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Free Geobone For You!


Lemon Fresh Dog

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when I started collecting geocoins, I was always frustrated that I had nothing to trade.

 

I would offer to buy a coin, but I could understand that many folks had small runs and wanted to trade or cache their tokens.

 

while I thought about wooden nickels, I knew that they weren't going to get use metal coins.

 

Okay. now I have my own coin and I wish 1 could trade or give them to everyone. I can't -- not that rich.

 

So..... I will give away one here for free. My dog was rescued and is important to me. If you post a story here about why your dog is important to you, you will be entered into a DRAW for a free geobone.

 

It doesn't have to be the BEST, cutest, or most heart-wrenching story. If you write a note, post a picture you qualify. I'll just take each name (once) and draw. Again, sorry I can't give everyone a coin, but hopefully this will be fun.

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Aww, what a cute idea!

 

Tell you what, I'll post my story and if I should win, I get to pick another person's story or photo in this thread to get the coin (since I already have one on the way in trade). I just want to tell my story cause I love my dog :laughing:

 

Ever since I was 7 years old, I've always had a dog. When I first moved to Atlanta in 1992, I left my then 8 year old dog in PA because I didn't want to remove her from what she was used to and wasn't sure how she'd adjust to apartment living with someone gone all day long at work. I always knew once I got settled and made enough money to be able to afford vet bills and care, I'd get another dog.

 

Well after 3 years, I felt I was in decent enough financial shape to afford a dog. I began looking by combing the newspaper listings, contacting breeders, and asking other owners I met up with who had the same breed where they got their dogs. Little did I know that every set of puppies I went to look at would be very poor quality, or that every breeder I spoke with would be so darn picky about what pup they would sell you --- if they would sell you one at all.

 

By the end of a 2 year search I was definitely disheartened and didn't think I'd ever get a pup of my own. I was even tempted to drive back to PA on a weekend and try to find one there.

 

One Friday afternoon in early April of 1997, I was reading the Pet Classified section of the AJC at work and I came across a listing that I just knew was going to yeild me a decent quality pet. I'm not quite sure what it was about that 20 word ad, but somehow I just knew.

 

I called the number listed in the ad. The man who answered the phone was definitely gay. No doubt about it. And the way he spoke of his and his partner's dog, their breeding practices and the pups, I knew that these little babies were very well cared for (unlike many of the prior litters of pups I has seen). Plus the rapport I developed with this man was so fantastic that it made me want one of their puppies no matter what. They had 3 boys and 1 girl available for immediate placement. I was planning on buying a female dog all along, but was informed the one they had was already sold. At first I was dissappointed to hear this, but after an hour long phone call, both David (the breeder) and I knew that I'd be purchasing one of those boy pups. I made arrangements to visit the following day (Saturday) and hit the ATM on my way home from work.

 

When I arrived, my gut proved to be dead on. There were 3 little balls of fluff tearing around the living room. They were all adorable and I enjoyed playing with them for quite awhile as I tried to make a decision about which one I wanted and while David explained their pedigree and health guarantee. I figured the little girl has already been picked up, so I didn't even ask about her.

 

I was sitting indian style on the carpet playing tuggy with the 3 little guys when all of a sudden I felt something crawl into my lap. I looked down and there was this little cutie all curled up sleeping in the space between where my ankles were crossed. I asked if this was "her." David replied yes. I said it's too bad she's sold already, look at her, what a doll. David went into another room, got his partner and showed him how the puppy was just sleeping in my lap. They chatted for a few minutes in the other room and when they came back, informed me that if I took her with me right now, she was mine if I wanted. There was a family on the way to come get her, but since there was no deposit and they had not seen her yet, they could just tell the family she was already gone upon their arrival.

 

My answer was YES, of course, because she picked me. The only problem was I had only brought $250 with me because that's what the males cost and the female was $350. I immediate asked if there was an ATM anywhere near by. David escorted me to the nearest ATM, I retrieved the extra $100 and took my little girl, Abbey, home with me that afternoon.

 

It was the best purchase I've ever made, and I'm almost glad it was such an ordeal finding a pet quality Shih Tzu in the Atlanta area or we never would have found eachother.

 

To this day, she'll still sleep in the crook of my lap when I sit indian style.

 

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Here is my story. I have always loved animals of all kinds. Growing up my brother and I had dogs, cats, birds, fish, raccoons, squirrels and a coati mundi. At times we had more pets than local pet stores much to my mom's disliking. When I was a teenager we moved to a new city and I still had some pets but not as many. My mom got it down to a dog, cat and bird. Although I did add a possum to the mix shortly after the move. When I met my husband he had a dog and I had one. The dogs hit it off when we moved in together. When we moved into our new house in 1994 we took both my husband's dog and mine. When we came home from work the first day we found his dog in the front yard and mine in the back. We went inside and then I realized something wasn't right. I went outside to find that the dog runner had wrapped around my dog's neck and choked him. Someone in the neighborhood had tried to help him but it was too late. They let my husband's dog loose from her chain so she didn't have to stay in the back with him. At this time I swore off pets for a while. We still have my husband's dog (almost 17 years old now).

 

Now we move forward to November 2000. My husband calls and ask if I'm still not wanting any pets. I told him I was not ready for another dog. I didn't think my heart could take another loss. He said that they had found a puppy in the highway outside where he works and no one else would take him. I told him to bring him home and we would find a good home for him. He then called back to say that they found his sister in the parking lot next door with a grocery sack tied around her neck where they had both been dumped out. They two of them were only about 6 weeks old according to the vet, had lost some of their fur and it was cold weather out. So now we had two puppies. I went home with the plan of finding them a good home preferably together but when I saw them I realized they already had a home. I couldn't pass up those little faces. Now 5 years and several medical scares later we have "The Petes". Individually they are Spot and Stripe. The Petes ( I couldn't get the pictures to load so here is a link.) They are black lab/Australian cattle dog mixes. At least that's the best guess the vet could give.

 

I couldn't imagine life without them now.

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Cool idea, here's our story....

