mugsy

Mugsy,
You have me laughing so hard right now. LuLu and the cat are looking at me. Yes, you are so right on the remote and watch. When I saw that pic it brought out the deepest laugh in me because he is such a little watch and TV remote thief. :D
Oh my, you would go broke buying all of your dogs those gentle leaders. Are you one of those people that cannot say "NO" to a dog? I would love to hear the story behind all 15 of them. Please share!!
Carla

Carla, are you SURE you want the story on ALL of them? lol Geez, I'll be here for days, but here goes.....

1. Sox, our 3 year old Aussie/German Shepard mix, came from a litter of which 4 of 6 died from worms. The house where she was born was soooooo disgusting. When I got her home, I found, what I thought was a tick on her side. It turned out, when I took her to a vet, to be a maggot, which he had to dig out.

2. Tigger, our 3 year old male Pit/Husky mix came (as my Christmas gift, if you ask my husband)when a guy brought him in as an 8 week old pup to where Mike worked at the time,and said, if someone doesn't take this dog, I'm going to take it home and shoot it. Needless to say, he came home, especially when he jumped from the guy's hands to Mike and promptly fell asleep. He was named Charlie when we got him because he had a black cross on his forehead and so they named him after Charles Manson.

3. Jasmine aka Jazzy our Mantle Merle Great Dane who is a 2.5 year old female. My students know that I love dogs and one of my kids came in all excited and told me that they had a Great Dane pup at the kill shelter. Knowing that Mike was raised with Danes and loved them, I called him immediately and he met me at the shelter. Buuuuutttt, when I walked in, I saw this beautiful Red-tri Aussie female in a cage by herself, which of course ended up being #4. Her name is Shawna and is about 3 or 4 years old.

5. George is a 2 year old hound mix that was dumped in our neighbor's backyard. They couldn't keep him because they had a dog aggressive dog at the time.

6. Serenity is our 2 year old Boxer/Pit mix who came from our SPCA and had been there for over a year, because anyone who was interested wanted her to fight. She had had mange while she was there and had to be isolated and developed a severe case of separation anxiety and self mutilated her tail that had to be docked as a result.

7. Billy is a 3 year old Beagle who came from our stupid neighbor who was going to dump him in the woods because he kept getting out and coming down to our house. He also turned out to be blind in one eye and we had to spend $500 to have the eye removed because the guy didn't pay attention and something got into the eye and exploded the lens and caused glaucoma and cataracts.

8. DeeDee is a little Border Collie/Terrier mix who is about 1.5 years old and is female. She and #9 Vonney came from a shelter from a town about an hour from here. I saw her online and it said her time was short, so, up I drove and paid my $50 and took her home that night (they don't do any sort of check...they are morons at that shelter).

9. Vonney is next and is a male Chow mix (maybe with Husky)and is about 2 years old. The guy at the shelter mentioned above, was going to put him down because he was a "2 time loser" because he had been returned twice because he didn't get along with their cats. Now, keep in mind here, that on his description, it said in bold print that he didn't like cats, but these idiots adopted him to homes with cats anyway, and then said they were going to put him down for THEIR stupidity.

10. Dudley is our "train wreck". He came from New York City and is a 10 year old Lab/Shepard mix with demodectic mange and was 46 pounds overweight when we got him (he has lost most of the weight now). He was going to have to be put down because the woman had to move from her house and was not allowed to take him with her to her new apartment. She still calls every couple of weeks to check on how he is doing.

11. Sophie is our 1 year old Lab/Pharoah Hound mix who came from Pet Refuge in Mishawaka. She was found as a stray and had been there for about 6 months when we got her. She is, as our art teacher at school calls her, the "assassin dog" because she's the one who hit me full force in the leg and broke it badly enough that I was in surgery for 3.5 hours and in the hospital for 5 days, and out of school for 2.5 months. She is such a sweetie though. She loves to give kisses.

