The Great Pyrennes - a beautiful dog, T.
 

 
..."has been used for hundreds of years by shepherds, including those of the Basque people, who inhabit parts of the region in and around the Pyrenees Mountains"...
A tough dog and a tough people - the Basques.  
Always sad when a fourlegged friend dies, T. What was the name of your Great Pyernnes?
 
I'm curious to the intial name, you chose for your new pup. Must have been different, for your vet-friend to suggest something else?
 
I have 2 suggestions for a name - both male - Balou & Samson.

Chaplin.  

To Rico - Sekoli ! You say, "We got a pug since last year, my daughter named her Sunka. " What does this mean, & is it a female name? Hey Cowboy, I just have to ask, the same question I asked Salander above, how do you post a picture here ? I really would like to post some pics of our bison here, ho ! Have been unable as of yet to follow Hin's instructions & get it to work for me. Am not a computer geek, ho ! I just wondering if there is some simpler way to do so, that I might be able to do this here. Nyah-weh Rico ! Ho !    Fire On Water.

Right, as in Charlie.  
 
Because when I imagined a black Labrador Retriever puppy, the picture of Charlie Chaplin spontaneously came to my mind... or did I misinterpret "lab"?...

To Sequoia -  Sekoli ! You say, " Because when I imagined a black Labrador Retriever puppy, the picture of Charlie Chaplin spontaneously came to my mind... or did I misinterpret "lab"?... "  Dear sister, no misrepresetation on your part at all, ho !  The mother is black lab. The fella I got him from, wasn't sure who she got pregnant from, so mixed more than likely. The odds the father was also black lab, are probably not great, ho ! But he sure looks exactly like a black lab. I've had pure breds & mixed breeds all of my life, can't necessarily say one is better than the other, just my experience so far is all.  Saturday he will be nine weeks old. Everyone who has seen him so far invariably makes a comment about how large his paws are, ho ! Don't know yet if this means he will be the size of a pure bred black lab, or larger, or smaller with larger paws, ho ! All I can say is he is one smart puppy. When I talk to him, he cocks his head to one side like he's listening keenly, & he seems to have an intelligence in his eyes I haven't seen in a puppy I've had before. When I take him out of his pen within the larger dog pen, he follows right at my heels, like he's my little shadow following me around, ho ! I get a kick out of this ! I'm hoping he will be easy to train. These next two days, I am going to bring him in the house for the first time. I will be most curious to see how he reacts to a totally new world, since so far, he has only been outside, & in my car when I brought him home.  New adventures, for both of us, ho !  It's funny how sometimes a little puppy can put a little spark of excitment & joy in one's life ! & for an almost nine week old puppy, he sure has some weight to him. I mentioned out of the eight puppies in the litter, he was the largest. Which was why I picked him. Alpha male puppy, ho ! But what is truely amazing Sequoia, is he is eating exactly the same amount of food as I feed my older adult male dog, only I feed him twice a day, once early in the morning before I go to work, & once when I get home, & he empties his feed bowl in about five minutes, ho ! No lack of appetite. I may have to increase his amount of feed soon.  But at any rate dear sister, again Nyah-weh for your imput as to a name. Appreciated ! I will decide before this midnight & will disclosure his new name here tomorrow or Saturday,  whenever I come here next. Peace & love Sequoia, & many blessings your way always ! Ho !     Fire On Water.

Rico - sometimes I am leery here of posts disappearing, copy e-mail to myself, just in case. Sent, got a blank Done screen. Had to copy the above off my e-mail, & repost here. Just the way it is here sometimes, ho ! An old wasicu saying I am sure kinajin will acknowledge as being so, should he read this, " an ounce of prevetion, is worth a pound of cure" ! Ho !  Anyway, back to this story. I drove by, looked, drove out of the parking lot, onto the service road, onto the Interstate, heard the ancestors talking to me, drove exactly one exit down, turned around, & went back. I pulled up across from this pick-up, parked & went over to talk with this fella. His three young daughters were all in the bed of the truck with the eight puppies.  Four I thought, the sacred number. There were four males, & four females. Four & four, the sacred numbers again. I was looking for a female, looked at three of the female puppies, until I saw this male, again, four, the sacred number.  Four fours in a row, I knew something special was happening here. This fella said his wife would have been there to better answer my questions, but the day before she had accidently ran over her little lap dog, can't remember the breed, in her driveway backing out, & couldn't bring herslf to deal with the puppies, & had asked him to bring  their daughters & puppies up to this Wal- Mart.  Because the mother had begun to growl at her puppies trying to wheen them.  So Rico, simply put, I happened  to be in the right place, at the right time, listened to the ancestors talking to me, went back, & have found, been blessed with, a new buddy ! A little bundle of joy, ho ! This may well prove to be Cowboy, the best buddy, dog-wise, I have ever come across. Time will tell, we will see.  Ho !    Fire On Water.

