Puppy Found !

Our application to adopt Mr. Mike was
accepted and I'm hoping to pick him up
next weekend! We are very excited!

You can see photos of Mike and his mom
Mona and all his cute siblings at the
Three Woofs and a Woo website.
Most recent photos are in the dec 28th entry.

A Little Like Christmas

I have all my christmas shopping done. All my
packages to family and friends sent. Just have
to wrap up some homemade soaps for co-workers
and pick up one purchased present for my daughter
(which is lying in wait at a secret location
because it is too big to wrap) and I will be done.
We got a little baby Christmas tree this weekend
and put lights up around the front window.

Did not get our lights up around the front fence
due to early and near incessant snow. Next year
I think we'll do it at Thanksgiving.

It's beginning to feel a little like Christmas.
This photo helped:


















Last night I dreamed that Nosey and I were riding
cable cars around SF for more Christmas shopping.
This morning I wanted to talk to him all about our
trip but unfortunately, he didn't have the same
dream.

Nosey Learns to Sign

So I've been using signs with Nosey - getting
ready just in case the puppy I applied to adopt
is deaf though now it appears he may not be deaf
after all. But it's amazing how fast Nosey has
caught on to this signing business. He now knows
"treat" and "Go for a drive". Easy to teach
because they are two of his favorite words / phrases.

Here's a site where an owner of a deaf pup talks
about her experiences teaching him, the adorable
Cricket, his first signs.

Deaf Dogs

One of the puppies we are hoping to get
may be deaf so we’ve started using hand
signals with Nosey for the things we
usually use only words for and have been
reading up and trying to learn a few more
signs. You can find out more about deaf
dogs here.

Some deaf dogs come from having double
merle breedings. These pups, who also may
have eye malformalities as well, are sometimes
referred to as Lethal whites - lethal because
they would be killed at birth or soonafter.

Some double merles are almost all white.








Some have more color to them.









Mike, the pup we've applied for has
more color than the top photo, but less
than the one above. He's just right.

Puppy

We are looking for a puppy. The right puppy.
I have applied to adopt one of the Brady Bunch,
a group of australian shepherd/lab/? puppies
who were born in a BC pound and taken in by
a compassionate woman who runs a border collie
rescue. You can read more about the Brady Bunch
here on her blog which also
has the best dog photos I have ever seen.

Since she wrote about the puppies on her blog,
I think they must have gotten lots of applications
so I'm not sure if we have a chance at Mike (or
Bobby or Cindy)

We want a mixed breed dog rather than a pure
bred. We have one pure bred and that's plenty.
And we want a puppy rather than an older dog.
Nosey was about 6 - 7 months old when we got
him. Not old exactly but out of that puppy stage.
And when we got Fergus from the pound, no one
was sure how old she was though everyone guessed
she was about a year (which would mean she died
at 15+). So now we would like to get a puppy.
Wish us luck!