New addition to the family

elevatordude

elevatordude

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
325
Location
Palmer, Ma.
Last year in June I had to put my best buddy down. It was a hurt I hadn't felt since my mother died 20 years ago. That dog saw me threw some of the toughest times in my life.
Ming Chow
thP1050331.jpg

Now a new furry friend has entered our household ...meet Jack. He is one year old. The person who owned him dropped him off at the pound. It seems he didn't get along with the chickens on the farm.
Corvette147.jpg
 
elevatordude said:
Last year in June I had to put my best buddy down. It was a hurt I hadn't felt since my mother died 20 years ago. That dog saw me threw some of the toughest times in my life.
Ming Chow
thP1050331.jpg

Now a new furry friend has entered our household ...meet Jack. He is one year old. The person who owned him dropped him off at the pound. It seems he didn't get along with the chickens on the farm.
Corvette147.jpg
Click to expand...

THAT looks like my buddy's SIBERIAN Husky.....

IF it is a Siberian, you are in for a RUN......hold on to your hat buddy....

Nick's Siberian will raise hell in a nanosecond.....growls when people want to LEAVE, he want's his ears rubbed.....

on that topic, EACH EAR is worth a entire CAT in fuzz value....

:rofl::rofl::twitch:;)
 
Like I said I had a chow and they are one of the toughest dogs to train. Its all about putting the time in for training and being constant with them. I already have Jack sitting and shaking his paw on command. He does have a slight problem with jumping to greet occasionally, but he is almost broken of that.
 
mans best friend
if i could start over, i'd have a farm with all kinks of furry critters & a boat load of dogs

my buddy just got a new husky & it's ruining his rugs & chewing on furniture, he said - but he just raised three kids 18-20 YO & says this is his relief
 
I think his name will stay Jack. He has adapted well so far. I think we have a good match here he likes to hang in the garage while I work. Now I just have to teach him to get tools from the tool box.
 
Geoff Coenen said:
if i could start over, i'd have a farm with all kinks of furry critters
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when I come home from work and change my clothes in the bedroom, my rabbit Bunny crawls out from under the bed and hops over to greet me for a pet. She's a house rabbit and has not been in a cage for about 6 years. She has the run of the house and exercises a little every day by running laps around the house. She is impeccable with using her litter box. House rabbits are somewhat akin to having a pet cat. They are sociable but a little stand-offish. One of their big attributes are that they are just really cute and fluffy soft animals. If you want a house rabbit as a pet, you need to read some of the forum websites like houserabbit.com because they are really unique animals as compared to a cat or dog. And as a last comment, they are not "hare-brained." They are relatively intelligent and also amazingly curious. They are not mute, they make a variety of vocal sounds, they can growl, make a wimper like sound when happy, a huh? sound when surprised, and will cry if they are scared.
 
Now you've done it. Please let us see a picture of this fluff ball bunny.

I never knew you could have them as house pets. At the local Agway where I get whole corn in 50 pound sacks for the deer, turkey & other critters, I often see a cage with a few rabbits & wish I could rescue them. They are so timid. And I seldom see them free on my property. They are kinda rare, like butterflies & amphibians today. Hardy ever see them, and I have wetlands & 300 acres of woods on 3 sides of my lot. I kinda feel sorry folks that live in dense housing or concrete jungles & never see God's little creatures.
 
Geoff Coenen said:
Now you've done it. Please let us see a picture of this fluff ball bunny.

I never knew you could have them as house pets.
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Embarrassinly enough I don't know how to post photos. I'm going to have to make that a priority. I know it isn't difficult.

Our rabbbit is reddish brown and I've been told she's a Belgium red. She weighs about 8 1/2 pounds. Some rabbit species go up to 20 pounds.

They have some similarities to cats but some important differences. Google "house rabbits as pets" and you'll find some interesting articles and photos. For example www.myhouserabbit.com, www.rabbit.org, www.mybunnies.com.