12. Tobey is our 1 year old white Shepard mix, Mike found running loose in our neighborhood and no one bothered to look for him. He is incredibly strong, but is, most of the time, really sweet.

13. Daisy is our Mantle Great Dane who is now about 10 months old, who was found by a guy running up and down his alley looking in garbage cans for food. He had an ad in the paper, that he had found her. I, of course, being the sucker that I am, called to see if he had found her owner and he said no and that he didn't know what he was going to do because he lived in a one bedroom house and was keeping her in a shed behind the house. I, of course, said, NO WAY, bring her over here if no one claims her in 2 days....obviously, the rest is history.

14. Jessie, is a miniture American Eskimo, who was found by the same neighbor who found George, but now, since her Bandit had died, still couldn't keep her because of her long hair and her husband's allergies. She thought she had found her a home, but the guy threatened to shoot her because she pooped ONCE on the carpet...Hello??? Then, one of my student's mother wanted her and they came and got her and brought her back the next day because she didn't like their dog (like they gave her a chance).

15. Butterscotch is an older (no idea how old)Cocker Spaniel with REALLY nasty teeth that I found at the end of our street running loose with no collar and a buddy who ran away from me and we still haven't found again. He has only been here for 2 weeks since I found him on the Friday before Christmas as I came home from school.

Ok, are you asleep yet? lol Sheesh, I haven't written this much since college and had to write term papers! hehehehe. Sorry if I babbled too long. And in answer to your question (if you haven't figured it out yet) NO! I can't say no to a dog in need.

Thanks for being interested.

Molly

Hi Molly,
Absolutely astounding story you just told there. I am amazed at the size of your heart and I give you many "kudos" to the future and to the other dogs that, I have a stong feeling about, that you will not say no to.
Am I right??? No you were not babbling on and I enjoyed your story to much. Sorry to say but it sounds like you have a bunch of loser neighbors that don't take care of their responsibilities and take care of their dogs. I hope that doesn't sound too harsh but they don't sound like decent dog owners!!
Do all of the dogs get along and do you have a huge yard??
Again, thanks for sharing your wonderful story!
Carla

No, that was not too harsh. We DO have loser neighbors. We have about 1/3 of an acre that is fenced. For the most part, they do get along, but, like siblings, they fight, it's just a matter of yelling at them to knock it off and they stop and everything's fine. Thanks for being interested.

WOW mugsy! What a house full of love. :D

We try. We had a BIG scare this morning with Jessie. She threw up and then started walking like she had been on a 3 day drunk and then fell down. This happened 3 times. I, of course, panicked and called the vet immediately. I got lucky and he was in the office and not out on farm calls and he is of the opinion that she had a seizure of some sort. He really wasn't all that worried because he said that it isn't life threatening. He has an incredible way about him that he can calm me down when I am near hysteria. I can't say enough good about good ol' Dr. B.

Mugsy, Wow! Your stories are amazing! If my house wasn't as small as it is and Andrew wasn't away all the time, we would have more than just Drake. You and your husband have such a big heart. You have saved so many lives. What a great feeling!

Thanks guys, at this point in our lives, it is so good hear the nice compliments. I wouldn't have it any other way. I thought all of you guys knew the stories of how our poochies came to become a Kendall. Jazzy, just jumped up on the couch to lie down and promptly lay down on top of Tigger's food bowl and is NOT a happy camper that that evil bowl is in her way! lol Whenever Mike goes to work, I shut the bedroom door now because we have gone from 8 pillows on the bed a week ago to 1. They have decided it's great fun to rip up the pillows and then throw the stuffing all over the room....talk about a mess!

Mugsy,
Hey Thanks for posting the list of your
pooches again. I'm going to print this off
& keep it handy so I can keep track of who
each one is. One question I've always wanted
to ask you is how do you guys handle
feeding time.In shifts, or all at once?
I only have 6 kitties & 1 dog to feed, and
sometimes it can be hectic. Just wondered
how you handle it? Thanks, Liz.
P.S. Has Mike found anything yet? What field
is he in?

