At 02:13 AM 2/26/03 -0700, Kestrel wrote:
>
>> Today I saw the most beautimous dog, as Justin Wilson might say. 
>
>Took a look online for pictures while waiting for a work thing... couldn't
>find many really clear examples, but didn't look too long. Anyway, saw one
>breeder site where they explained coat colors/patterns in the breed...
>appears a dacshund can be just about any color! Had never seen one not
>black/tan or tan though... 

Me, neither.  One of the vet techs said she'd seen one that was piebald,
looked like a beagle in coloration.

>Anyway, "blue" is the color, and "dapple" is the
>pattern -- 

Self-explanatory, really.  

>and there's also red dapple, Isabella, the various solids,
>creams, reds, black, blue, piebald etc etc... 

Had no idea there was such variation in doxies!

>"Blue dapple" would be
>comparable (in what I saw) to other breeds using the "merle"
term. Like a
>blue merle Aussie Shepherd... it looks like a salt/pepper grey/grey-white,
>but a more smooth blend of the colors than "salt and pepper"
implies. It's a
>nice color/pattern :)

I don't know if you have seen a blue tick hound, but there's lots of 'em
here in the south (hunting dog); the coloration was very like one of them.
It is lovely.  This was a beautiful little puppy.  The owner was doting on
him.  I don't remember the fellow's name, but the dog's registered name is
Harley Davidson [whatever his owner's surname is].  Cute.

>There's also "double dapple" which is quite nice -- an even
smoother blend
>of the colors than in "dapple"

Very nice.

>Interesting!

Indeed!

>> name and number of the breeder. Maybe she'll have one in a few years,

>> after old McGarrett has shuffled off this mortal coil.
>
>There's the ticket -- do your research though, make sure your breeder is a
>good one, find out about the health certifications and all. I hear the breed
>has a few health concerns (benign tumors for one) 

Yes, I know about researching breeders.  There have been enough "puppy
farm" scandals around this neck of the woods, and I never go to pet shops
for an animal.  Much rather the humane society first (and then straight to
the vet!)  

If the tumors are benign, that is not as worrisome, of course, as malignant
ones!

>But then shoot -- go for
>it :) I like the longhaired wiener dogs myself... saw soem very nice
>pictures of various champions :)

I'm not partial to long-haired dogs.  Rather have short-haired.  I did have
a cross between a long-haired and wire-haired doxie once, if you remember
me talking about "Wiggles" about 11 years or so ago.  But I have a
long-haired daughter and a long-haired soon-to-be son-in-law, and that's
enough to be taking off the roller of the vacuum cleaner, thank you! 
 Much rather a short-haired pet!

>> I saw the dog at the vet's when I took McGarrett in for his glucose curve
>> this morning. Have to occasionally put him through tests of the glucose
>> levels vis-a-vis the efficacy of his current dose of insulin, and it may
>> result in his insulin dose being upped. He has been losing weight in
>> recent months. He is getting old, will soon be 19. Old kitty.
>
>WOW... that's an old cat

That is an old cat, and he's beginning to show his age.  Slowing down some,
though he can still chase Tiger around the house.  With Tiger hissing and
spitting the whole time, of course.  Heeheehee. 

>and a testimony to the care he gets... :)

He is spoiled rotten!

>Starts getting worrisome when they get that old... you know what's around
>the corner. 

Oh, yes.  Been through that with Diamond, our dog.

>Martha's "matriarch" is 16 years old now... in a breed where the
>top range is 15.. so she's treading on needles these days. 

I can imagine!

>When I started looking, I passed on a number of lovely breeds purely
>because their average life expectancy was so low. The sammy is one of the
>longest lived in the larger breeds -- the giants breeds live (on average of
>all the giants together) only 8 years... sounds like a long time, but
>gosh... that's mid-life to a sammy. 

Impressive.  That is a long life for a giant dog.

>That's the hard thing about pets... so
>few of them match their human companions life span, and losing them just
>really sucks. 

True.  But it's something you have to be aware of at the outset, of course.
 Never makes it "easy," but does help in the acceptance phase.

>Then you have birds which can easily outlive their ppl, and
>that sucks too... poor bird goes its whole life with someone and they die...
>what happens with the bird? I hear some parrot owners have wills made out
>which take that into account.

We won't even go into the lifespans of Galapagos tortoises!  


>> Veloci--not young herself--raptor
>
>we'd like to keep you around too, so don't plan on shuffling off any time
>soon :)
>*hugs*

Veloci--only if I can keep my kings of England straight!--raptor
 

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