, but she spent the entire trip there and back curled up in my lap, 12+ hours each way. I have been adopted as comfortable furniture. :P

[KitchenWitch]

1. Look at the four cuties on the couch!

:loveya:

[ThomCat]

6. I spent the whole week getting "mauled."

:P

:loveya:

[JenaLaw]

14. **you** spent the week getting mauled????

I think it was the other way around...but the pups, especially Jack, loved every second of it.:loveya:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

2. awwww....Great pic!!

:loveya: :hug:

[ThomCat]

8. And JennaLaw posted more below!

:7

I used to be very, very alergic to dogs. But now I have to take very heavy antihistamines every day anyway so I can handle being around dogs.

It's Wonderful! I love them. :)

[redqueen]

3. Awwwww!

:loveya:



Just :loveya:

[JenaLaw]

4. "ThomCAT"...I declare you a fraud! (serious sarcasm ahead...)

as the pictures below will show, our beloved Thomcat has been two-timing his feline friends. He has spent the last week cavorting with **gasp**...CANINES!!!!!!!!!!!

Millie and SIlver are crushed. When asked their opinion, Silver replied with a scathing 'meow'...and MillieDear issued a 'no comment'. Luckily, Fangrrl and I are here to comfort them in their time of need.

PS - Thomcat has even had the nerve to invite one of his new canine friends over for NYE...and the doggie is still in his apartment...what will the neighbors think???????????

end sarcasm...begin loving pictures!


Thom with Jack and Coco (who is NOT standoffish...she is just selective about her friends)




going to the dogs: Jack, MollyMushka, Coco and Stoli




naptime:




and puppy kisses

[ThomCat]

5. Yay! More pictures!

:loveya:

Millie Dear may never forgive me having a dog in the house. :(

But I don't think Silver really cares. As long as he gets his own play time and attention, and as long as the dogs stay away from him, he's cool.

That fourth dog, Stoli, was JennaLaw's Mom's dog. :)

[JenaLaw]

7. Silver...

are you kidding me???

Molly is scared to death of him! the bully!

:scared:

[redqueen]

9. OMG is that Coco curled up on Thom's chest for naptime?

!

*dies of cute overload*

[JenaLaw]

12. cute, but deadly...

coco takes her naptime very seriously...and guards any nap partner as well...

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. I love the second one...

talk about a Motley Crew :loveya:

[driver8]

36. Those photos are so cute -- I love the "nap time" one, and the one where he

is kissing Molly on the head.

Your dogs are absolutely adorable!!

[flvegan]

11. Thom, who is who? That silver pup looks a bit pitty to me.

Dogs are the best medication, eh?

[ThomCat]

15. Who is who.

The brown/black one on the back of the couch is Molly. She is part Pug, Chihuahua, Dachshund, and Italian Greyhound.

The silver guy right next to me is Jack. He's part Boxer, Beagle, Bulldog and a few other things. No Pit Bull that Jenna is aware of, but it's possible. She doesn't know his full background.

The smallest, darkest dog is Cocoa. She's pure breed Chihuahua.

[Ellen Forradalom]

13. PUPPIES!

I LOVE dogs.

[ThomCat]

16. Me too, and it was very mutual with this group.

:)

[driver8]

35. I love dogs, too.

I always have -- and always will!!

[Rhiannon12866]

17. Awwwww! What cuties, my friend! You definitely have an affinity for small dogs... ;)

Thanks for sharing! Someday you'll have to meet my little Jack. He's extremely friendly, but is also kinda fuzzy... :shrug:

Jack :loveya:


Rhiannon :hi::hug:

[ThomCat]

18. Awww! Look at that cute fuzzy dog!

:)

It would be very fun to meet him and have him climb on me. I'm apparently good furniture. :P

[Rhiannon12866]

20. The thing is, I thought you were allergic to the fuzzy ones...

Otherwise, you would have met him long ago. And this one's definitely a lap dog. But he seems to have an affinity for armpits, LOL. :D

Rhiannon :hi:

[ThomCat]

22. I am.

But I'm allergic to narcotics, and I take morphine every day, so I have to take heavy doses of a prescription antihistamine every day to tolerate my morphine.

Having that much antihistamine in my system all the time blocks my other allergies too, so now I can be around dogs. :)

[Rhiannon12866]

23. Well, that is good news... sort of...

Actually, I'm allergic to cats, always have been, but that hasn't prevented me from having three in my life, rescued cats that found me. But, with the last one, I found out something I never knew from a vet tech who has the same allergies. Apparently long and short-haired cats have different kinds of dander. That explains why my long-haired cat could sleep on my pillow (which she insisted on doing, LOL) and I had no reaction. :shrug:

You've never met my namesake, either. This is my beloved Rhiannon... :loveya:

[ThomCat]

24. She is a gorgeous cat.

:)

I loved my first cat, a Maine Coon, but I could never take care of that long thick fur again. I can only have short hairs from now on.

