Stolen Pug

My dog was stolen from me about 2 years ago, (from someone I knew, but police did nothing for me to get her back) her name was Krissee, she was a 101/2 year old black Chinese Pug, that I hand raised since she was 4 ½ months old. It’s taken me 2 years now to be able to look at her pictures and ID tags, I miss her so much. I have never in my life felt pain as I have with the loss my best friend Krissee, even now trying to write to you is almost too emotional for me. I have wanted to get me another dog many of times, but wasn’t too sure I am ready yet! As I still feel responsible for my dog’s happenings and loss. Dogs take a lot of time, love, money and care. And I’m not to sure I have the love in me quite yet! But little, by little I’m getting stronger, and as I do, was thinking of getting a Box Rottweiler, as my friend here has one and it’s just like a big baby lap dog, and I have grown to love it very much. I’m thinking very seriously about getting one for myself, but wanted to make sure I have all means to take care of such a wonderful pet. Thank you for all your inspiration, it is helping me learn more about dogs, as I cope with my loss. TORRIE C

dog & baby

Let me first begin by saying that my breed the bull terrier never ceases to amaze me with their way with children they are a true nanny of the canine race! My story begins with my daughter who is now 4.. when she was around 8 month old she had an amazing hissy fit crying uncontrollably nothing I did helped with whatever was wrong with her .. I at the time had my bully Kat .. yes I know a bull terrier named Kat lol .. she was around a month younger than Kasey was. So she was having the hissy fit I tried everything possible to think of to calm her down and nothing worked .. all thru me trying Kat who would be then 7 months old kept coming into the living room and looking at Kasey as if asking “what’s wrong” .. anyway I decided to pop Kasey down on the floor while I tried calming her down, with that Kat came in again and looked at Kasey on the floor she kind of stepped over the screaming bundle looking her over walked around her etc … while Kat was doing this to my joy Kasey stopped screaming ..cool I thought so I went to the other side of the room to fetch a blanket for Kasey, to which Kat decided what I was doing was more interesting ….. uh oh … as soon as Kat left Kasey’s side she screamed again!! So I thought well if she wants Kat nearby fine so I encouraged Kat back over to Kasey and watched over her nanny my daughter she laid next to her (remembering by now at 8 month she was considerably bigger than my daughter) she laid down next to Kasey and nuzzled her .. Kasey then was happy enough to sit and pull at Kats face in that loving baby way .. Kat just laid there letting her and ever so gently placed her paw upon Kasey’s chest … al the while Kat was there Kasey was happy … to my utter shock they both fell asleep together with Kats paw over Kasey’s chest like she was cuddling her. So for these so called ferocious dogs I cant say fairer than they are just so soft its unreal.. Kasey has always had such a fab bond with Kat since I brought Kat home at 6 weeks she used to sleep on Kasey’s bounce chair then when she got to big under it ! Kasey has been showing Kat at my club shows since she was a little over 2 years old she handled Kat in the fun young handlers sections of my clubs and has been an inspiration to many kids in the ring !!! Kind Regards Tanya S

Pugee’s Story

I have a 7 year old Chinese Shar-Pei. Her name is Pugee. We got her when she was 8 months old. She was given to us along with all the A.K.C. papers. She’s wonderful. I had taken her out to do her thing about 3 AM one morning & we were in the back yard. When she had finished I was leading her around the corner of the house, off leash, when I was confronted by a huge German Shepard. It bared its teeth & growled at me. Pugee instantly placed herself between me & the Shepard, which was half again as big, & took it on & WON the fight. Pugee is my protector & family member. Most of all she is my best friend. Joan

Troy and the day I broke my leg

Hi Ray. Great you are working on a new book! Here is my story. Troy was a Christmas present from our children He was born on Dec. 25, 2005 in Canada and had to travel when he was 9 weeks old all the way from there to the Caribbean. He made the 10 hour flight remarkably well and we soon discovered that he was a strong alpha dog. As there are no dog training courses on our little island I started looking for good information about how to train him and Dog Training Mastery, an owners manual by Ray Coleiro turned out to be a great alternative. We started training right away. It was so much fun and it although we have to be patient but we enjoy it. Troy is now six month old and the training has become much easier. He isn’t distracted so much anymore and he is listening most of the time! On July 19th I decided to take Troy on our daily morning hike in the rainforest. This hike takes normally 45 minutes with 10 minutes training at the end of the trail. When we had been hiking for about five minutes I slipped on some rocks and broke my leg. My foot was making an angle of ninety degrees and is was quite obvious that I couldn’t walk anymore. I was too far away from the main-road to be able to call someone so I had to push myself back up the trail. Troy first thought that it was a great idea to sit down and play with him and he jumped on me. I told him to be careful and he looked like he understood right away. He sat down next to me and listened to my sad story. Than he started running up and down the trail to see if he could find someone. He stayed close to me all the time that it took me to get closer to the main-road. Finally I was close enough to hear a car stopping and after yelling loudly I was saved. Can you imagine how good it looks when a bed with white sheets and pillows comes to you on the trail. Six strong man carried me in the ambulance and while I was air carried to the hospital in Sint Maarten Troy went with my savior to our house where friends took care of him. It wasn’t a nice experience but our puppy Troy made it so much easier for me, thanks to training and just because he is a great dog!