 

We have 3 dogs, 2 were adopted from the animal shelter, the other from a local family. I will tell you about our beagle, the most recent dog we got.

 

My girls and I went to the animal shelter to look at the dogs. I have a bad habit of looking at all the dogs and wanting them. My husband had told me no more dogs. Anyway, we went to the shelter and found the cutest beagle. She was really shy when we looked at her, but made up quickly to the girls (I have 3 daughter too!). The girls decided they wanted to adopt her.

 

We were told she had recently had puppies and her previous owner did not want her anymore, so she was brought to the shelter. I don't know why they didn't want her. She is so sweet and loving.

 

She loves my girls and they love her. They all play together and we even take her caching with us sometimes. Meagan, my oldest, named her Shelly, since we got her from the shelter.

 

Here are some pics of Shelly with Meagan & Rachel. Alexandra, for some reason, didn't get into the pictures.

 

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That is Samson in the background, he is our other rescued shelter dog.

Edited by jamrasc
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My story is in a Travel Bug that I created for one of my dogs.

Pepper

 

Story:

In 2002 I was messing around on the internet and went to the local Humane Soceity's website. There I found two Border Collies that were in BAD need for a home. They had been very abused. They were so thin and weak, they could not even move or walk.

 

I went to look at them while my husband was at work and my son was at school. I fell in love. I then took my son to see what he thought, he fell in love. So the next move was my husband, O-boy did I have some talking and explaining to do just to get him to go see. You have to understand, he didn't want a dog at this point because we had just moved here to Texas and we lived in an apartment. We were looking for a house, but it was going to be several months before we moved. Anyhow, he went down there to see her. They carried them out and laid them on the ground. He said NO! I stood there mad as could be and wanting to cry, we started to leave. My son was trying to stand up when all of a sudden one of the Collie's got up and laid back down on top of him. I told my husband, you can divorce me, but I am getting this dog!!

 

Before we could take her home they had to spay her, that was fine and what we wanted anyway. I went back to get her the next day and brought her home. We re-named her Pepper, that's what you are to do when you adopt a dog. They say dogs can have flash backs of their old life when called their old name, then they may never get better. Anyhow, she wouldn't eat, drink, nothing, so we took her to the vet. Well 2,000 later she was on meds and speical food to get her to eat. I had to stay with her 24 hours a day and give her 1 cup of water every 30 minutes, to keep her going. She still could not walk, so for two weeks we carried her up and down the stairs of our apartment complex. We would lay her in the grass where she would then go potty. We thought she was never going to get better. She slowly started to come out of it and start to trust us.

 

We moved into a 4 bedroom house with an acre of land and that helped alot. My husband loves her more than I do I think, and she is the best dog we have ever owned or could imagine owning. She knows tricks, she listens well, eats, drinks, plays, runs, etc. She is still shy of strangers and does not like toys at all. She also will still coward down when somebody try's to pet her. But everyday she gets better. She recently started to bark! Bark! I could not be so proud. She barks at the neighbors, other dogs, and when she wants something. She lets us know when she is out of food, water, or needs to go out with a little bark (it is so cute and funny).

 

We did notice that she loved being with another dog. So in August of 2003, we adopted a Greyhoud that had also been abused. He is a another story, but when we got him she changed so much. She will now chew on bones and plays with him non-stop. She does make it clear to him that she is the boss, but what women doesn't? We were unable to get her sister because we were in the apartment, but she was adopted out by another couple that love her very much. Just in case you are wondering.

PEPPER

Pepper.jpg

BOGEY

Bogey.jpg

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I don't have any stories yet (unless you want some really disgusting cleanup stories haha) but we got a Yellow Lab puppy at the beginning of July. He's going to be a big puppy and is already probably 50 lbs now. One ball of energy that dog let me tell you! I think geocaching may be a great opportunity to run him around and let him have some fun. Got a couple of caches that I plan to hit this weekend so we shall see how that goes :D

 

oh and the pic... this is an older one when he was still tiny and adorable (now, he's big and clumsy and adorable :laughing:)

 

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Well, thanks for the opportunity. Here goes:

 

Late in 2003, I was doing some mystery shopping to earn a little money. One of the places I was assigned to was a large Humane Society. I needed to go in as if I was a prospective adopter, look at the animals, fill out the paperwork, then report back on the service I recieved, the condition of the facility, blah, blah, blah. Our dog of 10 years had died that summer, so I knew I was in danger of actually wanting to bring someone home! Well, sure enough, there was a dog that I thought would fit in well with our family. But when I brought the family to meet him, he seemed nervous around the kids and the society people discouraged our adoption. But I knew the paperwork I filled out was valid for 6 months...

 

A couple months later - after the holidays - I called them and asked if they had a dog there they could recommend for a family with elementary-aged children. "Just one", they said, "buuuuuuuuut she's a Pit Bull. Would that bother you?" Well, since our last two dogs were Rotts, and I've known other Pits that were perfectly good family pets, of course it didn't bother me. Also, they told me that they spend about a month testing a Pit for aggressive tendencies before making it available for adoption. She apparently passed with flying colors as she was the one they were recommending for me! When we went to meet her, she was in her own room instead of one of the usual runs. Turns out she had been wagging her tail so fiercely and hitting it on the walls when people walked by, it had been bleeding! Well, of course she was as sweet as pie and very submissive, so we brought her home. Now, her name is Willow and she's a big daddy's girl. :laughing: But everyone needs to be careful around that tail still - it's like a whip when you're hit with it!

 

Actually, I don't know that she's a pure Pit (she was a stray). Lot's of people agree with me that she may be part Boxer too. But we'll never know.

 

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(This picture was an accident that turned out kinda cool and artsy-looking, so I kept it.)

Edited by Team LightningBugs
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Quick question.. is there a deadline on this? Hubby took computer to work last night and I don'[t have time to write my story about Dakota as I'm on my way to work. But I would love to tell you about my special boy. Maybe hubby will leave me the computer tonight and I can write about him when I get home from work.

