[Nibbler]

I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family, we named him Spezza (after a sens hockey player) he is 8 years old according to the shelter and has been in there a long time he is up to date with all his shots, house trainned, has had 8 teeth removed in june. Great with alyson and could careless that the cats are kinda mad that hes here, hes a maltese mix.

How I got spezza was, we went to walk dogs at the spca like usual as its one of my most favorite things to do even thou hubby thinks its a waste of time...And as usual I requested to walk the older dogs as everyone wants to walk a puppy and the first dog we walked today was Spezza......The shelter said they dont no his real name that hes been at this shelter for a few weeks and they named him zack as the other shelter hadnt named him he didn't respond to zack at all.But has been responding to spezza

As we walked him we decided to sit down on a bench and hubby caved said to the dog, do you want to come home with us, and I replied don't tease the dog its not nice. Hubby replied im serious lets bring him home, so we filled out papers and long and behold we have Spezza.

 

[Sasami]

Congrats! He's adorable!

 

[Purple-Hops]

Aw, he's cute! And his fur type could mean he's less prone to causing allergies Hooray!

Congrats on your new friend And bless you for adopting an older dog!! Goodness knows his fate had it been otherwise :/

 

[Nibbler]

hes just soooo perfect, hes completely taken to me fallows me everywhere

 

[FlickeringHope]

Awesome! He'll be Alyson's little guard fluff, lol

 

[Jess]

Awwww, what a cutie pie!! I love little senior doggies. :adore:

 

[Elliriyanna]

Poor pup its about time he got a home

 

[Often]

he didn't respond to zack at all.But has been responding to spezza

I am pretty sure I read somewhere once that two syllable names work better for dogs. The first syllable is "Huh?" and the second is "Oh yeah they mean me" ..or so I figure.
Spezza is a handsome pup, and I am sure he can ..erm.. stick handle.. ;-)

 

[Purple-Hops]

I am pretty sure I read somewhere once that two syllable names work better for dogs. The first syllable is "Huh?" and the second is "Oh yeah they mean me" ..or so I figure.
Spezza is a handsome pup, and I am sure he can ..erm.. stick handle.. ;-)

Often enough it's the intonation you use too. My dog Coco would respond to "t.v" if I used the same intonation as "coco" (Yes, I tried it) as well as "Coc's" and other 1 syllable nick-names in the same intonation. I lowered my voice as if I were having a regular conversation with people and randomly stick in "coco" and in his older years he didn't care but as a young dog he would hear you say "bath", "walk" "treat" and "cookie" in regular conversation with people and the clown he was, would get up and make us act on it!! :crylaugh:

But you're right in a lot of cases

 

[wishbone]

What a sweetheart, congratulations!

 

[Nibbler]

Often enough it's the intonation you use too. My dog Coco would respond to "t.v" if I used the same intonation as "coco" (Yes, I tried it) as well as "Coc's" and other 1 syllable nick-names in the same intonation. I lowered my voice as if I were having a regular conversation with people and randomly stick in "coco" and in his older years he didn't care but as a young dog he would hear you say "bath", "walk" "treat" and "cookie" in regular conversation with people and the clown he was, would get up and make us act on it!! :crylaugh:

But you're right in a lot of cases

HAHAHA With Spezza if you say tv he waits for your permission to go on the sofa, as hes to short to get up on his own , you say cage or kennel he wimpers, and if you say walk he does his cute little dance stands on his hind legs and moves his arms up and down rofl.


So updates, Last night was spezzas first night at home with us and although it says on his file that he Has to be crate trainned as hes not potty trainned, im starting to really believe that they have mistaken him for another dog....Everytime hes had to go to the washroom he sits at the door and whimpers or comes finds us and barks. He slept with us in the bed last night, and being worried i took him out every 2 hours except for this afternoon i took him out at 1130 and fell asleep till 6 tonight the joys of being sick, Not once did he get off my bed, And he had no accidents he woke me up at 6 to let me no he had to go outside to pee. Another reason that Im startin to wonder if they may have the wrong dog, is because while looking through the documents they gave us at the spca one paper says he is a maltese cross but if you look on the other paper the same vet says hes a pom cross.... I dont see Pom in him at all....and then on a third paper it says hes a beagle cross.... I dont see beagle in him either ..... I think hes adorable either way and he definetly has a forever home.

Hes very protective. Aly cries and he runs over to us and runs back to her if we dont get up fast enough he contineaus lol
hes not very yappy at all .

 

[Elliriyanna]

aww such a cutie

 

[Purple-Hops]

Shelter environments elicit very different responses and behaviors than foster homes. He's coming out of his shell, he probably had a great home at one point who let him sleep on the bed and had him house broken. What a pity :< Some dogs are probably overlooked because of skimpy evaluations.

He's SO lucky to have found you guys!

