New addition to our family - meet Shiner

After much discussion and heated battles, Jeff and I have adopted a new puppy. Jeff wanted a larger pure bred dog with papers and one that you pay an ass load of money for. I really wanted Jeff to have his own dog, but the stipulation was that he could only adopt a pure bred from a rescue or shelter. I am not a fan of those back yard breeders, horrible!

Jeff looked high and low in the Houston Chronicle and Craigslist and found a posting for a Rottweiler puppy - God help us. Having been bitten by a Rottweiler when I was a teenager, it made me a bit leery of the breed, but I thought we could give it a chance. We sent an email to the gentleman's posting and did not get a response. We sent emails to various other postings, one for a lab, a doberman, and a German shepherd, but they were either asking ridiculous amounts of money or did not reply back.

Roger contacted us a couple of days later regarding this skinny Rottweiler puppy he found on the northside of Houston and invited us to come a take a look. I told Jeff that I wasn't sure about a puppy as we would have to train him not to chew on our brand new beautiful furniture or piss all over our brand new carpet and hard wood flooring. But, he wanted to look anyway and I said ok. We drove up to the north side of Houston to Roger's home and met Max. He was pretty skinny, but had tons of energy. Jeff fell in love immediately. I, of course, wanted to bring Skinny along to meet her new future sibling. She did not warm to him at all, but she doesn't really warm to any other dogs.

Max was too cute and looked like he really needed a forever home. Roger explained to us that his co-worker found him on the side of the road and almost hit him. The co-worker brought him to Roger and asked him to find a home for him. Roger said he would have taken him but he travels a lot for his work and could not take on the responsibility.

After playing with Max for a while, Jeff and I looked at one another and he gave me the "can we please take him home" look and I said ok. We told Roger that if he did not have any other takers then we would like to make him a part of our family. Roger said we seemed like a nice enough couple and agreed to us taking the little guy home. Roger had already purchased some food, a crate, and toys for Max and he let us take those as well.

We loaded Max and Skinny into the car and headed home. Jeff and I agreed that Max was too common a dog name and we decided to call him something else, but what? On the drive home we blurted out every name that came to mind, but nothing sounded right. We were just about home and passed a billboard for Shiner Bock Beer. I said "how about Shiner?" and Jeff said that sounded perfect. So Shiner it was!

We got home and Max/Shiner walked into the house slowly and cautiously. Poor little guy, he had been through so many changes that it is a wonder that he even trusted us at all. He sniffed around the house and Skinny immediately set her boundaries by growling at him and showing her teeth. He wanted to play and Skinny being almost 17, she is pretty much played out. We put his bed together and laid him down for the night. He cried for a little while and then fell asleep for a few hours. He woke us him in the early morning and we let him out to do his business.

I was able to get him an appointment with my vet the next morning. Dr. Brown gave him a good check up and said that he had an infection in his ears, intestinal worms, and was underweight. He guessed his age to be around four months and gave us some medicine to help with the worms and his ears.

He has made himself quite at home this past week we have had him. He wakes up once or twice at night to pee and/or poop. He loves to chew on everything, so we have an abundance of toys for him and he has taken over Skinny's toys too. We are feeding him expensive Science Diet food to balance out his little system and put weight on him. He does pee in his bed and on our floors too, but we are working with him. We do not know what his first months of life were, but we can guess that he probably was not loved on a lot as he had a hard time letting us pet his head. He is getting better about it, but we think he was more rough housed than loved. His affections are coming out slowly.

Skinny does not like him and really tries to stay in her corner. He had crossed the line a couple of times and Skinny has had to remind him that he was too close. Judging from his size now, he is going to be pretty big. As he will be a larger dog, we really want to take him to Man's Best Friend for some obedience and attack on command training. Jeff's friend had had great success with this training and we want to give it a shot.

We made the right decision by bringing little Shiner into our lives. Jeff and I will make him a loving member of our family and Skinny will get used to him too. I am glad that we adopted him and did not go through a breeder!

Skinny and me - how things came to be

My name is TJ, Tracy Jane. I live in Texas and I own a three legged dog named Skinny, or rather, I am owned by my three legged dog. Skinny is a terrier mix combined with love and a heart bigger than any humans. Skinny is a Colorado dog whose life started out with uncertainty and abuse.

My father lived in Colorado some years ago. He was sitting on his front porch when he saw a large black car pull off the side of the road. He saw a man's black boot literally kick a small black dog out of the driver's side door. My dad saw the dog run around the neighborhood for several days, but was able to coax the little dog over to the front porch. He found the black dog to be no more than a puppy, very thin with bones sticking through. He would try to pet her head and she would squat down and pee and cower. He immediately knew that he needed to help this little dog. He had two other dogs at the time in his back yard and figured what would it hurt taking in a third as clearly she needed a good home. She took well to the other two dogs, but was still very skiddish around new people and still peed. She got the hang of my dad's routine and lived with him for a long time.

