Idea followed by "Oops"

[willowisp]

I've written about my Master Plan (TM) before. Those who've seen it described can skip the rest of this paragraph, unless you'd like to know once and for all why I'm so fixated on Aussies. The master plan is, when Andy and I have a house with an appropriately-sized fenced-in yard, to adopt two Australian Shepherds or mini Aussies. Australian Shepherds are wonderful dogs, extremely intelligent, and very driven to do a job, any job. They were bred to herd and do a darned good job of it -- even as a months-old puppy our Aussie, Mandy, managed to herd my sister and me if we weren't paying attention. Aussies tend to be very loyal, and can even be downright unfriendly to strangers if they're not socialized properly, but if they're trained young they can be the sweetest dogs. Mini Aussies are simply Aussies who've been bred a bit smaller; they still retain all the traits of their larger kin. One thing people have found they're good at is various kinds of helper animals. They make good service animals (in fact, Mandy's litter-sister became a hearing ear dog) or therapy dogs, for instance. I want to train my two Aussies to work with people, then visit hospitals and senior citizen homes and such with them.

Today I suddenly decided to start researching breeders. I would rather the dogs be from a responsible breeder since Aussies are very prone to a variety of medical problems which can be minimized if the breeders know what they're doing. Breeders will also match personality and what you want the dog for, so I won't go to the pound and rescue a show or agility dog when I need a fairly low-key working dog. Anyway, I also decided to look up the Delta Society, which trains people and their animals in therapy and visitation. There's actually two classes in Albuquerque in September, so I'll probably call to find out more about them. However, since I can't get the pooches until we have a big enough yard, I was thinking perhaps I should give one or both classes a miss.

My idea for today had been to catch up on laundry and to do to the bedroom what I did to the kitchen a few days ago. To that end I went upstairs, all ready to begin working. Gail was on the bed, and I went over to pet her. She began purring and rolling around in ecstasy, and suddenly it hit me: Gail would make a wonderful visiting animal. I especially know this because either on the day I fell in love with her at the pound or the next day when I visited her, I encountered two women who told me they'd borrowed her from the pound to visit a senior citizen's home, and she'd done a wonderful job. I think they were hanging around trying to get anyone who showed interest to adopt her, much as I did recently with Bianca.

I adore both Thena and Gail, and each has her moments when she's my favorite or when I want to strangle her. I'm not so sure that Thena would make a good visitation cat, though. She's more reserved than Gail, tending to shy away from strangers. She also is more high-strung. When Andy first noted that I protested, given how hyper Gail is. Andy's answer is that Thena is high-strung, while Gail is just high-energy. To get back on track, I'm not sure that visiting wouldn't cause Thena too much stress. I may bring both to the classes and see what happens.

The oops came in my failure to put up my shields, and Gail managed to beam her cuteness rays in such a way that the next thing I knew, I was lying on the bed and she had a nice warm backrest. Time passed, and finally I managed to escape the cute rays, but by then Andy was ready for dinner, so I didn't get the room started when I should have.

After dinner I went back up, and decided to surprise Andy by putting the mirror from the dresser into place. The mirror was mounted when I lived in NY and I can't remember if it was when I lived in NJ. It stayed behind the closet door for the whole time we were in NC, but I wanted it restored to its old (sticker-pocked) glory. Unfortunately somewhere in the three moves, some of the hardware has gone missing. I decided to try anyway with what I had, and spent quite a while trying to make it work due to a missing screw. Andy finally came up and confirmed that we need a thingy (scientific name: doohickey) for one side of the mirror and at least three screws. He wanted to go to bed at that point to I quickly put away the recently-finished laundry and tossed all of the odds and ends into a box to be sorted when he's not trying to sleep.

Since our new fireplace mantel isn't as large as our old one, Andy and I decided we'd leave my paperweights boxed. He briefly recommended picking five or six of my favorites and displaying them, until I reminded him that I can't decide on that few. I've decided that until we move I'll leave the paperweights wrapped as they were by our excellent movers, and perhaps at some point acquire a few more to put in the shadow box Andy's dad made me. Our honeymoon ring of dolphins retains a place of honor atop the shadow box since its base is too wide to fit in, and a lone paperweight which I got after moving is currently in the box.

