Pooches: When Were you Ready for a Dog?

Owning my own dog as an adult always seemed like a far-off distant dream for me. Something about as elusive as owning a vacation home in Europe.
When I first moved to Chicago, I worked downtown in advertising where an average day meant leaving around 8:00 at night. Which would sometimes be midnight. Or even 3:00am.
Plus the other nights there were always people to meet out, which could also be until 3:00am.
It wasn't until I was a bit older, changed careers and I had my first summer off as a teacher that I realized I really could be a dog owner.

At the same time, I've been meeting so many great, younger people just starting out who are ready now. And they are fantastic pet owners.
Just curious...when did you know you were ready for the responsibility of your own dog as an adult? Were you always ready, or did it take you a bit longer (like me!)?

Also: Figuring out Miss M was the one for me!

Pooches: On Dogs, Walking Anxiety & Happiness

 While we were on vacation last week, I was able to catch up on some 'beach-reads'. One book that still has me thinking is The Happiness Project. This book follows the author's journey as she tries to live a happier, less stress-free life. The premise is simple: she tries to spend more time doing things that make her happy, while trying to change the things that make her unhappy.

The funny thing is, when I identified what made me happy and what made me unhappy, it was the same: the pooches.
One of my favorite things is to go for walks and explore Chicago with the pooches. I love taking them to parks and festivals, and I love dog training and showing how well-trained they can be.
At the same time, one of my most stressful things is our daily walks where I need to walk both dogs at the same time and anticipating everything that can go wrong on our walks. With as many as 30 dogs living on a single city block, we're always encountering other dogs barking and lunging on retractable leashes, off-leash dogs charging and challenging our dogs, and trying to control our pooches if this makes them excited enough to jump or try to play on leash.

I realized the anxiety of what could go wrong has started to make me an angry person. I am often glaring at other people as they walk their dogs towards us--much to my embarrassment, one day I even realized I was giving dirty looks to a former friend of mine I hadn't seen in a  long time and just wanted to meet the dogs.

So in recognizing this, I'm trying to think of ways to turn this around and continue having fun on the walks. Maybe I just need to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and just hope that other dog owners are acting responsibly and deal with something bad only if it happens? Or maybe I need to change and do even more training with the pooches so they don't react as strongly if other dogs bark and lunge at them? Or is my worry actually a safeguard for the pooches where acting more casually could be dangerous? How does everyone else balance walking safety without becoming an angry, bitter person?

Update: Last night we announced on our Facebook page the names of the special pups saved in Shy/Khloe's memory. Introducing....Zoey (girl with mange) and Bella (girl with broken leg). Zoey will be up for adoption soon; Bella is still getting some work done on her leg. We'll continue posting real-time updates and photos on our Facebook page.

Pooches: Dog Chores

Miss M and Mr. B do more around our house than just look cute; they actually have chores.
Mr. B loves helping out and bringing his backpack on family walks. He uses his backpack to bring home his own dog groceries from the dog store as well as carrying our groceries: bread from the bakery, vegetables from the Farmer's Markets, and meat from the butcher shop. When he carries the backpack he even walks proudly knowing he has a job to do.

Miss M can't be distracted from her opportunities to meet people on her walk, so she does more chores around the house. She has been trained to collect her toys and put them away in a toy bin on command. She is very enthusiastic about it, although sometimes she gets distracted from her duties and begins playing with the toy mid-trick. Here she is in action:

Beyond our pooches helping out around the house, RED , who has the most adorable dog Zeus, had a good question about how most people split up dog duties in the household.
At our place, since we don't have a yard, our dogs need 2 walks and one nightly bathroom break a day. Just based on our work schedules, I take the morning shift--which I prefer because I go early enough to miss the dog-walking rush--and E takes the evening walk. E will also take the dogs down before bedtime and I will wipe their feet. We are also lucky enough to have an amazing dog-walker to help us out when we can't make it home.

 It's also fun for us to all go on walks together, so on weekends, and when it's still light out at night, we all enjoy family walks together. I also handle most of the cleaning: washing dog beds and towels, sweeping dog hair, and cleaning vomit. E does most of the heavy duty things: carrying the big dog food and putting it in the canister, cutting the raw food, making ultimate kongs, and fixing the dog leashes and harnesses. Just curious, how do people do it in other households?

