New here, wanted to say hello!

Hello everybody! :)

I just want to say, I have been "lurking" here for about a month and I love reading what everybody has to say. I think this is such a wonderful board and has so many people who think the world of their pets. Y'all are so great!

I am hoping that I will be able to join in the fun soon as well. My fiance and I are looking into adopting two dogs in November. We haven't started hitting the SPCA and Humane Society yet. I have a certification test for work that I have to take at the beginning of Nov., so once that is over, I can concentrate on giving my attention to pets instead of studying. I think he doesn't want to go look yet cause he knows I'll be tempted to take a pup home on the spot and honestly, he has a hard time telling me no. :D :cool: :D

I have a question to ask. He just started a new job with a big university where we are and they offer free pet-sitting as a perk of the job. It's a doggie daycare basically. Have any of you every used a "doggie daycare" before? Good experiences or bad?

Happy Friday and Have a great day!!!!:cool: :cool: :cool:

I wish we had doggy daycare here, but no such luck...and with 15 dogs it would probably be cost prohibitive anyway.

My nephew lives in Charlottesville and got both his bachelors and masters from UVA.

Anyway, welcome aboard and we hope to hear from you a lot more. You don't need to HAVE dogs to post, just LOVE dogs.

Let us know what you decide to look at too. Thanks for wanting to rescue them. All 15 of ours are rescues.

Howdy! This place is pretty fun :) I gotta ask, how did you come up with "Sevens"? hehe, sorry but Garth Brooks has his album named that... LOL I have all of his CD's and that's all I can think of after seeing your name.. - Rachel

Welcome, you will like it here. So glad you are considering rescues. There's nothing like the love of a rescue!!! :D

My nickname has nothing to do with country music..*grin*. My birthday is actually 7/7/77....so, when my fiance was going to give me an account on his server, the birthday was the first thing that came to his mind.

Actually, I really, really prefer mutts from the SPCA. I have had a few mutts we adopted from there when I was growing up and I can't think of a better place to get a dog. :)

I really completely formed my decision about getting shelter dogs after my last dog, her name was Muffin. She was a lab/sheperd mix who passed away (2/15/98). We got her from the Norfolk, VA SPCA. She was the best dog I've ever had. Also, I recently bought a wonderful book called "The Adoption Option". I forget the name of the author, but she has been training dogs for a long time and the whole book was about adopting and training shelter dogs. Very nice to have a book about shelter dogs instead of people writing books saying only purebred dogs are worth getting.

Welcome sevens! '77 was a good year! I guess that would make you 25 years old!:D Hope you like it here. I have never used a doggie day care but as a free perk I would sure ckeck it out!!!

Welcome sevens! I hope you enjoy it here. I sure do ,there are a lot of nice people here! A HUGE hooray for you adopting good ol' fashioned mutts! I love when people save lives!!! All my dogs were saved from death row at local shelters (one actaully was saved in New Mexico when we were on vacation there a few years ago!)! I have never had my dogs in daycare only cause i do not have the need, they come to work with me. But I do know people who own a couple daycares and also friends who bring their pets to them they have nothing but good things to say!! It must be nice to have a company offer that!! It is great that dogs are getting more & more reconized.

Hi, Sevens, and welcome to pet talk. I hope you find the bestest two dogs ever, and we can't wait to see pics. of them!!!

Regarding doggie day care...since I only work on a temporary (basically per diem) basis, I don't feel that it is fair to my dog to suddenly leave him for 8-10 hours by himself when he is used to my being around all the time. As he grows older (he's only 4.5 months old now) I think we will gradually stretch the amount of time he's by himself, but for now we take him to doggie day care. It is so great just having peace of mind that he is OK, supervised, fed, played with, and sometimes even groomed. They have supervised playtime, exercise in the afternoon, and anything special that needs taking care of (meds. etc.) is all taken care of. The fee is really reasonable at $10/day, and like I said having peace of mind is so worth it. Without it, I think I would sit @ work & just worry. What is eating now? Is he barking?? Is he anxious?? Ad infinitum...If you have any doubts about the place when you check it out, ask for references. Is the place clean? Do the other dogs look happy & healthy??

There, I'm rambling again...:D Good luck finding your puppies!