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I got my girl Zoe (my caching partner Zoe-dog) when I adopted her from a junk yard. She was not a good guard dog for them. The business had placed an ad for a free female 1yr old German Shepherd. I went and saw her on my lunch hour. She was thin and scrawny and very excitable. The lady in charge of the adoption told me that from the people who had come to see her, one man wanted her to breed her and that another man wanted to get her and feed her gunpowder to make her mean.

 

I was undecided at first but then Zoe decided to lay down on my feet when I tried to leave. That clinched it for everyone. The lady later told me Zoe was mine if I wanted her. She said Zoe had never done anything like that before and that she knew that Zoe wanted to go with me.

 

That was 10 years ago this October. Zoe is now 11 and is still going strong. She was my companion when I was single, and now my husband loves her just as much as I do.

 

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Zoe loves going geocaching with me. My husband's late dog Gretchen never got to experience geocaching so we recently created a travel bug for her.

 

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When i was about 8 My mom and dad got me two Puppies(they are the same as me... a red blooded american Mutts)one was black, the other Blond, both Brothers. I named them Bert and Ernie. sadly Ernie passed away after about 10 years and Bert lived a few years longer after that but we had to have him put to sleep. :-(

 

They were outdoor only dogs, but whenever it would storm they would scratch at the doors and windows and if dad wasn't around, we'd let them in the house for a few hours until the storm passed.

 

I'll get the photos of them as puppies from my mother and post them on here. They were so cute and fuzzy. I haven't had a dog since then, but recently i'm been thinnking about maybe getting a little Jack Russell.

Edited by -{LoS}-Xile
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Quick question.. is there a deadline on this? Hubby took computer to work last night and I don'[t have time to write my story about Dakota as I'm on my way to work. But I would love to tell you about my special boy. Maybe hubby will leave me the computer tonight and I can write about him when I get home from work.

Good point. I'll draw on the.... 20th!

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We finally moved into a house with a yard big enough to handle a Golden Retriever. We've always been in apts and couldn't justify keeping a big dog in a small apartment. We've been wanting to get one for a long time but she's well worth the wait!

 

Here she was a three months:

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Again at six months (she's not alowed on the couch anymore):

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And just recently at nine months:

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Great contest! I'll share the story of my dog, who is sadly no longer with us. Her name was Krystal, but I always called her "my poopie". Anyway, my poopie was always in love with cats. So here is my silliest cat-loving-dog story. (Well, it's sad at first, but has a happy ending!)

 

We had a cat, Rosie, who pretty much hated her and would always try to be at the other end of the house, but that didn't stop my poopie from trying be her best friend. As you now, when cats have their litter they usually hide away somewhere. But Rosie was ill when she had her last litter and chose to have them on our living room floor when the entire family was around. In fact, she laid right next to my poopie to have them, her head right on on of her arms. Krystal didn't even flinch and just stared while it was all happening. For the next two days Rosie and her kittens remained at Krystal's side. Then Rosie died. That's when Krystal officially took over as mother. She was always with the little kittens -- we had to pry them away to feed them with little tiny bottles. She would lay there and they would try to nurse off her. (A couple years later we heard stories of dogs beginning to lactate and acting as wet nurse for puppies that weren't their own, and we always wondered if perhaps Krystal was successful in doing that for the kittens.)

 

We kept the kittens for about 2 months. During that time we had the strangest household of pets one could imagine -- total identity crises! Besides the nursing, my poopie started doing this low growl thing that I assume was as close to purring as she could get. And the kittens as they started getting older were acting more like dogs than cats. They in turn did a heavy purr thing that was like a growl, especially if you got near their water dish -- something that was signature Krystal. And they barked! More like a strange yap, but definitely nothing I've ever seen a cat do before or since. We eventually gave away all the kittens, and one went to our next door neighbor. Krystal used to beg to go out, and instead of doing her business would run over to the neighbors house and scratch at the door to either be let in to visit her baby or to have the kitty be let out to play with her outside. It was the sweetest, most loving -- and totally silly -- thing I've ever seen.

 

Krystal's experience with motherhood ended when my neighbors moved away. But that didn't stop Krystal from trying to hang around cats -- a couple months later she brought a stray cat home. Yes, you read that right. That's something I'd expect my kids to do, not my dog! She ran away while she was out (something she never did) and came back with a cat. At first we didn't let the cat in the house because we assumed it was must belong to someone. We did feed it though, and after a couple weeks of it hanging out in our yard, our garage, the sidewalk in front of the house, we did let it in. Krystal and the new cat were unseparable until a kid riding a schoolbus past the house recognized their lost cat and his parents came to claim it. I'll tell you, our dog was the wierdest I've even known!

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My story of my dog Bear. My dog becomes a much loved member of our family. I know I become too emotionally, mentally, and physically attached to my dog. It is natures cruel joke that we outlive our dogs and that we never spend as much of our time as we should with them considering how short their life span really is compared to ours. My dog is always there to listen to my tale of woe, always there to get me outside for a walk, my dog is always there waiting for me to be there for him. Thanks for this contest and for reminding me of how special our pets are even though some aren't still with us now but they are still waiting for us.

team sidewinder

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I am just getting a coin collection going, so here's my dog story.

 

We had a dog named Herman many years ago. Herman was a mutt in the truest sense of the word. We got him from the dog pound, and determined that he was Collie, German Shepard, and who knows what else. A couple of years later, he was stolen, we think, from our house, and months later my parents saw him running along a fence on a road about 8 to 10 miles from where we lived at the time. They called his name, and he came running to them! They then brought him home to us. :lol: The bizarre thing about this to me is that where they found him is across the street from where we live now. :)

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Well this a sad but happy story. I was brought up with dogs always as pets, my mother raised and showed newfoundlands. At times when they were away I had to welp and deliver puppies from 12 twelve years old. Feeding, grooming and a few times even show the dogs at dog shows.

I always knew that I would have a dog as a pet, once your a dog lover your always a dog lover.