Pooches: The Multi-dog Household

The other day, Levi had a really good question; they were curious about our experiences adding a second dog to our already smallish 2-bedroom condo. We touched on this a bit while we were crazy enough to have three pitties living with us in our smallish 2-bedroom condo last summer. Besides finding a place to put another crate, we've never really had problems with our big dogs inside our house. We take them on walks to tire them out during the day, and most of the time they just laze around the house:

While most people say having a second dog isn't much harder, I will admit these were some of the major adjustments we had to make:

1) Learning to walk two dogs at once

When we first got Mr. B, I actually had to take the dogs on separate walks, because I just couldn't handle all the excitement and obstacles in our neighborhood. After much training, practice, and separate leash colors, I can now take them on a walk at the same time. Though I still run into some off-leash dogs, ice-patches and unexpected excitement that make these walks difficult.
2) It's harder to find boarding for multiple dogs

Boarding in the city is already expensive; when we were looking at boarding both dogs for a week over Thanksgiving we had quotes of over $900! It was much easier finding someone to watch just one dog, but with multiple dogs we have to figure out creative situations where people might be willing to watch, and walk, one of our dogs.
3) Baths, vet visits, and Heartworm treatments are twice as expensive

Expenses are always bigger with another dog. We made some adjustments, saving elsewhere so compensate. Plus with preventative treatments, and our pet health insurance plan, I feel like we are saving in the long run.
On the other hand, there are so many more benefits to having more dogs that do override the disadvantages.

What does everyone else think? What are some other advantages to having only one dog that we may have missed? What are some of the biggest changes you had to make after getting a second dog? Plus, we know a lot of people with 3+ dogs; how much more of an adjustment do you have to make for more dogs?

Pooches: How to End the Fear of Pitbulls & Other "Scary" Dogs

As pit bull and "other scary dog" owners know, many people have irrational fears of our dogs. And as long as these people are not meeting our dogs, and learning the realities of our breeds, they will likely continue to have these fears.But I think Tales and Tails was onto something when they observed more people are wanting to approach their German Shepherd when she's wearing her backpack. Could cool gear and costumes be the secret to making our dogs more approachable?

 I do have to say this is true when we bring our dogs to the Gay Pride Parade. While we had visited the same neighborhood mere weeks ago, no one wanted to pet Miss M despite all of her wiggling and staring. Yet, throw a tutu on her and all of a sudden people are flocking to them like paparazzi and asking to have their pictures taken with the pooches:

And how could you possibly be afraid of Mr B's huge jaws when he's using them to pose as a smiling Statue of Liberty:

Or showing spirit in as a Chicago Bear:

But on a more realistic note, I think when people see them in technical gear they are curious about what they're wearing, and they probably know they have a owner who really dotes on them. The pooches do

 draw a lot of attention in their matching Ruff Wear Sun Shower Jackets:

And when using their backpacks which can be conversation starters:

Though it is kind of tempting to let Mr. B walk around like this all the time:

Pooches: American Bulldogs, Am Staffs, and Pitbulls

Almost every time we take the pooches on the walk, someone will ask if they are twins. The funny thing is they are actually completely different breeds of dogs. Sure, they're both "pitbulls", or types of bully breeds, but from what we can gather, Miss M. is mainly American Bulldog with "traces" of Boxer.
Check out Exhibit A: The webbed feet. American Bulldogs were originally used for bull-baiting and bred to cling to bulls. Miss. M is adept at using her paws to clench things; if you shake hands with her she grabs back and it actually feels like shaking hands with real fingers.
Exhibit B: American Bulldogs can be quite lazy and lethargic around the house. Enough said.
Now we're pretty sure Mr. B. is a full-blooded American Staffordshire Terrier.
These dogs were bred to be stocky and muscular. Just check out Mr. B's biceps:
And he is the only dog that I ever met that has a fully defined buttock:
And as a terrier, he also enjoys chasing rats. A trait that has caused us problems as we walk through our fine city of Chicago.
So even though they are both different breeds, they have started to resemble one another; they're kind of like those couples that start to look alike.