Since no one in this family has gotten engaged or given birth today, I thought I would take advantage of the window. I am happy to introduce the newest resident of 1020 Kalamath Street:
Porter. He is a lab/chow mix, with a suspicion of flat-coated retriever. We rescued him from a shelter a few months ago; he's nearly 7 months old now (about 5 in these pictures). While we generally refer to him as 'Porter,' he is a dog of many aliases, such as the Ninja (for his ability to disappear into the slightest of shadows), the Giraffe (for his hilariously long tongue and his preference for tall flora), Distracto (for the obvious), and the Bear (see the last pic). His interests include barking at absolutely nothing, NOT barking when complete weirdos are at
our front door, and chewing on things that you or I would not find very chewable at all. He's a pretty funny pup when he's awake, though he spends most of his time passed out on the floor. So we can kind of relate. Just kidding, Ma. Anyway, I'm sure he'd love to meet any one of you who might be passing though the Rockies at any point. Oh, and if anyone wants to see more pictures, I have . . . a thousand. Probably more.
Since no one in this family has gotten engaged or given birth today, I thought I would take advantage of the window. I am happy to introduce the newest resident of 1020 Kalamath Street: Porter. He is a lab/chow mix, with a suspicion of flat-coated retriever. We rescued him from a shelter a few months ago; he's nearly 7 months old now (about 5 in these pictures). While we generally refer to him as 'Porter,' he is a dog of many aliases, such as the Ninja (for his ability to disappear into the slightest of shadows), the Giraffe (for his hilariously long tongue and his preference for tall flora), Distracto (for the obvious), and the Bear (see the last pic). His interests include barking at absolutely nothing, NOT barking when complete weirdos are at 
our front door, and chewing on things that you or I would not find very chewable at all. He's a pretty funny pup when he's awake, though he spends most of his time passed out on the floor. So we can kind of relate. Just kidding, Ma. Anyway, I'm sure he'd love to meet any one of you who might be passing though the Rockies at any point. Oh, and if anyone wants to see more pictures, I have . . . a thousand. Probably more.
6 comments:
Porter (a dark ale) looks like a great addition to your household, I'm sure your Mom would love to dogsit him some day (at your place).
Hey, Brandon and Molly,
I love the pictures of Bear!!
How is the obedience training going? Is he more willing to keep up with the rest of the class? Did you know it costs $$$$ to travel with a dog? Hey, it costs $$$ to travel with luggage these days! How does Porter get along with Scout? I bet you are having lots of fun with your animals.
it must be very chic to have a dog these days. all the cool people have them.....and your's is one of the coolest.
Congratulations! Porter is so cute! I wish that we could have a dog!
Hey, thanks, Mom! You can come out and watch him any time (with Dad, perhaps). I know Porter will be happy to repay you in toe baths. He keeps trying to do that with the cat, but she insists on enforcing some imaginary restraining order. He's getting better at obeying (slowly). It's tough when he sits around all day, building up energy to play when we get home. And thanks, A/C, we think he's pretty cool. He looks exactly like the dog from the comic 'Non Sequitur' when he runs. If you know what I'm talking about, you can imagine how funny that looks--kind of a crooked run, with ears sticking out at odd angles. Or maybe he's running straight and we're just drinking too much porter . . .
Nice looking dog, B&M, Porter is. Although having had two Chows, I don't see the genetic resemblance in your pics. No big neck ruff, or blue tongue, or question-mark tail? Or was it that Porter just told you he was Labra-Chowanian for status purposes?
Since we are on a dog topic, this seems to be an ideal time to relate my summer of '08 dog story.
Early one morning last week, I observed two dogs sniffing around at the corner, two houses away. One appeared to be a small Golden Retriever and the other was a Cock-a-poo of some sort. They seemed to be together but had no leashes and more troubling, had no humans watching over them. They were drifting in and out of traffic at the residential intersection and although cars were slowing and being careful, they were definitely in jeapardy.
One lady stopped her vehicle, got out and was trying to put the dogs into her SUV. I assumed her to be the dogs' owner and she already had a third dog in the back. Before long there were three dogs running around and it looked like she could use some help. My next door neighbor, Ginny, and I walked over to give her a hand only to find out that the first two weren't her dogs. She had only stopped to rescue them from traffic danger. Up close I could see that they had no tags, no ID and no collars on. This was a huge mortal sin for a pet owner. She lent her own dog's collar and leash so I could contain the Golden while she just held the Cock-a-poo in her arms. Without any clues to the dog's home or owner, and the fact that I had never seen either of these two before, I called the police.
Two police cars arrived in about two minutes (another busy day for law-enforcement in Lathrup). He took down what we knew and didn't know and offered to take the dogs with him. When inquiring about their fate, the officer said they would be turned over to an animal control contractor. "You mean you don't take them to a shelter?", I asked. "No", he said, "the A/C guy holds them for a few days then I'm not sure what he does with them." All of a sudden I wasn't feeling so good about having called the police.
Ginny brought out a dish of water and some treats as the officer held it for them to drink and eat as they sat in the back seat of the cruiser. The police lingered awhile, hoping the owners would come looking for their lost animals, but no one came. After a while the police pulled away with the two dogs in the back seat, each having its own window to look out. I later learned that the police spent the rest of the day, cruising the neighborhoods with the dogs still in the backseat, looking out the windows, in hopes of somebody recognizing them. I can't tell you how much I enjoy living in a community where the police will give dogs rides in their cars all day long.
Now comes the freaky part! The next day, a woman from Ginny's church in Royal Oak (who also lives in Lathrup but Ginny didn't know that) calls her to say that she is fostering a lost Golden and another small dog and does she know anyone who may have recently lost a couple of dogs. She called Ginny because she knew Ginny has had several Goldens and thought she might know other people in the area who had them also. When Ginny asked how she had come by these dogs, she said the Lathrup Village police gave them to her to watch for a few days until their owner could be found. Ginny told her that she and her next-door neighbor (me) were the ones who found these dogs and called the police in the first place. Later on in the day, Ginny was at Walgreen's picking out a greeting card that happened to have a picture of a dog on the front. Another shopper nearby struck up a conversation with her about dogs and she told Ginny she has been looking to adopt a Golden Retriever and if she knew of anybody who had one. Ginny took down her name & phone number and was convinced that she was the designated Guardian Angel for these two lost dogs.
The story ends happily albeit less dramatically. After a few days had passed, the dogs' owner happened to call the Lathrup PD. She lives in Southfield so she didn't think to look here first. The LVPD took her over to the foster care woman's house and it was a joyful reunion.
I know, I know, the two minutes that you spent reading this is time you'll never get back.
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