Well, Husband and I are expecting-a new puppy! Husband decided it had been too long (7 years) since we had a terrier in our home, and it was time for another. He did the AKC “What is the best dog for me” quiz, which told him it was an Airdale. Well, we are just too old for an Airdale, and he looked at photos of various terriers and fell immediately in love with the Cesky Terrier, a recognized Czech breed bred for eradicating vermin, originally developed from crossing a Scottie with a Sealyham.
I contacted three breeders who are members of the American Cesky Terrier Fanciers Association, and found one in Oklahoma who has eight puppies who will be ready in early May. All these people are responsible breeders who show their dogs and are very particular who their puppies go to. I have to complete a very detailed application, and we will have phone conversations so they feel we are the right people for their pup. May is a good time for us, as we will have travels over and can devote time to puppy training all summer. It is also good at this point in our lives with Husband’s part-time work schedule.
Getting a puppy is pretty similar to having a new baby in the house. I will expect to be exhausted in May. I think our cat will be very disgusted. It is fortunate that the Cesky Terrier is a very short dog who can’t jump very high.
What are your experiences with new puppies, kittens, or newborn humans? What are your experiences with adoption? Any advice how to integrate a cat and a terrier puppy in the same home?
Trail Baboon 
We’ve only had three cats over the years. A single and later, a brother and sisters. Kittenhood was a delight with all three, except brother Calvin loved to beat up on runt-of-the-litter Patty from Day 1. But she held her own better as a kitten than she did when they were adults. I wish we could get another cat but wife is allergic. We checked into the hypo-allergenic breeds but ultimately said no (Cost was part of it).
Chris in Owatonna
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Husband is allergic to cats, but puts up with the constant drippings and sneezing because he couldn’t be without a cat. He even got allergy shots many years ago.
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MY wife was like that for years but finally got tired of the pills and inhalers and coughing. She actually found that getting scratched by one of the cats gave her a bit of short-term protection from allergies (after the welt healed, I guess. But only for a day or two.
Chris
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If our puppy is a boy, we will name him Havel.
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We did have a part Siamese cat who we allowed to have one litter of two when we lived in S. Mpls (’85-89). The one we kept we called Snowball, but he darkened as he grew and he ended up being Slushball. When we moved to Robbinsdale, after Joel “wore us down”, we decided to get another kitten – I remember picking it up from an upstairs apartment over in Kenwood neighborhood. Joel named him Charlie, after the best friend he’d had to leave behind in S. Mpls. Slush thought he was the mom of this new kitten, until Charlie got bigger than he was, and then they sort of tolerated each other – I’d expected them to be best buds. Huh.
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Kameli has a very maternal nature, and used to “call the babies” whenever she played with fur mice. So, after Twyla died we adopted a 5-mo-old boy kitten (the foster organizations don’t seem to place animals before that age, probably so they can be neutered beforehand), thinking she’d mother the dickens out of him. Instead, she hated him on sight and even attacked him! It took her weeks to warm up to him. She stopped calling the babies after he arrived. Once she was playing and started to call, then stopped herself abruptly, as if she was thinking, “Look what happened when I used to call for kittens, the huge galoot showed up. Who knows what I’d get if I did it again?!!”
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When I adopted Isabel as a kitten, my older cat, Franny, would have nothing to do with her. After Franny died, Isabel was still only a little over a year old, so I thought she might enjoy having young playmates. I adopted two 4-month old kittens. Isabel simply despised them both. She did, however, grudgingly warm up to Sammy, who came into the house as an adult.