[Rhiannon12866]

27. Thank you. She was not only so pretty, but she had an amazing temperament.

I could do anything with that cat. She'd come when she was called, loved everybody, played with the dogs, was extremely cooperative. I could have put her on my head and used her for a hat if I wanted to, LOL. And she's the only cat that I really didn't need a carrier for; she didn't like that at all, would sit on my lap in the car. And when she got sick, I used to take her to the vet's for acupuncture. All hell would be breaking loose around her, but she'd just fall asleep... :D

Her fur wasn't as thick as a Maine Coon's (my former boss had one, such a lovely and sweet cat); I got a special comb to use for her. She was perfectly fine until I got to the tail area. That's when she'd decide she'd had enough... :D

[JenaLaw]

26. pretty

what a beautiful fluff ball! I love him!

[Rhiannon12866]

28. It's a her. She was named Rhiannon...

And she was not only pretty, but had the best temperament I'll ever know. My guys have all been rescue and she was no exception, believe it or not. My uncle died and he was another animal lover, had two dogs and two cats. Other relatives took the dogs, but no one would take the kitties. My cousin had rescued the other cat, a sweet, but reclusive, gray tabby, whom I knew. She kept calling me, in tears, because my uncle's unpleasant wife was just going to drop them off at some shleter... :grr:

I was scheduled for surgery, so didn't think I could do it, but it got postponed, so I called my cousin and told her that I'd take them. She drove from her home in Conn. to my uncle's in NJ, picked up the cats and brought them to me, here in northern NY. I knew Angela, the tabby, but the other one was a complete mystery. When I opened her carrier, she did this delicate leap out and I said "aren't you a pretty thing!" I fell in love right then and there... :loveya:

[JenaLaw]

19. omg...

he is adorable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

what kind of pup is he?

[Rhiannon12866]

21. Thank you! His name is Jack and he's a Brussels Griffon.

If you've ever seen "As Good as it Gets" with Jack Nicholson, Verdell was a Brussels Griffon, too. They're pretty unusual, but I've had two, both rescue, and they're the pups in my sig... :loveya:

[JenaLaw]

25. I thought so!

I love the breed (former pet sitter, so I got to know 'them all' hehe)...BG's are really great pups. And so playful!

good luck with both of them, and tons of doggie kisses for rescuing them ;-)

[Rhiannon12866]

29. They are both amazing dogs, but like all my guys, they have sad stories...

Meneken belonged to an elderly lady who died. I adopted him at age nine. He was definitely a one-person dog, like many BGs, while Jackie loves everybody. A vet tech who used to work for my vet was helping to foster Jack. She remembered Meneken, so contacted me. He was, as you can imagine, quite irresistable... :loveya:

I lost Meneken last year, which has been very tough. He went with me everywhere, must have been used to being taken since he was always so good. He was practically part of my anatomy, slept on my pillow and traveled under my arm... ;(

I generally take the older ones, but Jack is an exception. He was five months when he found me, a pet shop dog who couldn't be sold because he had a "health problem," a hernia which was repaired when he was neutered... *sigh* He is extremely friendly, loves everybody and is a little bundle of energy. Now I know why I took the older ones, LOL. :D

Here's a favorite pic of Meneken, just after grooming... :loveya: He was eight lbs.; Jack tips the scales at 16! :wow:



BTW, a belated welcome to DU! It's great to have you with us!!! :hi:

[JenaLaw]

30. Meneken

is adorable!

All of my pups have found me in one way or another. Jack belonged to a family member who lived in my neighborhood. He kept running away from home to turn up in my yard. After a few weeks of this, I claimed the dog. Molly was found running loose in a parking lot in S Florida, and my friends rescued her and passed her along to me. Coco was my freind's dog. When Barb passed away a few years ago I was the only one that Coco would go to, so I kept the dog.