I got married and finially got our own home, my mother offered us a newf puppy but my wife never liked all the hair. So we did the next best thing and took our friends wippet . They had to move to a condo upstate and couldn't take her with them. She was a great dog, she loved her tennis balls. She carried them all over and drop them into your lap wanting you to throw them. She was a fast little dog, would jump about 2-3 feet into the air to catch her ball.

Well we had her for a year and thought she needed a friend to play with. We had a friend who had a greyhound and told us of a track closing and they needed foster homes. We applied and within a week we had our greyhound, normally your dog that you get goes to a home thats had dogs to help with the transition. Because of your dog history and the fact we had a dog already we had the chance to welcome our dog sooner.

Have you every seen a greyhound go up stairs or walk across wood floors, these are some things they have never seen before. We had to teach him to go up stairs, my wife pulling and myself pushing from behind. It took two times and he was leaping 4 stairs at a time up after that. We named him duke and the whippet was Ariel. They got along great, they would run around my back yard at full speed and ran around the above groun pool at the other end of the yard. Within a week they had a track in the yard, around the pool was banked from them going so fast.

One day I was out back a couple months after we resuced him and was throwing the ball for ariel. She would run after it and Duke would chase her.

After a while I called them and turned to open our glass slider door, I wasn't as fast as duke that night and he ran full speed into the glass door breaking his neck. Ariel came up and she was confussed, I grabbed duke but there was nothing I could do. My wife came up from the basement because she hard the crash and she knew something was wrong right away. It was a hard night that night , he passed away quick and hopefully with no pain.

We missed duke and we had a huge empty feeling. When we conntacted the greyhound rescue group to let them know what happened, we decided that it would be best to adapt another greyhound. We got our new boy greyhound and he was much bigger than duke was and we named him Ginn. First thing I did was put a gate on the slider so they would know something was there. Now ginn had a great thing about him, when he looked at you he almost seemed like he was smiling.

Ariel and him got along great, Ginn didn't like to chase her though. He was more of a couch potato, a three and half foot 100 pound couch potato. He one big lap dog.

We had children and they started to crawl around and starting to walk. Well you little kids and they lose thier balance easy, Matt fell on ariel. She turned around and snapped at him. At first we thought he must of really hurt or something for her to do that. But that was the last time, the next time she almost got him in the face. Ariel was getiing old and we found out the hard way she wasn't liking kids.

It took a lot of thinking but we decided to find a home for the two of them with no kids. We contacted the greyhound group and they actully found a great home for both of them. It turned out to be one of the foster homes that helps new greyhounds make the transitions. It was hard but it was something we had to do.

Now my boys are 5 and 6 and we thought it would be a good time to look at a pet. We went out looking and my wife said we're just looking. We went to a animal shelter in Lyons NY and they had some nice dogs. My wife was looking at small dogs but I was always a Big dog man. I saw this one dog sitting in the kennel and was just staring at me. Next thing I know is some other family came over with one of the girls and took him to open pen where you can meet the dog. I watched hoping they wouldn't like him. Afew minutes they put him back and I turned to my wife and said thats the one. Well she told me I was nuts but we went in the pen to meet him. He is a black lab mix with we think greyhound or something tall. His head comes up to my waist and he wieghs 95 pounds.

He fit great in the truck when we left the shelter, so much for just looking.

We still have my best friend, his names George and if your lucky you just might meet out at a cache.

I kind of laugh when my wife complains about the black hair around the house! :)

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I'm not a dog person. I fact, I'm one of those dreaded cat persons. :)

 

However, my son Paul loved his dog very, very much. She was named Ireland but commonly called Stinky because, even as a pup, she could not only clear a room but could also disperse a group of folks who were gathered outside!

 

The first day this cat lover (me) met Stinky she liberally sprinkled her "holy water" over 80 pages of research I had printed out for an important paper I was writing. I ended up throwing away the research and writing a (much better) different paper.

 

Now, as I said, I am not a dog person. However, Stinky was a good dog. She was smart. She was loyal. She was loving. She was one of the very best dogs I have ever met.

 

As it happens, one day Stinky was being tormented by a small child. Now Stinky was very patient and put up with the abuse for quite a while. Finally she made a "GO AWAY" sound at one of the children. Trust me, I don't care for dogs and I assure you she wasn't at all mean or nasty. She was just tired of being abused.

 

The mother of the child freaked out. When my son came home from work Stinky had been killed. He was devastated. I don't blame him.

 

I submit this story about a really wonderful dog who won over the heart of someone who doesn't like dogs and brought a lot of joy to a number of folks. Sure she had a bit of a gas problem sometimes. So what? To the mind of this "dog disliker" (darn that is pretty mild actually) she was one very good dog and a credit to all dogs everywhere. Not only does my son miss her but I miss her as well.

 

Stinky will be mourned long after the @%&*($(&*($#&^# person who had her killed will even remember her.

 

I offer a salute to Stinky from someone who never, ever thought I'd have something nice to say about dogs. I mourn a good friend lost.

 

Goes to show that there is more going on than meets the eye.

 

Here is a picture from the day I first met Ireland (Stinky).

 

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Edited by thrak
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I would guess about 12 years ago I had to put my 15 year old Havanese (Heidi) to sleep. She had been the most favorite dog I had ever had. So it was very hard for me to even think about getting another one.

 

After hearing and reading articles about never having another dog that would be so great, I wasn't to sure about ever getting a dog again. I also got use to not being tied down with a dog.

 

About 2 or 3 years ago I started thinking about getting another dog. This time I wanted a Bichon Frise (a larger relative to the Havanese). Several Christmases came and went and my Husband wanted to get me a Bichon, but I had to find one I wanted. And I did look several times, but I guess I was not motivated enough to do anything about it.

 

Then last November I was at a tire shop getting my SUV a front end alignment, when I picked up the local paper and looked at the classifieds, and sure enough there was an ad with Bichon puppies for sale. So, I called and the rest is history.

 

I don't know what I was thinking, waiting so long to get another dog. Jasmine has been the Joy of our lives. Because I have been more pacient in training her, and she is not left home alone very much, she is a much better dog then Heidi was. I have quickly learned that you CAN have another favorite dog.

