This is Jasper. He is coming to live with us very soon.
Jasper won't actually be all that small. He is a Portuguese Water Dog, which means he will end up being 55-60 lbs. when he is full-grown.
Which still makes him smaller---not to mention cuter and arguably much more manageable---than a husband... ;-)
24 comments:
Jasper is adorable, what I can see of him. He's so dark. I guess he's too young to leave his mommy yet.
Yep, Mimi---h's only 6 weeks old now. Two more weeks, andI re-enter the world of midnight crying, cleaning up poop and pee, and wondering why in the name of Sam Hill I willingly entered into parenthood again. ;-)
Clearly, my sojourn on the beach hasn't done anything for my spelling and typing skills...
Jasper is so cute! I at first thought he was a cockapoo. I don't know what a Portuguese Water Dog looks like, so I hope you'll post pictures as he grows. When will he come and live with you?
What a cutie! I AM jealous!
Waaaaay cuter than a husband! And way easier to manage!
What exactly IS "Portuguese Water"?
And I'm glad you're back!
Jan---I actually had cockapoos for 16 years. My two (littermates) passed on in 2002, and I had to get rid of the spouse before I could get another dog.
FTR, men who don't like dogs are no longer considered "nice," no matter what their other qualities might be...
We'll pick Jasper up on July 22nd. If you want to see pictures of grown ones, just go to Google Images. But I will certainly post pictures--especially since the Little Princess (my daughter) is still in her I-hate-the-camera-and I-will-NOT-allow-you-to-photograph-me phase, I need SOMETHING to train my camera on! ;-)
Padre Mickey--"Portuguese water" is water from Portugal, silly! ;-)
(PWDs are noted for being highly intelligent, excellent with children, and--not insignificantly--for their hypoallergenic qualities and the fact that they hardly shed at all.)
Oh, I love it. My Mom had one when I was growing up, loved us all to death. Congrats on the new addition to your family.
Very, very cute. I'd say easier than a husband and more fun than those internal black dogs. Have fun!
Awwwwww!
May your Jasper Portuguese Water Dog be a fun, energetic, sweet and loving as mine was. He just passed away in April after a short battle with cancer. Would love to hear how he does when you bring him home!
So So So Cuuuuuuuuute!
Everybody in our neighborhood seems to have Portuguese water dogs - must be the latest!
I really don't envy the poo & pee at 3 AM, but it's worth it in the long run. Congrats sweetie!
No substitute for a dog for companionship. Congratulations. Your first, or the latest in a line?
Had not realized - or maybe I had forgotten, probably the latter - that your Ma lives in the UK. I gather that she's right about churchgoing over there.
Further to my last post, I notice from your blog and from the photograph, that you're getting a "little boy dog". I was brought up in the "no bitches, they're too much trouble" school. Twenty-odd years back, when I was getting my first South Carolina dog, I discussed it with a co-worker who showed dogs and judged AKC events, mentioning the "no bitches" rule. "Oh", says she, "you'll enjoy a bitch far more - they're much sneakier". I took her advice. She was right. Today I have three "lady dogs".
ps. My father, who instilled the "no bitches" rule, was born over a century ago and was, in some ways, unreconstructed. His other piece of advice on selecting dogs, which I still follow, was "always remember, when choosing a dog, that dogs are not like women - it costs no more to keep a good-looking one than to keep an ugly one".
G'nite!
LB---as a feminist, I resent the implication that I would EVER have a "no bitches" rule!! For 16 years, I had one of each---brother and sister littermates. I loved them both.
FTR, the reason I chose a male was no more complicated than that I liked the name "Jasper" and thought it fit a male better than a female. That's not a very good reason, I grant you---but it's no worse than any other, I suspect. Much like the reason I named this blog such an odd thing---it came to me in a dream. I am learning to trust my intuition---something I have not done very well in the past, and lived to regret.
(I will also note that AFTER I had already requested a male, a PWD owner with whom I spent some time told me that the males of the breed tend to be more affectionate than the females. But PWDLover will have to confirm, as I cannot say from experience...)
Davis---I chose a PWD because, 5 years ago, after my 16-year-old male cockapoo suffered a stroke and had to be put down, my vet's wife (who was a personal friend) suggested that a PWD might be an ideal dog for our family. I've never forgotten that---mostly because I had never even heard of an PWD before.
I actually struggled mightily over whether to go to the pound (my natural inclination). I've never owned a purebred dog before. I argued with myself about whether or not it was immoral to pay big bucks for a purebred.
But it came down to two things---because I have young children, I wanted to know that the pup's parents were gentle souls and good with kids themselves. That concern has been satisfied, because I've met the mother and the breeders before committing.
Second, the shedding thing was HUGE. My son is mildly allergic to cats, and I was concerned that a dog that was a prolific shedder could cause problems for him---and I take adopting a pet as seriously as adopting a child. Once one comes to live with us, it's ours, come hell or high water. Best to try and ensure a good match.
Man, I am KICKING myself this morning! Lapinbizarre throws me the *perfect* line, and I miss it.
So let's try this again....
LB---I'm getting a male dog because one Bitch in the house is enough. ;-)
Mo' bitchin'
Better late than never, love.
(For the benefit of our US readers, older Brits, like myself - and American dog breeders, at least among themselves - still use the word "bitch" to signify what a delicate customer of my father's used to term a "lady dog". Some among us (which former first lady, related to our current president was it who said, of another lady, "rhymes with rich"?) also use it in the other sense.
As a child, I spend some time in a Welsh-speaking village. As the Welsh only have four or so surnames among the lot of them - Williams, Jones, Evans, and maybe a couple of others - they tend to add surname qualifiers, usually related to job/profession (Jones the milk, Jones the fish, Jones the bread), to minimise conversational confusion. To cut what's turning into a long story short, a daughter of the family (English-speaking) with whom I was staying made a comment to her mother about an "unqualified" she-Jones. "Which Jones?", asked the mother. "Jones Bitch", replied the eight-year-old.
They never did explain that one.
So does the name Jasper come from one of my favorite films?
Or from the English schoolboy song (which you may Google) "Oh, Sir Jasper, do not touch me!", sung, I regret to say, to a rather free variant of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic". If, as appears possible, your stepfather is British, it is MOST unlikely that it is not in his repertoire.
I've got doggy envy. I've been wanting a standard poodle for years, but am up to my eyeballs in feline family.
Davis---I'm afraid the movie reference escapes me. Should I know it?
I suspect that "Jasper" came to me because it is a geographical place I associate with beauty, joy, peace, and rest. Not that I expect to get much peace or rest for the foreseeable future---but maybe I'm trying the power of positive thinking? ;-)
I know a very beautiful Jasper in the mountains near a trout stream.
It's so good to have you back! And with a new arrival on my dear Saint Maggie's day; the usual one. This year she got bumped to my b'day, which is yet more wonderful, IMRVHO.
Jasper is clearly your dog; you're all so blessed in this.
oops. oh well. clarity upon request.
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