I've been watching paperweights on ebay due to my ongoing "hunt for an early Uranus" saga, and a few days ago I came across two gorgeous weights by the same artist/collective up for auction. Tonight I did some research and discovered that the company is not commonly found on ebay. Then I searched the web and found the company's site and discovered that the two weights were being sold well under the recommended price: about $43.00 between the two of them when accounting for the exchange rate. It was severely tempting, but I did not bid on them before the auctions ended. I did, however, write to the manufacturer and asked them if they would be willing to sell wholesale to me even though I don't have a brick and mortar business and would sell solely via auction. I'm hoping they will, because they have some of the most beautiful stuff.

I had formerly asked the same question of Glass Eye Studios, and I received a very kindly worded "no" in reply. I suppose if I were more vindictive I could point out the dealers who are flouting GES's "No ebay" rules, but I'd rather not do so. The man who responded did say that if I ever opened a brick and mortar and the geographical area was not saturated that they'd be glad to deal with me. Recently I've been thinking of opening a store here and selling glass items from as many different sources as I can (most stores seem to represent only one or two manufacturers; I don't know if this is a Microsoft-like deal of "you can only sell our stuff" or if it's simply because most stores I've seen have done paperweights on the side or been run by the manufacturer). The thought of how much time would have to be spent on paperwork and such is keeping me from thinking of it on more than a "it might be nice" basis.

Comments

[turnberryknkn.livejournal.com]

I think it would be really neat if you did the hospital kitty thing. The patients would appreciate it very much. :-)

And dratted cute rays. :-)

[wolfaura.livejournal.com]

Definetly a good idea to start dealing with breeders now if you have any intention of wanting one within even a year. If you're looking for dog shows in your area (good place to meet breeders and drool over pretty dogs :>) I'd suggest www.infodog.com. You can find dates and locations, and usually how many of the breed you're interested in will be there and what time they're shown. That last is really important I've found out. :)

[tyee.livejournal.com]

So if you would be looking for a calm, low key dog to do therapy work with, wouldn't you want a therapy cat to be equally tempermented? Seems like Gail could wreak a lot of havoc running around in a hospital. Also, wasn't Gail cowering and terrified when you got to the new apartment? Perhaps traveling around to a lot of new places is not in her best interest.

I think the therapy dog idea is a wonderful plan, but I fear that your kitties would be pretty unhappy as therapy animals.

[willowisp.livejournal.com]

So if you would be looking for a calm, low key dog to do therapy work with, wouldn't you want a therapy cat to be equally tempermented?

Perhaps I should have qualified that with "for an Aussie". Someday I'll introduce you to my Uncle's blue merle, Jazper, and you will understand. Also, in the example of what I might get from a pound, an agility dog would not have the temperment to do visiting; the only reason Jaz doesn't make an excellent agility dog is that he doesn't have the attention span. I was more making a point that I don't want to get the wrong kind of Aussie, so I'm looking at breeders.

Seems like Gail could wreak a lot of havoc running around in a hospital.

I'm not sure if kitties get the same type of leads which visiting dogs do, but I imagine she would at least be in her harness and leash setup. And even though she was hyper from the moment we got her home (at least when the sedation wore off), there were those people who said she did an excellent job when she was borrowed from the pound to make rounds.

Also, wasn't Gail cowering and terrified when you got to the new apartment?

Yes. And she had also, in less than a week, suddenly had all of her familiar surroundings removed, spent two very long and a short day in a car, and slept in four different places in as many nights. Also, the movers were making a lot of noise since they were moving furniture, and they weren't interested in petting her by any stretch of the imagination. To be honest, I probably would have been cowering with her if I hadn't ended up running errands.

Perhaps traveling around to a lot of new places is not in her best interest. I think the therapy dog idea is a wonderful plan, but I fear that your kitties would be pretty unhappy as therapy animals.

I've gotten a lot of positive responses from people who've met Gail. I figure I'll at least get her evaluated for it, and if she ends up not doing well (or she doesn't like the actual visiting), I don't think it will cause permanent damage. And if it does work out, she gets lots of affection, the visited people get an affection slut, and I get practice for when I have to train the dogs.