 

I have been working on her to be a therapy dog. She loves people and loves lots more attention then any other dog I have ever had. She will have to be a year old before she can become a therapy dog. She also loves to go out Caching with me. I am trying to teach her to help me find the caches as well. I started Geocaching a few months before I got Jasmine, so I think I would have a different Geocaching call name if I had had Jasmine first.

 

When Jasmine was 2 months old - Panda Angel

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6 Months

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10 Months - She loves to play with my niece.

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P.S. I love you design. What was the cost for how many? I have just made a sig card, but maybe in the future will make a sig item of some sort.

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Edited by Panda Fan
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My story is simple but true.

 

Here in Iraq my Troop had adopted a loveable mutt from the Unit we replaced. He is a veteran of the Iraq war. this poor little guy had been thru explosions, machine gun fire, people throwing rocks at him, and the heartbreak of watching his adoptive owners (Soldiers) leave him as they left home to the States.

 

He was brave and loyal. He is the motivation for all of my Soldiers while we are here in Iraq.

 

His name is Recon. I'm sure he had several other names but for now its Recon. His first owner was a Soldier from supply who was killed by a suicide bomber. Recon was by his side as the Soldier's last moments slipped by like a warm Summer afternoon.

 

Recon is getting older and has a hard time getting up the steps in the palace. He always has a free lift from any of the Soldiers who see him sitting at the bottom of the steps.

 

Recon was the first to volunteer for patrols. He quickly limps to the back of the Strykers in hope of getting one more ride to the streets of Mosul. He is gently and kindly told by the Soldiers that he can't go today and is taken back into the palace as the Troops leave.

 

Recon was my best freind here in Iraq and he is just like any other good friend.

 

Recon was laid to rest a few days ago.

 

Rest in peace my old friend... :)

Edited by Cav Scout
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This contest is going better than I expected -- although some of the stories are really tough to read! It's sad that some of the friends we love best don't get to stay with us forever. :)

 

Remember, any story gets you "in" the contest. I am not judging. Each name that posts a dog story, photo, etc is in the hat. (multiple posts do not count - nor do administrative posts -- such as this! :lol: )

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Well, I was going to write about my Australian Cattle Dog and best buddy, Katie, until I read Cav Scout's story. Give the coin to him, please. His story brought tears.

 

I'll tell you all about my Katie Bear, but don't consider me in the running.

 

Katie came to me from a friend who found her dumped along the road. We live in a rural area and that sort of thing, unfortunately, is common. If anyone here has ever had a heeler, you know they tend to form a tight bond with their owner. Katie was no exception. She and Elizabeth were pretty much inseperable. The only problem was that Katie defended her territory rather loudly, and though I'm sure she would never bite anyone that didn't really need it, the neighbor lady was afraid of her.

 

Elizabeth gave her to her mother, where she could live on a farm and not scare the neighbors. But Katie didn't bond to Mom very well and had a fondness for poultry. Two geese later, Katie came to live with me. Of course, her name was Maggie then, but that is MY name!

 

She came to be called Katie when my friends and I took our horses trail riding. I left Katie in the back fence, where I felt she would be safe and not be able to run away and try to find her way back to Elizabeth. We were about a quarter mile from home when I heard a ruckus. It was definitely a ruckus, and not just barking dogs. All the neighbor dogs we had passed and our own two greyhounds were barking like crazy. I couldn't imagine what the problem was.

 

A few moments later, Katie bar the door, here comes the new dog! Hauling butt to catch up with the horses. I worried about whether she would stay with us, but didn't need to. If I couldn't see her, it was because she was following my horse so closely that all I could see was her tail behind the horse. Katie has been her name ever since.

 

Katie has been with me for almost 8 years. If she is in the house, she is somewhere that she can touch me. If we are outside, she is somewhere that she can see me. She loves going for rides in whatever vehicle I'm in, following the horses on trail rides, camping, sleeping on the bed, and just being by my side. She isn't the prettiest dog in the world, (if you've ever seen a cattle dog, you'll know what I mean), but she's my best buddy.

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well... Cav Scout is indeed getting an additional geobone. However, I will give a second geobone a per the original contest. sheesh! I'm getting soft in my old age. His story didn't make me cry... ..at all. :(

Well the one about the greyhound started it. Cav Scouts story was the final straw tho. The floodgates opened at that point.

 

Then again, I was also very upset when I heard all the katrina storys of people leaving their pets behind too.

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AtlantaGal, I've been following some of the animal rescue efforts from Katrina. There's also many many people who refused to leave because they wouldn't leave their pets. My hurricane donation went to the Humane Society to help with their efforts. Just read some of the stories on their website, www.hsus.org. That'll get the tears going too!

 

All the dog stories are great! I love to here about our furry geocaching partners!

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AtlantaGal, I've been following some of the animal rescue efforts from Katrina. There's also many many people who refused to leave because they wouldn't leave their pets. My hurricane donation went to the Humane Society to help with their efforts. Just read some of the stories on their website, www.hsus.org. That'll get the tears going too!

 

All the dog stories are great! I love to here about our furry geocaching partners!

You gave me an idea... another Coin Charity Auction. This time for the Humane Society.

 

I really cannot go read those stories, I will be an emotional wreck. I cannot stand to read of animals suffering.

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My story is this.