Bonjour, Sevens!! You will fit right in to PT!! Here at Pet Talk we are all one big family. I have never heard of a doggie day care. It's weird. That's great that his company/building thing has one, though. One problem, wouldn't some of the dogs fight? I know my dog would attack other dogs if she was let loose around them, but she's always good at the vet's.:D

Sorry, I'm editing all of my posts...

Welcome Sevens!!!
You will love it here!! That is really cool that your birthday is that!!
I wish you luck on your test and picking out your dog. My first heart dog (Shaianne, crossed over to the bridge one year ago today, 9-13-01) was a greyhound that I got from the local Humane Soc. After she died, I had issues with getting another dog from a shelter or taking the puppy that a friend offered me. (purebred golden retriever) I sometimes wonder if I should have waited and maybe saved my resources and rescued a pet from NY. But I decided to take the golden puppy and she is a joy to my heart. ORNERY but a joy :);) I felt guilty about not getting a dog from a shelter and for getting a purebred. I never thought I would have a purebred and I have had 2 now. I talked at legnth with Pettalk's own resident "shelter angel" Aly, about what I should do and if I should feel guilty and she said that I am saving this puppy from potentially going to a shelter or being an outside dog. And she is right. I can't imagine Keegan going to another home. She is where she belongs. If I could I would save them all, but I only have so much room!! ;) he he
We look forward to hearing more about you and learning about your decision!!!
WELCOME!!

Hello and Welcome!!http://www.plauder-smilies.de/wavey.gif I'm sure you will really like it here. Good luck with picking out your new doggies in November:D

Sevens, Welcome to Pet Talk. Im sure we don`t have Doggie Day Care places at all over here in the UK (I am sure some other Brit will correct me if Im wrong. lol) and I think it is a great pity because it is such a great idea! It will be perfect for you when you get your dogs. And I look forward to reading all about them and seeing the pics when you do. :) :)

I think a daycare would be awesome, not that I would necessarily need one now, but when my babies were younger it would have been great:) I would check it out, and get references too.
Hope to hear more from you.
And good luck finding your soul mate!

Welcome Sevens! :) Mugsy is right, you don't have to HAVE dogs to post here! :D I hope to see your posts more often! Good luck on getting your dogs! Remember--we MUST have pics! :)

You all REALLY know how to make people feel guilty. I *always* feel guilty about where I got Nebo. But it doesn't make me love him any less, even if he is a problem child. ;) I will adopt a shelter dog next time.....but for now, I have Nebo, and there's nothing I am going to do about that lol.

Don't feel guilty about where you got Nebo. The way I see it is, you saved Nebo from ever having a rotten home...from ever being beaten and starved, or left to run the streets. He is secure & happy and that is what the goal is, isn't it??

Before we got Malone we tried to adopt a dog that was on death row. Charlie was beautiful & we had him for 3 days. I loved him so much, and when I had to give him up I cried like a baby, because in 3 short days I was attached. However, he was very unpredictable (we suspected prior abuse), and being new at this dog owner thing, we weren't able to handle it. For example, he would be all waggly and happy when you were petting, and then all of a sudden out of nowhere he would growl & bite (no warning!). I love dogs, but I just can't handle when they get aggressive like that. I would get all scared of him, and after that happened 2 or 3 times I couldn't get close to him. He wanted to be hugged all the time, but I just couldn't. So, Mark decided that we really wanted a puppy that wouldn't have aggressiveness already built in. When we were looking, the humane societies around here were EMPTY! The small ones around here had 1-2 dogs, and we drove 5 hours to a big one in Mass. but they only had 1. After driving all that way I was sooo disappointed. So that's when we looked in the paper and found Malone! End of story, and I'll shut up now! :)

Welcome to PT, I am sure you will love it here!

We use a Doggy Day care about 2-4 times/month. It is at the place where we train our dogs. They have three outdoor, and one indoor area for the dogs and allow them to play most of the day. They have two 45 min naps times to keep the dogs from getting overheated and overexcited. During these times the dogs are crated and giving snacks. otherwise, they are free to play (unless they get into a fight, then they are put in time out for 15 min) They make sure they dayschool is staffed, at least 1 human per 10 dogs, and they will turn people away if they don't have that to ensure the safety of the dogs. They also enforce basic commands, and if they know the dogs are in classes, will enforce a few more commands with those dogs. Our girls love it and can't wait to go.