Rabbits are masters at hiding their fear and anxieties. The caged rabbits you referred to were probably very uncomfortable. Our rabbit was caught at a local park were she had been abandoned in September (a prime dumping time for Easter rabbits). I'm pretty sure she had been caged all her then life. I naively thought she like to spend part of the day outside so I set up a 4 foot tall pen in the back yard. It had a door with a toggle bolt to hold the door closed. I inadvertently set the pen up with the toggle bolt inside the pen. Watching me open and close the door resulted in the rabbit running up and operating the toggle bolt with her teeth and opening the door. Rabbits are not as stupid as people think. Anyhow, the rabbit dug a rabbit hole in the pen..moving a tremendous amount of dirt for an 8+ pound animal. Once the hole was dug, she stayed in virtually 24 hours a day. This told me she was afraid to be outside. Actually if a large dog or racoon got into the back yard she'd be history. We then put her in our kitchen for about 14 hours a day with the remaining time in her cage. She had two litter boxes in the kitchen and used them. We used a child proof gate to keep her in the kitchen. However, we would occassionally keep the gate open, and if we weren't looking she'd escape into the house. So we eventually just let run loose in the house..a litter box in the kitchen, one in the living room and another in the bedroom. We've reduced down to one in the bedroom. She stays under the bed most of the time. She occassionally runs laps around the house and jumps on and off the furniture and sometimes just jumps in the air as she runs. Her litter box is a plastic tray lined with newspaper and filled with oat straw. One reason she's good with the litter box is that she likes it. She only soils the corners so the rest of the box has a lot of good eats...the oat kernals in the hay. She sometimes makes her happy wimper when she sees you bringing a fresh litter box. Also, rabbit litter boxes don't have the "ugh" factor of a cat litter box. Rabbit poop doesn't stink. It has a slightly herbal and oniony smell and I don't think it's particularly dirty since the rabbits main gut bacteria is a bacteria that transforms cellulose to glucose. This kind of bacteria won't make you sick. Our rabbit is somewhat standoffish. But, she does prefer to wait to eat until someone is present. She prefers not to eat on her own. (I think she relies on others to be on the watch for predators!) She has two throw rugs she will sit on when she wants a back massage. Rabbits have an equivalent "purr," you have to hold your face to theirs to hear a slight teeth chattering as you pet them. If you try to pet the rabbit when she's in the litter box, she'll give you a growl! If you're setting down, she sometimes will hop up and nuzzle your ankle for a pet. They don't like to sit in your lap. They prefer to lay beside your leg, say, if you're sitting on a couch. They are very curious animals. As part of running around the house, she will also take time to look into every nook and cranny, look in every room and closet if the door is open. She apparently is looking for preditors. Better to find them than them to find you. When she hears strange people in the house she will come out from under the bed to investigate. They are not expensive to feed if you want to feed them dry rabbit pellets. We have a bowl of pellets available but she mostly prefers fresh green leaves: carrot tops (which we get free from the farmers market), Italian dandelion leaves, French parsely, celantro. She gets a treat of a piece of bananna in the morning (if she was a bigger animal she would kill for a bananna), an occasional slice of apple or a bing cherry. With a large portion of green leaves in their diet, they don't drink water (although we have water bowl for her). I think the only reason rabbits aren't more popular as house pets is that they can be "chewy." In 5 years we've only had one serious incident. She started to make a bunnie hole in the corner of our leather couch. Chewed a 6 or so inche diameter hole in the leather. We now keep a decorative cushion there and no one notices. She hasn't bothered the couch since. If there's a newspaper on the floor she will sometimes shred it to pieces..tearing paper is apparently a lot of fun for a rabbit. I've taken some cardboard boxes, filled them with oat hay, sealed the box, and then cut a small hole in it so she could see it had oat hay in it. She then chews the hole bigger until she can crawl in and eat the oats. My wife and I really like our rabbit. My wife would like to start taking care of rescued rabbits from shelters and parks, but for multiple rabbits I think we'd have to build hutches in the back yard which is about 50 by 60 feet...large by Los Angeles metropolitan standard. As compared to really great sounding 300 acres of free space that you live in!
 
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Thanks for the bunny news & links. That's great. It sound like they make great pets & companions. My wife has rescued many cats, many dogs, one ferret & one bird from our warehouse parking lot. In the past 2-3 years she has been involved in the catch, neuter & release program for abandoned cats. It's up to $70 for their vaccination shots, neuter, etc. So far about 27 cats x $70. But it's for a good, And I don't want you folk to think I p*ss away all that Corvette money in a t*tty bar. :D

I love furry animals & furry …

I lucked out on this old house. Dead end road. & the last house at the entrance to a 300 acre park, 298 are undeveloped trees, all woodland with walking trails. I have 2 streams in the yard, wetlands & 2 migrating Wood Ducks (aka clown ducks) are still here for the free whole corn. They return with several Mallards every year on their way to even more Northern summer roosts.
 
Geoff Coenen said:
Thanks for the bunny news & links. That's great. It sound like they make great pets & companions. My wife has rescued many cats, many dogs, one ferret & one bird from our warehouse parking lot. In the past 2-3 years she has been involved in the catch, neuter & release program for abandoned cats. It's up to $70 for their vaccination shots, neuter, etc. So far about 27 cats x $70. But it's for a good, And I don't want you folk to think I p*ss away all that Corvette money in a t*tty bar. :D

I love furry animals & furry …

I lucked out on this old house. Dead end road. & the last house at the entrance to a 300 acre park, 298 are undeveloped trees, all woodland with walking trails. I have 2 streams in the yard, wetlands & 2 migrating Wood Ducks (aka clown ducks) are still here for the free whole corn. They return with several Mallards every year on their way to even more Northern summer roosts.
Click to expand...

U wife and my wife sound like soulmates....up to Linda there would be a freeking ZOO around here, as it is there is a dawg, and 3 cats inside, then 4 outdoor stray cats, plus frogs, fish, neighbor's pets, and anything else she can feed....birds, but show her a snake, and she up the tree screaming for rescue....:hissyfit::shocking::gurney: she don't have much sympathy for bugs either, especially GRASSHOPPERS down here they are all the colorful variety and eat the living HELL out of all her flowers....

:ill::censored:
 
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