 

I got my daughter her first puppy as a Santa gift when whe was 2. It was a Sheltie. That was the year that pneumonia was going around real bad and taking so many lives. My daughter ended up with it about 5 days before christmas. She ended up running a real high fever and next thing I knew, she was not looking very good. So, Ipicked her up and started trying to get in touch with my wife at the time. While I was on the phone, she stopped breathing. I hung up the phone and called 911 while I rubbed her chest. I finally got her to spit up the gunk that was in her lungs and 911 sent the ambulance to the house. We got her to the hospital to find out that she had pneumonia. Needless to say, she did not feel very good on Christmas morning. She got her puppy and did not seem to be very excited about it. But that puppy just followed her around and stayed with her where ever she went. When she started feeling better, she really took to the puppy. We ended up naming him Prince Sandy. They formed a very stronge relationship. They were hardly seperated. Once, while we were at my mothers lake house, my daughter was standing at the top of the stairs with my niece. Now, there are around 15 steps down to a thinly carpeted concrete floor. Sandy was laying next to me on the couch down stairs. My daughter started to fall backwards down the stairs and Sandy jump off the couch and ran up the stairs. About half way up the stairs, he jumped and put all 4 paws on her back and made her fall the opposite way. I have never in my life seen a dog do anything like this. This dog was really something special. He would always stay close to us in unfenced yards or where ever we were. He never try to run away from us, especialy when my daughter was around. Later, my grandmother ended up in the hospital with cancer. We would go and see her on the weekends at the hospital. When she got real bad, we had to go and we couldn't take Sandy with us. We ended up having to board him at a vet because we could not find anyone that could watch him for during the week. Well, that turned out to be the worst mistake we ever made. When we went to pick him up, the person at the vets office left the side door to the office open and when she opened the cage door, Sandy bolted and ran. All of us, including my daughter, were in shock. We all called him and he would not stop. He ran across a busy freeway and into some woods. We jumped in the car and drove to the other side of the freeway and started calling him again. He would not come to us for some reason. We could sometimes get fairly close to him, but then he would just run away again. He even did this to my daughter, his best buddy in the world. We chased him and placed flyers for 3 days. Then we got a call that my grandmother had died. About 30 minutes later, we got another call. This time it was someone that had just seen Sandy get run over. They had seen our flyers and thought that he might be the dog that we were looking for. It was. We were all devistated. My daughter could not stop crying. I still have a felling that the vet may have done something to Sandy while he was in there care. They have been in court several times since then for similar things. It just was not like Sandy to act that way, especialy to my daughter. I figure that Sandy went to watch over my grandmother until my grandfather gets there with her. My father just recently passed away from cancer, so I am sure that they are all together now. We have since gotten 2 more Shelties. They too are very special and dear to us. We will never board them with anyone. They either go with us where ever we go or my mother babysits them for us. They are our best friends and family. I would not trade them for anything in the world. They are just like daughters to me and sisters to the kids. I often think that there is a little piece of Sandy in each one of them because of the way the each do certain things. By the way, my daughter is now 14. She still thinks of Sandy from time to time and it upsets her, but I guess that is to be expected. I know that my grandmother, my father and Sandy are always looking over us and I will one day see them all again.

 

Thanks for listening.

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well... Cav Scout is indeed getting an additional geobone. However, I will give a second geobone a per the original contest. sheesh! I'm getting soft in my old age. His story didn't make me cry... ..at all. :P

Well the one about the greyhound started it. Cav Scouts story was the final straw tho. The floodgates opened at that point.

 

Then again, I was also very upset when I heard all the katrina storys of people leaving their pets behind too.

Greyhounds are the best dogs! I love my 65 pounds of muscle!

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Obviously, with a name like Cache-Hounds, we must be dog lovers!! We own two babies - Copper is our 7 year old cockapoo and Misty is our 3 year old Chihuahua. Step one foot inside our home and you will know that the dogs own the place - toys and pet beds are everywhere! :)

The stories of abused, abandoned and neglected dogs break our hearts. But, unfortunately, our home is not big enough to adopt any more. So, we do the next best thing... my husband and I volunteer for the local animal rescue. It is the most rewarding feeling to spend time caring for these kids. :P (Sometimes it's so hard to say no that we've temporarily fostered a few in the past until they find permanent homes!)

Thank goodness that organizations and individuals are helping to care for all of the pets displaced by Katrina. We've donated to Petsmart's Katrina fund... but now I'm really wanting to help foster if we can. :D

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OK.. Finally got a little time and wanted to introduce you all to Dakota.

1Dakota.jpg

Unfortunately not much is known about Dakota's past. We are uncertain as to his breed, whatever it is, he has some very wolf-like characteristics. Hubby and I had a wolf/husky hybrid about 5 years ago. :P Brittany was our first "child" and I still miss her. We used to live in a very quiet country community and Brittany enjoyed taking long walks with me through the adjacent fields. But some not-so-nice neighbors ruined things for us by breaking into our home and ransacking the place. Luckily, Brittany wasn't hurt but she must have intimidated the robbers because when we got home we found her locked in the bedroom (with what USED to be our queen-sized waterbed) standing in 6 inches of water. We went to stay with hubby's parents until we could find a place of our own. Brittany found a new home by way a friend of my dad's co-worker. She was a lonely woman who's husband had recently died and needed a companion. They hit it off immediately and at last word were very happy together. I told you that story to show that we have had experience with hybrids and had learned quite a bit about their "quirks" through our experience with Brit. They will try your patience until you are able to establish yourself as the Alpha of your little "pack"... but once you do, you have a loyal companion for life!

 

When we got Dakota, he had been living with a family who had two other dogs already. Nobody seems to know for sure where he came from... the oldest daughters boyfriend "found" him and brought him over to them because he couldn't keep him. The other two dogs in the family were much older and bigger than he was at the time and quickly put him in his place as far as the order of the pack was concerned. i suspect they might have been a little rough with him, because he is very submissive with larger dogs. We kept having to chase the mother-in-law's Rotty (although nothing more than a huge baby) off Dakota's food so he could eat. He was willing to starve himself to avoid conflict with her. I put a stop to that as soon as I saw it happening. Over time, he finally started standing up for himself. Sassy and Dakota became best friends. :D

SassyDakota.jpg

 

Another mystery about Dakota is what makes him so special to us, and the reason hubby couldn't resist bringing him home even though we were practically homeless ourselves (living with in-laws who said "NO MORE DOGS!"). If you've noticed in the first picture, Dakota is holding up his left front paw. You'll see why in the picture of him and Sassy together. When hubby first saw him over at a friend's house, he was walking on three legs and would not touch that paw to the ground. supposedly he "fell" off the porch although nobody could saw when or how it happened. It's unsure whether it was an accident caused by man or beast but I suspect SOMEONE had something to do with it. :) Perhaps this is why he was so shy around new dogs. As soon as he brought him home, I scheduled an appointment for Dakota to see the vet. Silly dog LOVED the guy! We took Dakota on the same day my sister-in-law was taking one of her cats for a shot. Dakota couldn't wait until it was HIS turn to sit on the table and get this man's undivided attention! The vet certainly made a new friend that day. Unfortunately he said there wasn't much that could be done for Dakota's paw short of trying to re-break :D:D and set it. But after feeling around and watching Dakota's reactions he said it didn't seem to be causing him any pain, more of an inconvenience. In the 2 days we'd had him he had already started putting more weight on it and never yelped or whined when we touched it. So we brought him home, crooked foot and all and boy did this little guy flourish!