Razzberry’s Rescue

My sister was driving home from work along the California/Mexico border when she saw a fluffy animal on the side of the road. She thought that it was a pet that had been hit by a car, but when she got out to investigate, she found that it was tiny female puppy, only a few weeks old, collapsed from dehydration and hunger. At the time, she was living a studio appartment with her boyfriend, with no yard and no room for a puppy, and the animal shelter was closed for the weekend. So she brought the puppy to me, promising that she would find another place to keep it in a few days, or else bring it to the shelter. At first, all the puppy did was sleep on the cool linoleum floor and drink water. She refused to eat, even though I could cleary feel every bone in her body through her fur. When I took her to the vet the following day, he told me that she was less than half of the body weight she should be for her size, and he feared that she had parvo, and that may have been why she was abandoned. Luckily, all of her tests came back normal, and he gave her some medicine to settle her stomach and some prescription food to try to tempt her to eat. I gave her some when we got home….and she hasn’t stopped eating since then!! Needless to say, I ended up keeping her, and I truly believe she is the dog that I’ve wanted since I was a kid. We called her Razzberry because she is such a clown, and she always finds a way to put a little “razzle dazzle” into everything she does. In four months, she has gone from a scruffy, starved furball to a healthy, happy 40 pound girl (and still growing!). She is a whiz at obedience and we are starting to learn how to play flyball. And she even gets along with the cats. Thanks for letting me share Razzberry’s story, Aja H El Centro, California

Honey’s independence

When our little pomeranian doggy first came to live with us, she didn’t obey her new family very well, she let us know how independent she was! We were always very careful to make sure she was on the leash whenever we took her out of the house. Well, the best plans can go awry. On one incident when I opened the door to go put away our recently emptied trash cans, Honey was tailing me as I was heading for the front door, she slipped past me like greased lightning and headed for the wide open spaces at warp speed. I don’t run very well because I am handicapped and so I called for my wife and daughter to assist me. After we all split up and scoured the neighborhood yelling Honey, Honey - we finally found her and Honey acted contrite and submissive after this incident. After this incident, you can well imagine that the leash rule was strictly enforced again. About six months after this incident, we went to the drug store to pick up a prescription and took Honey with us because she loves to be with her family. When we came home, we drove the car in the garage and opened the car door. Honey bounced right out of the car and - we said oh, no. I started down the neighborhood to the North and my wife headed South with both of calling our doggie’s name. I couldn’t see her in my search and my wife couldn’t find her either. My wife said she was going to continue the search by car, so she started the car and backed up and - there sat Honey waiting patiently for us on the kitchen door step.

Lost and Found!

I first met Charlie a little over a year ago. He was on a leash tied to the front door of the building where I work. Upon entering the building, I was informed that he was found by a co-worker and fellow dog lover, running loose on a busy street in town. He had no collar and no identification of any kind. I thought the poor little guy must have slipped out of his collar and gotten lost. My co-worker approached me and knowing that I am a dog lover suggested that I take him. Yes, I am a dog lover and have had my share of dogs in the past, but my wife and I were enjoying the freedom from such a responsibility and my first reaction was NO WAY! Not to mention the fact that he probably belonged to someone and we needed to make an effort to find his home. My co-worker ended up taking him to the local animal shelter that afternoon where he, if not claimed, would be put up for adoption. Keep in mind that, at this point, I did not even know what kind of dog he was as I was totally unfamiliar with this breed. Later that afternoon, I was at home and feeling quite guilty about the fate of the little guy so I decided to call the shelter and check on his status. The person I spoke to at the shelter informed me that he was a pure breed Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and would probably be claimed by his owner as these are expensive dogs and very rarely just abandoned. My anxiety was lessened further when she told me I would be number four on the adoption list. Feeling the weight of guilt lifted, and relishing the thought of my continued freedom from dog responsibility, I called my co-worker to tell her of my heroic attempt to save the little guy from the unthinkable. She promptly told me that when she dropped him off, she put her name on the list to adopt him, thus she was number one! And being the new owner of a Westie puppy herself, she did this only to protect him just in case no one claimed or adopted him. Therefore, if he was not claimed by his owners, he would be mine! It was about this time, that I thought it would be a good idea to let my wife in on this little possible change in lifestyle. It did not go over well. New carpets, late night walks in the cold rain and snow, new furniture, travel plans – all of these things would be negatively impacted by this little devil. I assured her that I had checked out this breed and learned that they were easy to train and wonderful companion dogs with great personalities. She was not impressed. The next day, we put up signs indicating that we had found the little guy with instructions indicating how to get him back. We called all the vets in the area in case anyone was looking for him. I also called the pound; no one had claimed him. Three more days and I would have another mouth to feed and walk and everything else that goes with this commitment, not to mention a very unhappy wife. Day two, he was still at the pound; day three, no response to our attempts to locate the owner; he remained in captivity. Day four, time was running out. Day five, he was ours. We were told by the vet at the shelter that she thought he was between a year and two years old, very healthy and a rarity in that they had never had a Cavalier adopted before. A few lost ones were brought in, but the owners quickly claimed them. This guy was a mystery. Was there something wrong with him? Was he a vicious attack dog disguised in this cute little body? Fortunately, this story has a very happy ending and after a very short period of adjustment, the carpets are still new, late night walks are painless (even in the rain and snow) the furniture remains unscathed and travel plans are still fulfilled. Most of all, my wife and I are the proud parents of a loveable, funny, affectionate family member who has enriched our lives in ways we now can not imagine living without. Still, the mystery remains. What kind of heartless individual could have let this dog loose on a busy street; left to have potentially horrible things happen to him? I guess it doesn’t matter now. He is happy and safe and so are we.