 

[Sasami]

HAHAHA With Spezza if you say tv he waits for your permission to go on the sofa, as hes to short to get up on his own , you say cage or kennel he wimpers, and if you say walk he does his cute little dance stands on his hind legs and moves his arms up and down rofl.


So updates, Last night was spezzas first night at home with us and although it says on his file that he Has to be crate trainned as hes not potty trainned, im starting to really believe that they have mistaken him for another dog....Everytime hes had to go to the washroom he sits at the door and whimpers or comes finds us and barks. He slept with us in the bed last night, and being worried i took him out every 2 hours except for this afternoon i took him out at 1130 and fell asleep till 6 tonight the joys of being sick, Not once did he get off my bed, And he had no accidents he woke me up at 6 to let me no he had to go outside to pee. Another reason that Im startin to wonder if they may have the wrong dog, is because while looking through the documents they gave us at the spca one paper says he is a maltese cross but if you look on the other paper the same vet says hes a pom cross.... I dont see Pom in him at all....and then on a third paper it says hes a beagle cross.... I dont see beagle in him either ..... I think hes adorable either way and he definetly has a forever home.

Hes very protective. Aly cries and he runs over to us and runs back to her if we dont get up fast enough he contineaus lol
hes not very yappy at all .

Actually, that's pretty typical of a lot of shelters. Most don't put a lot of time into breed guesses so they end up listed differently at the various shelters and vets :lol:. As for the behavior, dogs tend to act differently in a shelter than they would in a home. Some of our foster dogs have changed dramatically just from getting out of the shelter environment. It sounds like Spezza was an inside dog at some point . I'm glad he's settling in so well.

 

[Nibbler]

Actually, that's pretty typical of a lot of shelters. Most don't put a lot of time into breed guesses so they end up listed differently at the various shelters and vets :lol:. As for the behavior, dogs tend to act differently in a shelter than they would in a home. Some of our foster dogs have changed dramatically just from getting out of the shelter environment. It sounds like Spezza was an inside dog at some point . I'm glad he's settling in so well.

Im thinking he may of belonged to a senior, I don't know why I get that impression. Today he got spoiled his daddy brought him a coat for winter boats for winter, and a bunch of treats as well as new food so mr Spezza doesn't kill us with his farts no more more since hes on senior food now lol

 

[Sasami]

Im thinking he may of belonged to a senior, I don't know why I get that impression. Today he got spoiled his daddy brought him a coat for winter boats for winter, and a bunch of treats as well as new food so mr Spezza doesn't kill us with his farts no more more since hes on senior food now lol

I'd actually recommend NOT feeding senior food. It's basically a scam and many vets now realize that it's inappropriate.

Here's a video that explains it (or at least I hope...I can't check to see if this is the right vid since I'm at school, ha) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=I5ZeNLUEHKY

You want to feed a high-protein, meat-based diet. Avoid fillers like grains, they really stress a senior dog's system. Seniors also tend to be prone to yeast infections and various bacterial problems so I'd go carb-free or at least close to it. Carbs feed yeast and bacteria. The sugars in a lot of kibbles, especially carb-filled "senior foods", also wreck havoc on the teeth...something you want to avoid in a breed prone to dental disease (which applies to pretty much every toy breed).

P.S. You need to post pictures of Spezza in his new coat and boots! That sounds adorable :lol:.

 

[Elliriyanna]

can you get ahold of Evo? Its a great food

 

[Nibbler]

He ended up not liking the food we bought so we bought a diffrent kind today called ( Alpo ) theres no grain in it and its affordable. which is great since where i am theres not many petstores and the ones that are here dont carry very much stuff more animals then anything.

P.S. You need to post pictures of Spezza in his new coat and boots! That sounds adorable :lol:.

I don't have a picture of him with his boots, but heres a few of him with his new coat :confetti:

 

[Sasami]

I thought Alpo had a ton of grain? Or was that the old food?

A handy website for comparing dog foods is http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com . They even have the smaller, less known brands on there which is handy if you don't live near big chain pet stores.

Haha, cute pics! How does he like his coat? I might get one for my current foster dog...he's fluffy but not enough to keep him warm in winter. He doesn't spend much time outside but I figure it'd be useful for walks.

 

[Nibbler]

I thought Alpo had a ton of grain? Or was that the old food?

A handy website for comparing dog foods is http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com . They even have the smaller, less known brands on there which is handy if you don't live near big chain pet stores.

Haha, cute pics! How does he like his coat? I might get one for my current foster dog...he's fluffy but not enough to keep him warm in winter. He doesn't spend much time outside but I figure it'd be useful for walks.

no alpo is the food we have now, theres no grain in the current one we have, but i know it took awhile of looking at diffrent alpo bags to find one that had none. he loves his jacket. his boots are a diffrent story he doesnt really like them but he deals with them