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I was adopted, and it was definitely a good deal for me (hopefully it was for my parents too!). All of our cats have been adopted, except for Saoirse who was a stray, and all of them were 5 months old or older when we got them, so I haven’t had the experience of raising baby kittens. However, the cats my roommate had when we moved in together were ones she’d raised from young kittenhood. Each time we’ve introduced a new young cat there’s been much hissing and drama, but they’ve adapted within a couple of weeks. Except, that is, for Twyla, who I had when we moved here–she considered herself an Alpha female and made a fair attempt at murdering poor shy Kameli, so we got an extra-tall pet gate and kept Twyla separate from the others in my bedroom (she didn’t jump the gate, and no one else did more than twice). This went on for, IIRC, four or five years, until she suddenly decided she was tired of being alone and stopped trying to attack the other cats when they came up to the gate to tease her. Eventually we were able to take the gate down, and when Hana came Twyla even let her sleep on her bed. The lesson, I guess, is that no situation is utterly hopeless, at least with animals, but it can be a long tough haul getting to the point of change.
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I’ve had two cats and two dogs. I’m more of a dog person now and it’s not likely I would consider a cat again. Mariah was my last cat and she never stopped trying to kill me. My first cat, Blue, decided to stay with my former partner years back when I left. He was happy there, Morgan loved him, and I didn’t want to move him away from such a good home. So he stayed and I left. I got Mariah a few years later when I had a house of my own. She was rescued at four weeks old – a tiny screaming kitten in a huge box. She would nurse on my t-shirt. As she grew older, her vicious streak became apparent. She would lie in wait behind a corner in the house and when I came around the corner she’d sail out at me with claws and teeth bared, delivering painful wounds to my ankles. Then she dive behind the furniture, tail twitching and eyes filled with wrath. She didn’t want cuddles anymore and usually stared at me with hateful yellow eyes. She was an indoor cat because I didn’t want dead birds on my conscience. I think she preferred it that way because she was even afraid to go out on the deck. Then I got Bailey.
Bailey was a Cavalier King Charles spaniel. He was such a mama’s boy and had the typical sweet, loving Cavalier personality. I adored him. He had the mitral valve defect common in Cavaliers due to excessive breeding. He was gone by the time he was six and I still grieve. I began dogsitting for my friend when Bailey was young. Misty would come to my house to stay and play with Bailey. Mariah was still alive then and still lived in the house, but had become increasingly feral and insane. She didn’t take kindly to having a puppy come live with us and capture my heart the way Bailey did. Then when I started adding Misty, she just couldn’t tolerate it. She hid most of the time. I had to cut a hole in the bottom corner of a door in the basement so that she had a room to herself with her litter box, a bed and food and water. The hole was small enough that she could scoot through but the dogs couldn’t get in there. It was one benefit of having a large house.
After both Mariah and Bailey died, I couldn’t stand being without a dog. I didn’t want another Cavalier. Bailey had cost me a lot of money in vet bills and I was heartbroken about losing him. So I considered a mixed breed and ended up with Pippin. Pippin was a rescue and was four months old when I got him. He had a number of parasites from the conditions he’d been rescued from. He needed quite a bit of veterinary care to start with but he’s been a sturdy, playful, and mostly healthy dog up until the past several months. He’s over 12 now and has started to develop some issues. He had surgery for bladder stones in January 2019 and has been on a special diet ever since. It was going well until the past several months when he began having bouts of colitis and incontinence in the middle of the night. His vet and I are trying different things. His bloodwork shows an elevated liver enzyme and the vet is trying to rule out Cushings disease, pancreatitis, and irritable bowel. We’re going to try a new special diet within a week and see what happens. He’s been my little buddy for over 12 years now and I’m grateful that I’ve had him.
If it wasn’t for pets, I would be alone. They’re family to me, even though their time on this earth is so short. I wouldn’t be without a pet of some kind.
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My sister got a brand new King Charles puppy last year. After 35 years as a teacher, she fancied herself as quite the dog whisperer and master trainer. The dog is definitely the alpha…
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Rise and Shine Baboons,
I am eagerly anticipating the puppy stories. Containing and managing puppy chewing is one of the biggest challenges out there, after the puppy adjusts to being without littermates and Doggie Momma. Our last puppy, Lucky, took to licking my antique wagon box because she liked the taste of a wagon train, I guess. It is painted with milk paint, then coated with the dust of the trail from 1807-1860, when it was part of the family covered wagon. Lucky licked a patch about 1 1/2 inches wide and created a blister on her nose by doing so. During her lifetime I kept the box wrapped in plastic so she could not inflict more damage.