We feed them all at the same time, however, we split them up. Dudley, Sox, Tigger, Jessie, Billy, and Butterscotch eat in the living room (with either Mike or me overseeing). DeeDee eats in the small bathroom, Vonney eats in the big bathroom, Serenity eats in the Tigger room, Tobey eats in our bedroom, George and Sophie eat in the red,white, and blue room, Daisy and Jazzy eat in the kitchen in their elevated bowls. I think that's all of them. lol

Mike has settled for Meijer and National Tube Form (factory job) until he finds something again in the computer field. It's been really rough financially because even with 2 jobs he's not making even close to what he was, but the computer field here in Fort Wayne is awful and it's only going to get worse when the people at Lincoln Financial lose their jobs when the buy out is complete and that equals over 100 computer techs.

Thanks for being interested Liz.

I don't know how you do it but I am definitely jealous! 15 dogs - wow! It must be so fun. You must have a huge house... and a huge heart :)

It is fun most of the time, but as with kids, they can get on your nerves, but I sure would NEVER think of losing any of them. Like I've said before, we won't ever again have a dog that isn't a rescue.

You guys are all really good for my ego.

Molly, I just reread your story, I had never heard the whole story of how you got your brood. It is amazing to me how you know every dog, every name, where they came from, how you got them, that is a huge labor of love for those pups from you and Mike. What a great world this would be if there were more people like you, maybe then all those poor pups would stand a chance at a decent life. I think you are blessed with a wonderful family and I'm hoping all good things will come to you in 2002. Give all those pooches a hug from me.
Jackie

Mugsy,
Please don't thank me because You & Mike
are interesting people. Good, decent, kind
hearted animal lovers!!!My kind of people !!
I'm in Tech Support also, so I'm racking
my brain trying to think of something to
suggest. As you know, Indiana is in a real
slump in employment right now. Does Ft.Wayne
have many computer consulting companies ?
Many city & state depts. hire consultants,
usually thru a temp service. I wish Mike every success in finding something.
Kiss the furkids for me, Liz.

Hey, I didn't realise you took No 15 home, I was still stuck at 14!

I also sort of envy you and Mike, with so many bundles of love around you. I want dogs so badly but I'can the time being (I live in an aprtment, leave the house at 7.30 and I'm very rarely home before 7.30 and I don't know'trust anyone enough to take them out for me during the day). I'm blessed with 3 wonderful rescued cats though :)

I would like to experience feeding time at your house :D

Look Out, Mugsy! Today driving on the freeway, I saw a car with the license plate "MUGS 16". I wonder if that is a prediction! :eek: :eek: :eek:

Thanks for giving us the history of your bunch! And, thanks for giving love to each of those precious critters!

Don't EVEN think about it Pam! lol We are trying to find a home for Butterscotch the Cocker since he needs to be somewhere where he can get more attention.

Liz, Mike has tried just about everything. To top it all off Lincoln Life is laying off their entire IT staff at the end of the month. I do appreciate you trying to think of something...the more brains the better.

Gio, I haven't written much about Butterscotch since we've only had him for a couple of weeks. He is in my webshots page, but all the pictures of him are way too dark. Go look and tell me what you think. The address is at the bottom of the page.

I spent an extented coffee break to look at your albums. You and Mike have a wonderful gang of dogs. It must be really hard work but when you see them all sleeping peacefully all over the place it must melt your heart. It certainly makes me want to hug them all. I must confess, I'm envious!!! Those dogs have certainly found heaven on earth.

Thanks Gio. You're right, it is a lot of work, but you're also right that it's worth it when you watch them sleeping contentedly or cuddling with you or saying, "Come on Mom throw the ball!!!" I hope you didn't get in trouble with the extended coffee break!!! Thanks for the compliments, they really do mean a lot to both Mike and me...he reads the posts too.