I love my zoo! Add to it a foster kitty named 'The Beast' (housemate's cat actually, but I love him as my own) and a crazed Betta fish at the office...I could charge admission!

thanks for the welcome

[Rhiannon12866]

37. Kudos for taking the ones who need you the most. They sure were fortunate to have found you...

And my guys find me, too. All my guys have sad stories, but none more remarkable than my sweet little Sara. She was found as a stray on the streets of Cleveland. A "good samaritan" brought her to some kind of shelter, which turned out to be a very bad place. She was scheduled to be gassed x(; Ohio obviously needs stronger animal protection laws. :grr: But she was such a nice dog that the people who worked there asked the "underground railroad," which transports animals to rescue groups in NY and Vermont where we do have stricter animal protection laws, if they had room for "just one more." :-)

She ended up with someone in rescue who the the terrific woman who placed Meneken with me felt was unreliable, so she have her my name. When we met, on "neutral ground," my tiny Meneken totally went off on her, as he was apt to do when meeting a strange dog. But when she just walked away, I knew that she was the right dog for us. She managed to win over Meneken and became his protector... :-)

She had all sorts of health problems after her tough experience, a couple of growths which required surgery, skin and ear infections, kennel cough, but nothing that my vet couldn't successfully treat... :-)

The name that they'd given her at that place was Cindy, probably just for the paperwork, but this was obviously not her name. I kept trying names to see if she'd react, until I thought of "Sara," like Rhiannon, another Stevie Nicks song. And when I called "Sara!," she looked up, ran across the room, jumped up in my lap and licked my face... She'd told me her name... :D

Here is Sara after grooming. Obviously, the ribbons didn't last very long... ;) :loveya:

[driver8]

34. Jack is a handsome boy!

He looks like he is FULL of personality!! :hi:

[Rhiannon12866]

38. Thank you! And that's sure putting it mildly, LOL.

Here he is with his "big brother" and BFF. Charlie is close to 100 lbs., while Jack was eight lbs. at five months, LOL. They bonded from day one and, as you can see, my little guy doesn't back down when they play. Charlie is terrific with him and usually lets him win... ;) :loveya:

Jack vs. Charlie
http://www.dogster.com/video/373080/Jack_vs_charlie

[driver8]

40. Ha Ha -- that video is very funny!

Jack is definitely full of it!!

I love how he settled down at the end to chew on the bone that is as big as he is!!

Charlie looks like a big ol' sweetheart...

[Rhiannon12866]

44. Glad you enjoyed it! And he still is full of it. LOL.

Hasn't settled down one bit even though he's reached the ripe old age of two and has doubled in size... :D

He's always taking Charlie's stuff and Charlie just stands there and whines. He really is a sweet giant of a dog and is gentle with his little buddy... :-) I think he must have been lonely before Jackie came home... :-(

Here's my favorite pic of the two of them... :loveya:

[driver8]

46. They definitely look like buddies!!

That is really cute.

[Jamastiene]

31. I got sick on my first ever trip to upstate New York.

I'm allergic to my own adrenaline and I was super excited to be going to the world of hardcore punk rock. So, naturally, my body betrayed me. I got sick. When we got there, I crashed immediately at the bass guitarists mother's house. I had barely walked in the door, shook a few hands, and I crashed hard on the couch.

The family dog, had known me less than 15 minutes and was up on that couch with me as long as I was sick.

Animals are like that. They know why you got a decent heart. That's what the bass guitarist's mom and dad both told me. That is why they were so comfortable with me crashing at their house even though they barely knew me. The dog liked me from the get go. I wonder how Maggie is now. She was this gorgeous cocker spaniel. They said she was normally wary of strangers, but she loved me. Must be written on my forehead that animals can totally trust me or something. :shrug:

That is what the dogs are saying. You have a good heart and they love you for it, ThomCat. I know that from years interacting with you. You are an animal person and animals know it. That's a great thing in my book. :hug:

[ThomCat]

32. That's a very cool story.

I'm sorry you have that severe an allergy, and to your own body chemistry. That really sucks.

But that is really cool that they took care of you, and that the dog stayed with you. :)

I am definitely an animal person. I can't imagine not waking up and not having animals here. There's a really important part of life. We share everything with our beasts, and that's the way it should be. It's arrogant to think we're here alone and everything is ours alone. :)

[sammythecat]

43. That's a great thing in my book too.

You both get gold stars for your copybooks (if that sounds odd, I'm referencing something John Gielgud said to Dudley Moore in the movie "Arthur". He was being snide, I'm not. A persons heart for animals, or lack of, counts for a whole lot with me.).

[driver8]

33. That is really sweet...

I would give Jack lots of attention, too!

(My wife says that I have never met a dog that I didn't like, or that didn't like me. There have been a couple, but very few!)

Love the photo -- great looking dogs.

[DarkTirade]

39. Awww. I'm just glad you're able to get out and meet... err... people.

:P

:hug:

[CreekDog]

41. they love you man

they know you are good people.

hope you are feeling a little better today. :hug:

[Dystopian]

42. Three Dog Night!

Thom, I love this picture!:loveya:
You look great!
A wonderful scene....peace, happiness and love.
Thank you for sharing with us:hug:
:grouphug:

Enjoy!

peace~

[DS1]

45. Holy Nails!