 

If he stands still long enough for you to get a good look at it, you can see the crook, and it almost appears that one leg has grown slightly longer maybe to provide more stablity?? (Might just be my imagination too... but ya never know) But aside from the cosmetic difference, Dakota is all dog. He runs, jumps (loves catching tennis balls) and plays like any other dog and has a heart as big as the sky. He barks and barks and barks as soon as our car pulls into the driveway and won't stop barking until I go into the backyard and play with him. And don't even think about sneaking out and leaving without petting him and getting 'Kota Kisses!'

 

I only wish we could let him live with us, but our landlord has a no-pet policy so he's staying with hubby's mom and dad (his grandparents). But he's happy and he enjoys his "job" watching over the neices and nephew. My nephew Cody came up with the name for Dakota. He said Dakota was a wolf and he needed a wolf name and "since wolfs live in Dakota, I think we should call him Dakota." Dakota was laying on the floor, halfway across the room when this conversation was going on, but when Cody said the name "Dakota", the dog perked his ears up and came straight over and sat down in front of Cody. "See! He already knows his new name!" So Dakota it was. As much as I miss seeing him on a daily basis, I couldn't take Dakota away from Cody now. After Sassy died, Cody cried every night and was afraid to go to sleep because Sassy wasn't there to protect them anymore. I brought Dakota in the house and sat down with Cody and Dakota and we had a talk. I explained to Dakota that Cody was sad about Sassy and we knew Dakota missed her too. But the two of them could help keep each other strong and take care of each other. :D Cody promised to help Dakota keep his mind off losing his playmate by playing with Dakota and Dakota promised to keep Cody safe at night by chasing away all the bad things. :D Cody sleep like a log that night and Dakota had a blast letting him chase him around the yard the next day. Nawww, I miss my "Kota" but I can't separate a boy and his (?) dog.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-8/1066090/dakota2.jpg

Dakota - about 2 weeks after he came home with hubby.

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Although we knew each other casually, my husband and I became close and starting dating because of our dogs. We were at a church singles gathering at a nearby state park and my beautiful little border collie, Maggie, had been strutting her stuff all day, just out of reach of a large golden retriever named Rusty. Towards the end of the day, I was chatting with a group of folks, including Rusty's owner, when I heard Maggie give a short, surprised "yipes!" kind of bark. I turned to look and saw that even though she had stayed out of Rusty's reach, her leash hadn't and Rusty was literally "reeling her in". Both dogs were "fixed", so that wasn't the issue, nor did it appear to be a dominance thing. I rescued my little girl and we all had a good laugh.

 

From that beginning, a romance bloomed and when we got married, there was a golden retriever and a border collie figure on top of the cake along with the traditional bride and groom. Several years later, we discovered geocaching and thought it would be a great doggie/human activity. Rusty and Maggie seemed to enjoy themselves immensely and we were looking forward to many years of caching together. Sadly, about 3 weeks after we found our first cache, Maggie died of a sudden immune disorder. At the first sign of distress, we loaded her up and headed to the all-night emergency vet, but she had a stroke on the way there and never recovered. She was only 6-7 years old and we were hearbroken So was Rusty. :)

 

Rusty was about 8-9 years old (all our dogs are rescues, so sometimes the age is a guesstimate) and suffered from arthritis. After Maggie's death, he was so lethargic and inactive that we had to do something. That's when Carly, a black lab mix pup, came home with us. Boy oh boy, did she ever get Rusty moving again!

 

Tragedy struck again this past August when Rusty's liver failed and he had to be put to sleep. We buried him in our yard next to his sister, Maggie, and I'd like to think they're romping together at the Rainbow Bridge. Rainbow Bridge Poem

 

Now we had a 1 1/2 year old black lab pup all alone all day while we worked. Yep, you guessed it - another little rescue found her way to our home and our hearts. Sadie was described by the rescue organization as a Brittany spaniel mix, but her vet records from her spay call her simply a hound mix. Whatever she is, she's a part of our family now.

 

We love our dogs dearly and while I do believe that human life takes precedence over even our beloved animals, I don't think I could ever leave them behind in harm's way. No criticism intended - thankfully, I've never been put in that position.

 

Maggie

c1244292-ea01-4326-b710-7d93d5a21cc9.jpg

 

Cache in Maggie's Honor

Remembering Maggie Geo-cache

 

Rusty with Mr. Car54

132972ca-53f5-48ab-999c-bbb2cf60c0bb.jpg

 

Our current geo-dogs, Carly & Sadie (they are also a travel bug)

12310041-e01c-42d1-bcf0-c39c5725a55f.jpg

 

Mrs. Car54

 

Edit - I'm not very computer-savvy, so if someone can help me reduce Maggie's picture to a more appropriate size, I'd appreciate it. All 3 pics are from our profile gallery and I did all three the same way.

Edited by Car54
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I wish I had a dog, but unfortunately my apartment won't allow pets. :blink: We always had dogs growing up though. First dog I ever remember having was named Bimbo. Now what kind of name was that to give a dog? I don't think back then, that it meant what it does today. Mind you, she did have 8 puppies, so.....

 

R.I.P. Bimbo

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Hi,

 

I had an English Springer Spaniel named "Cash" for nearly two years before my daughter started develloping allergies and we had to get rid of the dog. I could not just get rid of the dog by taking it to the pound or something like that. So I took a few weeks to search for a better way.