We also may be getting a puppy or a corgi rescue when we return to Minnesota. Our dog, Bootsy is aging. We got her as a rescue dog in 2011 when she was a young dog who had already had a litter of puppies in a dog hoarder house. So we have had our little dear for 11 years. She was a very traumatized dog when we got her. She had terrible nightmares in which she would scream and yelp. Thankfully, that has stopped and I was able to use my people trauma treatment techniques to treat her as well. Last September (2019) she was mauled by the neighbor’s visiting dog, and I was concerned her trauma behaviors would return, but they did not and she healed beautifully. Bootsty stood between my husband and serious depression during the pandemic isolation last winter, so I think as we age, we cannot afford to be without a dog. I will either find another rescue Corgi or get a puppy this summer while Bootsy is still with us to help socialize the new dog. I have found an active Corgi rescue community, so I am hoping for another young adult dog to join us.
I am also an adoptive (human) parent. It has been a wonderful experience.
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Puppy proofing the house is our next chore. Terriers are so good at testing limits and making their own fun. I need to focus especially on securing electrical cords.
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Is your son adopted, Jacque?
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Yes, indeed.
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I know the ethical thing would be to get a rescue, but our cats have all been rescues, so I guess we aren’t entirely shameful hedonists.
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The list of things we can chose to feel guilty about is long. Very long. I’d wager that there isn’t one among us that isn’t making choices that someone else scoffs at. Relax and enjoy your anticipation and preparation for your new puppy. I hope this is a happy adventure for everyone, including your cat.
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Mom always said, “Having a dog is like having another kid.” My sister got my four-footed brother for my mom’s 40th birthday. It was certainly a ~special~ occasion. One of my brothers had his wisdom teeth cut out that week, I put a baseball through the front picture window, and my sister got us a dog. It was not a great week for her. My sister justified getting him with mom’s birthday but she really got him for me (I was 9, going on 10). He was a purebred English Springer Spaniel, black and white, the runt of the litter. But he was smart, personable, friendly, and had a mischievous streak a mile wide. Even as a little puppy, he would steal mom’s clothespins from the ice cream bucket in the backyard and howl with laughter as she chased him around and couldn’t catch him.
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Our Bernie, a mini dachshund, was a four year old rescue when we got him. He had been used as a stud, and was not properly socialized as a puppy. He’s still not comfortable around other dogs. He does NOT enjoy the dog park. He and Martha, our muted tortie, get along fine, probably because neither of them pay undue attention to the other. It is obvious, however, that they are very much aware of each other. Bernie will go out of his way rather than pass within too close a range of Martha; she, on the other hand, is likely to take a good-natured swipe at him if he accidentally crosses her path. She’s the boss, no doubt about that. Bernie is all bark and no bite, but essentially they coexist pretty peacefully.
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Most of the animals that I have had in my adult life have been rescues even my last Irish Setter and lady Samoyed came from Irish Setter and Samoyed rescue organizations. So that means I’ve adopted a lot of adult animals and that’s worked out quite well. Nimue, my little terrorist tabby, was rescued as a kitten and has led me to realize that I don’t ever want another kitten in my life. Puppies have a lot of energy but it’s all on the ground kittens can get everywhere.
And I am also an adoptive people parent. YA is my treasure.
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I’m wondering about “lady Samoyed” – voice recognition? Thorin was a boy, no?
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Should have been “last”. Correct— voice recognition at its best.
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The cat will survive I promise. It will be a learning curve but cats adjust. I have a service dog in training, a rescue dog from the shelter, a horse rescue, a donkey rescue, and 6 barn cats! Training is the most difficult part. My SDIT (Tallulah) is turning a year old in 2 1/2 months. It’s been a long journey towards getting her certified to help me and it’s been hours upon hours of work. Buy loads of treats in advance and a gentle leader for sure ❤️ prepare to work hard!
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