What Dog Breed is Best for You?

As you know Barb has been on an ardent search for a new puppy. When we lost Daisy we knew we would someday get another puppy, we both agreed that it would not be right away. What we did not know at the time is how much we were going to not only miss Daisy but just the companionship of having a dog on our laps and in our lives. Yes, we have Dakota but it was just different, our house did not seem complete.

So we talked about it and Barb set out on her search. One thing I have learned about Barb over the past 35 years is that I have to be very, very careful what I say to her about a major purchase like this. Whether it be a camper, truck, heck even a pot or pan, she has to research the heck out of it before she will finally commit to actually pulling the trigger and buying it. So when we finally decided to start the search, I knew I had once again “Released the Beast” and away she went. Practically every waking moment went into her researching for the best puppy that ever existed.

As I said in our last post I could not open Facebook without seeing hundreds of pictures of French Bulldogs (referred to as FBD in the rest of this post as my fingers will get tired typing out the entire name) as she joined every possible group to learn more and find “the one”. But it did not stop there, she also enlisted a friend of her cousin Lori in Alaska who shows, breeds and has 5 FBD's. Last but not least she searched every other website possible continuing to learn about FBD’s and a breeder to buy one from.

So, as she searched I too was learning as I was trapped. I mean, I got the opportunity to listen to her on our 54 hour drive to and from Pennsylvania. Here are some of the fun facts I learned about FBD’s….

• They are not cheap, you cannot pick one up for free in the classifieds
• Did you know FBD’s overheat easily and cannot go for long walks?
• They also do not tolerate the cold well and need to be dressed up in the winter
• They require a special “raw” diet. Not really sure what that means
• FBD’s are artificially inseminated and require a C section for delivery. Not sure if that is true in all cases but that is what she read on one site
• They can be difficult to house break
• They are brachiocephalic so they have breathing issues
• They cannot swim, they sink straight to the bottom
• They can be allergic to many things
• They can be very stubborn to train
• And best of all they can be very gassy!

With all these awesome attributes who would not want one of these cuddly little monsters?!?!

As I was learning more and more about FBD’s I knew I had to intervene and sit Barb down and have a come up with a practical approach to what breed of we should get. So when the time was right we sat down and I drew a line down the middle of a piece of paper. On the top of the left side I wrote the word “Cons” and on the right side of the line I wrote the word “Pros”. I then wrote down each of the items listed above on the “Con” side. I then said “Now let’s list the Pros” To which she stated “They are cute and I want one”. With that she got up and walked away.

So without further ado, let me introduce Lyra…..

All kidding aside, although the items listed above may be true in some cases, there are lots of reasons to choose a FBD as a pet. Lyra is a cute little Blue Fawn currently residing in Oregon. Since she is so young, we cannot pick her up for a few weeks but we were able to Facetime with her the other day! At least I was able to answer the question what is the best dog breed from us is the one your wife says you are going to get. Who am I to argue with her? After all, I do still want to eat!

Now that the puppy search is all done we can continue with projects around the house. We have been working on two big projects. The first are the posts and railing in the loft. 

We had bought (3) 6"x6"x8' posts prior to going to Pennsylvania. They have been drying for several weeks so when we got back I cut them to length and notched 3 of them to fit over the loft wall and one to fit around a corner. Barb then sanded, stained and varnished them. Several days later they were ready to be installed!

End of Day 1

The next day we started putting up the actual railing.....

End of Day 2

One more railing section and one more rim board and that project is done! 

One of the smaller projects we did was complete the wood storage are by putting the last of the stained and varnished slats in the back of the wood shelf area. With that complete, this area is completely done! Well, not entirely, I need to put shelves on the right side.

The deer were happy to have us back and even left us a couple of presents! Little known fact.... Do you know what one of the fastest growing bones are? And no Dino, it is not .....never mind. It is the antler! Our whitetails lost their antlers in the past couple of weeks. We are still seeing elk and mule deer carrying theirs but it should not be too long before we can start searching for those as well. 

Here is what we have found so far.....

The other big event of the week was a snow storm that passed through dumping over 16" of snow over 2 days. We just hunkered down, had a fire going and worked on our projects. It was actually quite beautiful and peaceful. 

The deer were hunkered down as well with only 1 or 2 making the occasional visit. 

Frosty Deer!

Once the storm was done they came in droves. The snow was so deep they had to leap to get through the deep snow. Soon enough they had a path worn into the snow and only the little ones had to leap. 

This guy came right up to the window to see what we were up to....

Can I come in? It's cold out here!

When it was time for us to venture out we called Kevin and Cheryl and told them we were on our way over. 15 minutes later we called them back up and told them we were not on our way over as we buried the jeep in the driveway. 

After digging it out I made a couple runs up and down the driveway so we too had a path to get in and out. The snow sure made for some beautiful pictures...

Later that day I went over to Kevin's and went down a road that was not plowed and proceeded to get stuck again! Luckily someone with chains on their tires came by and yanked me out!

I earlier mentioned that we were working on two big projects. The other one is not quite done so hopefully we can unveil that one in our next post!

With puppy search done, Barb has deleted all those Facebook groups except one so our feed is back to normal. But now the beast is researching airline tickets, dog foods, pet carriers and yes, outfits for  Lyra....will the madness ever end?!?!?