My dad moved to several different states until finally settling down on about 30 acres in central Texas. I was glad to have my dad back in the same state with me. He brought his three dogs with him and adopted several more as he made the 30 acres his new home. After it was all said and done, my father took in around 20 dogs, mostly throwaways and the ones that the area farmers and hunters couldn't make into good working dogs.

I have been indoctrinated into a dog-loving family. We have always had dogs which have always been the most pathetic or abused we could find. My father has a knack for bringing the best out of the ones who suffered the most. I can't remember ever buying a purebred dog from a breeder or a pet store. We have always believed that finding one that needs a good home is better than shelling out thousands of dollars for a pedigree.

As the dogs came to live with my dad on his land, the older Skinny got. She became an elderly dog and would hide in the corner of my dad's home to escape the menagerie. I would visit my dad and find Skinny in the corner trying to avoid the other dogs. I could tell that life for her would be better if she were by herself. I was living alone at the time and tossed the idea around of getting a dog. I have always kept up with area shelters' websites and inquired on several occasions about a couple of dogs that I saw. My father heard that I was looking for a dog and suggested that I take Skinny. He said that she really liked curling up on her bed, "nesty", and just laying at his feet. He said that she seemed to be getting a little tired of the other dogs and thought she would make a wonderful apartment dog and companion for me.

After giving it much thought, I decided to bring Skinny home with me and I could not have made a better decision. We fell into a perfect routine of Mommy and dog. She loved to chase her red ball, the neighbors' cats, and neighborhood squirrels. My apartment had a large open field next to it where she could run and play. I could tell that she was so much happier with me than with all the other dogs.

After a few months of living with me I noticed that she was limping and holding her left front leg as she walked. The limp became increasingly worse and I began to worry that it might get serious. I took her to the vet and after several tests and they found cancer in her leg bone. I was devastated and asked what the best course of action would be. They suggested the we try chemotherapy first or just amputate the leg as the cancer had not spread to other parts of her body. After much consideration, I decided to have Skinny's leg amputated after researching the lives of dogs with three legs. I found that dogs with three legs, or sometimes even two, can lead wonderful and happy lives.

I took Skinny in for her surgery and almost did not go through with it as she looked up at me with her sad eyes like I was about to punish her. I could never lay a hand on my sweet girl, but I knew it was the best thing. She was in surgery most of the day and the vet said that I could go in later that night and see her. I got off work a little early and they took me back to where she was resting. She was lying down with a big pink bandage wrapped around her body. I immediately starting crying. Skinny tried to get up to come over to me but was having difficulty with on less leg and being groggy from the medicine. I loved on her for a long time until the vet techs told me that I needed to leave because they needed to check her incision and needed to give her more meds. They said I would be able to pick her up in a couple of days.

I went back to the vet the next night and she seemed to be doing a little better and I could tell she was happy to see me. The next day I went back and they had her wrapped tightly and I had trouble picking her up without disturbing the incision. We got home and she went to sleep and slept most of the night. I got her up the next morning and took her outside to do her business. She still could not stand up, but I was able to prop her up so she could go. I took her back inside and over the next day or so she started getting up on her own and walking around a bit. She chased her red ball while I tossed it once or twice for her and she was able to retrieve it, though slowly. Over the next few days she really improved tremendously. I gave her the pain medication and she slept a lot. The true test was getting up and down the stairs. I lived in an upstairs apartment with two sets of stairs. She was scared to go up the stairs that she could through to the ground below, but I had another set of stairs inside the garage that was carpeted and she was able to get up and down just fine. She still loved to chase her red ball, but she really liked nothing more than laying at my feet. Her lost leg never phased her.

She is up in years now and moves slowly and is getting more gray in her face. My new vet says she is around 16 now. As I don't know her true age or her birthday, I just celebrate ours together on my birthday which is March 8. I know that she will not be with me forever and that breaks my heart. I love her as much as I can and I hope that she knows how much she means to me. I don't know what I would do if I did not have this wonderful creature in my life. There is nothing like coming home to my tiny apartment to the sound of a wagging tail, happy barks, and slurpy wet kisses. I will give my sweet girl as much love and attention as I have. If I could have one wish in this world, I would wish that my dog could talk.

A colleague of mine recently said that they were looking for a dog for their family. They said that they were looking for a dog that did not shed, did not bark, was small and didn't require a lot of upkeep. What a terrible thing this was. Having a dog is like having a child, I assume as I have no children. Dogs, like children, are expensive, require a lot of attention, are messy, and can make a lot of noise and commotion. I wanted to slap this person and say "A dog is not for you Dumbass!" If one expects to have a dog that sits around all day looking pretty, then they do not need a dog. Having a dog is a full time responsibility and can be quite expensive. I would gladly shell out thousands of dollars again on my Skinny because she is everything to me, not my pet. She is my family and I will do anything to protect her and make her feel safe and happy. And yes, she barks, requires special expensive dog food, and gets stinky from time to time. I am committed to her 100%. You cannot put a price tag on unconditional love.

Well, that's a little about me and my beautiful Skinny girl. More to come!