Dogs

We are looking for another doggo, and the shelter has this sweet boy who is 3 , 110 lbs, and a golden retriever/German shepherd mix. He's pretty calm and gets along with our dog. When he does pull he's very strong though. He was also malnourished for his first couple years as previous owners couldn't afford vet bills etc..but he is good now.

I am wondering though, it seems like a bad combo. He's real tall and gangly. Not that we can't afford medical bills for him, I'm just concerned...he also has anxiety but I think a stable house would help him.

We figured if someone doesn't adopt him in a week we would maybe get him.

He's never looked more dignified

Leningrad. Autumn 1941, the beginning of the blockade. In a wooden house designed for 4 apartments, all the food had run out.

The yard dog, Trezor (a mix between a terrier and a hound), also felt hunger. Only water remained in his bowl.

The residents expected the dog to leave them.

But Trezor did not abandon the people. Every morning, he began to leave the outskirts of the city and return with prey: first a hare, then other small game, but mostly he brought back hares.

This was enough to cook soup or broth for everyone. Four families lived in the house, totaling 16 people (adults and children). Thanks to Trezor, none of them died of starvation throughout the entire blockade.

The dog survived the blockade, but sadly, not for long.

In June 1945, Trezor left for a hunt out of habit, but returned an hour later, leaving a trail of blood.

The dog had stepped on a mine left over from the blockade era. Trezor hobbled back to his home courtyard and died in the arms of the people he had saved throughout the entire war.

I've almost always had a dog throughout my entire life. I've had dogs that ate most foods when offered and then others who vacuumed up non food items like they were living garbage disposals.

My current dog was a rescue from a shelter that closed down right before the COVID lockdown. He had a really rough life and had spent most of it living in the shelter after being abandoned in the woods.

He's my little cPTSD buddy and I love him with all of my heart, but my god this dog is the pickiest eater I've ever seen. He's not feeling well these days, (which definitely doesn't help), but to a certain extent he's always been this way since I brought him home.

When he first came to live with us, I asked what kind of food we should get him. They said he was used to just eating the cheapest kibble, so it didn't matter. We still had some of the fairly pricey dog food leftover that we had been feeding our previous dog. She had loved it, so we figured it would be fine.

Almost the entire first week he lived with us, he just wouldn't eat anything except table scraps.

We switched to a different kibble and that worked for a while, but eventually he just stopped eating until we switched to something else. Even wet dog food is hard to get him to eat if it's been in the rotation for too long.

Not only does he just flat out refuse most dog food after a certain point, if he finds we're trying to sneak medicine in human food he likes, even once, he will refuse to ever eat it again.

I'm trying to get him to gain some weight. So far he has eaten for a while and then gotten sick of: chicken, hamburger, bacon, and most recently rice cooked in bacon fat (we're a pescatarian house, so keep in mind this is all being cooked exclusively for him)..

The rice in bacon fat seemed like a big hit until I made the mistake of mixing in a teaspoon of pumpkin (which he also liked at one point) into it.

As of now the only thing he will eat seems to be grilled shrimp. :(

You were so smart, so lively, beyond belief

You were my shadow, my friend, a reason live

Six years never felt so full and yet so brief

For a single minute more everything I would give.

The house has been frozen in time since that day

toys still scattered, clothes unwashed, grass unmowed

It's haunted by a ghost, filled with regret, guilt and dismay

reliving over and over what happened in that road

But although you weren't here very long

you taught me two things that only you could

that life is too beautiful to be given up on

and that bad can be chased away by those who are good

I will always love you Kola.

Let my dogs run free on an empty beach in Baja, Mexico. They ran in circles for an hour before digging holes in the sand and napping :)