A CHANGE of HEART

Our little bundle of joy (a tiny breed Chi) was a Christmas present for my twelve year old daughter last year. I said “NO WAY!” We have two cats, one is mine and the other my wife’s. No way a little dog is going to survive with the mean thirty pound cat! However, as it has been proven, they are so adaptable to other pets, Sparky Pedro Rodreguez fit right in. He is nine months old, perfect in every way and is closer to me than anyone. He sits at the door or looks out the window when it’s time for me to come home… I love him so much, and to think I was dead set on NOT allowing him in my house. He has brought so much joy into our home and entertains us every day. He sleeps at my side every night…And did I mention I’m not (wasn’t) a dog person before I met Sparky? My daughter is okay for the most part that he spends most of his life on my lap or sleeping with me. The entire family loves him and the cats actually play chase with him . Well, I’m a writer, so I could go on all day about my wonderful pet, but I thought short and sweet would be best. I will attach a photo of him at one day old (the only ones saved to my laptop), he now weighs four pounds and hasn’t gained an ounce in three months. He thinks he weighs one hundred pounds! I hope you enjoyed my story, I enjoyed sharing it with you. God bless, pastor David F.

Husky power

I have two siberian huskies a two year old male called stykes and a 8 month old female called codi…… i have had stykes since he was 6 weeks old, when i got him he stuck to me like glue he has now grown into a very strong dominant dog he is my best friend, and very friendly he has trainded well when it comes to sitiing ,giving the paw and lying down but i have found it almost impossible to teach him how to walk on the lead he just pulls and pulls …he was so hiper that i thought i would get him a friend ,when i introduced codi to him she was 7 weeks old stykes was so excited that he grabbed her out of my arms and start running arond the kitchen with codi in his mouth and i started to panic , he would slap her with his paw and send her flying across the kitchen floor i thought he was jealous at first but he just wanted to play and didnt realise his own strenght till she yelped now the are inseperable and still bite and push eachother around but stykes has calmed down alot which is great he has also trained codi not to rob his food he puts a peice of meet in front of her and if she tries to take it he nips her she has now learned not to touch anyones food … he saved me having to do that training job…… here is a picture of my two best friends

A Home without a dog is Not a Home

My husband and I raised 5 children, (4 boys & 1 girl)all along the way, we were never without a dog.We had pure breeds, and mixed breeds. One mix was English bulldog and boxer, her name was Love, she was just that, the kids best friend.Kids are never alone when they have a dog they love.When the children were grown, and having their own(our grand children)they had dogs.My daughters dog (a lassaopso)had pups, I picked out one for my husband and I. We named her Fancy, because her hair was short, at the time, but had long hairs like feathers around her face.When we took her, we had just started working for my sister and brother-inlaws’carnival, we ran the cook house.Yes,Fancy was a carnny! she loved it.She had lots of friends, they took her on rides,brought her rib bones, and at night when we would close, she loved to help us clean up the cook house.We had 4 seasons with the carnival she looked forward to it each season, and about those rib bones, each year when we would return to each town, she knew just where she had burried her bone! When we no longer worked for the carnival, we traveled the states, from Washington state to South Carolina and back, Wa. to Minissota and back, wa. to Texas and back, Wa. to California and back,after 6 years of traveling, we stayed home, we were getting older after all. We had Fancy as our faithful companion for 16 years, it was sad to see her go, but we all do, and she will be in our hearts untill we do.We are being loved by a little sweetie pie named Lexie now. good wishes, Virginia