 

I found a lady who had lost her husband four month earlier to cancer. And it just so happened she had lost her dog also a month earlier. It was the same breed. Passed away at 15 years of age. So I went over to bring the dog to her. I left a 50lbs bag of dog food and all the toys and dog's personal belongings. The roughest part for me and the dog was when it was time for me to leave. I sat down on the porch and talked with "Cash" and it took me a while, with tears in my eyes, to finally let go. It was like leaving a part of my family.

 

The lady saw what was happening and said that I could come back and visit anytime. I didn't want the dog to think she was only staying a few days, so I told her I would come back at a later time to see how things were going. It turns out that the dog finally adopted her and is giving back the love she is receiving.

 

I go back to see them every once in a while. That lovable dog still goes nuts every time she sees me, but I can tell she will continue to have a wonderful life with her new owner.

 

In the meantime, my wife and daughter still wanted a dog. So I went out and found two that do not cause allergies. A shiitzu/Laasa-apso mix and a miniature poodle. They are not my rough and tumble field dog, but they have become our two new kids and they have now taken a big place in the hearts of this family. People who have had dogs will understand the feelings that we get when our pets are happy and that they pay back what we do for them, with their unconditional love and affection.

 

Big JohnP

 

P.S. Looking at all the faces in the pictures on this post, you gotta love 'em.

Edited by Big JohnP
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As a family of cat fans, I must protest. Actually, my oldest is rather allergic to dogs...she breaks out in hives when she touches them. She is the BIGGEST fan of ALL animals, and someday wants to work with them. Therefore we do not have a dog, but we have a cat...Mocha. People can say what they want about cats, but they are not all the same. Ours greets each of us every morning by jumping onto the bed and giving us a little kiss (eskimo style). That is actually how she came to be part of our family. We went to the shelter to check out the animals. When I took Mocha (her name was "Baby" at the time), she gave me an eskimo kiss. I new that this was the cat for us. She is great with the kids, and will watch over them when they are sick...she snuggles up with them in their beds. She is a great pet, and we wouldn't trade her for the world.

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As a family of cat fans, I must protest. Actually, my oldest is rather allergic to dogs...she breaks out in hives when she touches them. She is the BIGGEST fan of ALL animals, and someday wants to work with them. Therefore we do not have a dog, but we have a cat...Mocha. People can say what they want about cats, but they are not all the same. Ours greets each of us every morning by jumping onto the bed and giving us a little kiss (eskimo style). That is actually how she came to be part of our family. We went to the shelter to check out the animals. When I took Mocha (her name was "Baby" at the time), she gave me an eskimo kiss. I new that this was the cat for us. She is great with the kids, and will watch over them when they are sick...she snuggles up with them in their beds. She is a great pet, and we wouldn't trade her for the world.

I like cats too! Except that they don't wear dogbones on their collars.

 

Is there a "Kitty Kacher" out there? They could do a little geo-fish coin!

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While our story certainly is not unique, and undoubtedly is being repeated numerous times throughout the gulf states currently, it is a story that has resulted in much happiness for the family and our dog Daisy.

 

We had to put down our last dog in 2004, and in doing so greatly upset our young son. Although he was only around 4 months old at the time, he was inseparable from his favourite doggie. The dog however became very ill and needed to have his suffering ended.

 

As time went on we decided to start looking for another pet. With a now very active toddler it would be a challenge to find a dog with just the right temperment to fit in with a growing family, and this is where Daisy enters the story.

 

About 8 weeks ago as we were searching for a new pet, we came across a posting at a dog groomers advertising a Brittany Spaniel free to good home. We were looking for a Brittany as our last dog had been one and had a great temperment and was a good size for the family. With that said we decided to check it out in spite of our wariness around "free to good home" postings.

 

As we walked up to the trailer park and the home of the dog in question a large orange and white head stuck out from under the gate. This was no Brittany! Upon being let into the gated verandah Daisy proceeded to walk over, flop down on the floor and expose her belly for some rubbin'. A very layed back dog for strangers.

 

The current owners of Daisy explained how they spend the winters in a trailer park in Florida and then return to Canada and a trailer park here in the summer. Daisy was found wandering loose in an open field in Florida after the 2004 hurricanes, and they took her in. She was in need of care and affection, and in spite of their efforts could not find any records of her owner. They took her to the vet, had her checked over and given the medicinal treatment that she required and then took her into their homes. They were told she was a Brittany Spaniel by somebody in the trailer park that was knowledgable about dogs and that she was a puppy that would get to be around 35-40 lbs. She now topped out at a trim and muscular 65 lbs. and had really outgrown trailer life. The couple had sadly come to realize that they needed to let Daisy go so that she could get the most out of her life.

 

So, Daisy is only about 1 year old and already on family #3 ... or as they say, her "Forever Family." She was an immediate hit with our son and is a great companion all around. Although she has had no formal training until a few weeks ago (wouldn't come when called, wouldn't sit on command, pulled on leash) her temperment was a perfect fit and she is incredibally well behaved. We have also found now that she is a FAST learner, picking up all of the obedience training very quickly and always very eager to learn.

 

With all the struggles that this dog has been through, it truly shows something about dogs knowing when they are in a good surrounding. It would be easy to understand a few character flaws, but she is an even tempered, easy going and loving dog 24/7.

 

She's been out on about 1/2 of our cache finds, and attended her first cache event this past weekend where she was a big hit.

 

We wouldn't be the same without her in the family now.

Thanks.

JWID ... and yep, the "D" is for Daisy!

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The winner is..... there must be some mistake! It's a CAT-person

 

THRAK

 

Please send me your mailing address and I will send you a GOLDEN geobone!!

 

Thank you to everyone that provided a nice dog story and I hope that you all were able to enjoy taking some time out of your day to think about friends both here and gone. Now -- take that friend for a walk! (and if your friend is departed, why not create a Travel Bug with a picture so they can "walk the earth" from cache to cache)

 

Thanks again! Congrats to THRAK

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