Howdy Cowboy - figured I'd give you a Texas welcome, ho ! You say, " how close do your nearest neighbours live TloA? " Although I live in the countryside, I do have neighbors, ho ! No one in the back, just pasture fields & woods. Do have one next door neighbor, we share the same driveway coing in off the road, but then it splits, to my house & to his. Have another neighbor on the other side, but it is across a pasture field. Have one neighbor across the road, my vet. Neighbor next door raises chickens & goats. Neighbor on the other side is a black angus cattle rancher. Neighbor across the road breeds cutting horses.  But I have to ask Rico, why do you ask ? I have ostrich, cats, dogs, & snakes. Just wondering if this has something to do with the puppy, but can't imagine what it might be, ho ! I generally always answer a question asked, but now & then, have a question in return, ho ! You have me momentarily mystified if there is a connection to the puppy is all. But what is life without mystification from time to time ? Makes things somewhat more interesting pondering over these. Well Rico, am fixin' to go out for a few minutes since the blazing Texas sun has finally gone down, walk out yonder, & ponder, ho ! Just couldn't resist the opportunity to talk like these native Texans do. Took me awhile when I first moved here to even figure out what they were saying, ho ! They speak their own dialect of American. Even their cursing & swearing was at first difficult to understand, as are their sayings. Like in the winter when the roads are icy, they say, " They're slicker than snot! " Who would come up with such vivid descriptions but a native Texan ? They call a Western Hognose snake a "spreading adder, " although there are no adders in North America. They call a Western Spiny lizard a " Mountain Boomer, " although there are no real mountains, just high hills, & this lizard does not boom, ho ! I could go on & on about native Texans. They almost speak their own language & have their own vocabulary, ho ! But I do get a kick out of hearing these things. Makes me wonder if the aliens didn't land here sometime in the past, ho ! This is not the city folk I am talking about, who for the most part come from other places. I am talking about the country folk, born & raised in the countryside here.  There are two completely different worlds here in Texas, those that live in the big metropolitan areas, & those that live in the wide, open spaces.  You know Rico, before Alaska became a state here, Texas was the largest state. It to this day, remains a country unto itself. It is the only state which can fly it's flag at the same level as the U. S. flag, & it does, ho ! It is the only state of the fifty states which has the right to leave the union if if wants, because it is the only state which came into the union as an independent nation, the Republic of Texas. But enough about Texas, probably more than you wanted to know, ho ! Balance & harmony, & blessings your way Cowboy ! Ho !    Fire On Water.

To Salander, Rico, & Sequoia - Sekoli ! Wish to say, Nyah-weh for you replies & suggestions here, they were greatly appreciated. Wanted to come here late Saturday night, but one of my blood sisters called before I could fire up my pc, & proceeded to engage me in an over two hour phone conversation. She's going through some difficult times, wanted an ear to listen to her, so how could her oldest brother not do so ? Talked both my ears off, ho ! Her husband died a good many years ago now from a brain tumor, leaving her to raise her three children by herself, which she struggled to do, but pulled it off. I have two fine nephews & a niece as a result. Anyway, by the  time our conversation ended, it was well past midnight. Since I have to get up at 3:30 in the morning, this left but a few hours for a little sleep, ho ! But since I only get but four or five hours sleep per night on my work days anyway, no big deal ! But not enough time left to come here as I wished to. Sometimes stuff happens, sometimes unexpectantly, & one has got to just do what must be done. Blood family & close friends always take a top priority with me, always will. Just the way it is, ho !  But I did finally decide on the new name for this new puppy of mine, which I will reveal, & explain my reasoning for doing so in the following post. Chimiigwech for taking your time to care & share with me though, appreciated from my heart, mind, & souls, ho !    Fire On Water.

The twilight descending here forced me to run outside to complete my animal chores before I could correct all my typos, which I just did above, ho ! The days are growing noticeably shorter here now. When I leave for work now it is barely light yet. Pre-sunrise. The growing shadows earlier in the evenings now, in this extreme heat wave, are much appreciated. Does nothing for the heat or humidity, but at least it stiffles the blazing Texas sun, ho ! Take my blessings wherever I might find them these dog days of summer, so to speak. A wasicu saying I know kinajin, should you happen to read this. But to get back on track here, the puppy's new name. in my first post I believe about this new puppy, I made the comment, "  This will be my new buddy, when my old buddy passes." Which is true. Don't know if I want two dogs again at the same time, which was a first for me, with Client & sweet departed Corrie. Until recently, I had a pick-up with just a regular cab. Couldn't take both dogs with me at the same time. Refuse to put a dog or dogs in the bed of a pick-up & drive around. Have seen dogs fall out of the back of a pick-up, not a pretty sight, ho ! Have had to go to accidents caused by this back when I was patrolling the interstates & state highways for the State here in Texas. a few years back, before my career change to the Wildlife Refuge. The ones who drive around with a dog (s) in the back of flatbed pick-ups , are the ones who agitate me the most. If the readers of this thread are beginning to think I am somewhat teasing to get to the puppy's new name, I am. Guilty as charged, ho ! My first evening off after a week in hell here. 100 to 108 temperatures. Feels like temperatures of 106 to 110. I am relaxing, unwinding, & having a little fun here in doing so, ho ! Please bear with me !  Fire On Water.

Why do I say this ? First of all, because this new puppy has the most intelligent eyes I have ever seen on any puppy I ever ever had to date. He seems to know already we have a special bond. At my number of winters past, perhaps he already senses he may be my last dog, my last buddy, in a lifetime of buddys. I have always had a dog since I was five years old. As I mentioned in a previous post here in this thread, I had to create a puppy pen within my large dog pen to prevent him from getting out, which he did on the very first day. I secured the temporary panel with a bungie cord top & bottom. I came home from work, the night before last, & Buddy had chewed through the bottom bungie cord, & squeezed through the narrow opening he afforded himself, without injuring himself in any way. He was also smart ehough not to try once again to squeeze through the 4 by 4" squares on the fencing on all of the rest of the dog run, content to harass my older dog, ho ! He simply is, at this point, a bundle of energy & inate intelligence ever expanding, day by day, ho ! Marvelous to behold & observe.     Fire On Water.

I post this for you who may have an interest in the evolution of dogs.  & for those of you readers here who may have access to the National Geographic channel. All week long there has been a heavy promotinal progran going on about a special this Sunday evening. Check yout tv guide & times for your location. Here in Texas, I believe it is 9:00 P. M. , Central time.  The prom ad which has been running on various stations here states, " Wolf Came To Man, & Man Created Dogs. " Subtitles state , learn how hunting breeds arose.... learn how Great Pyrennes were bred to be protectors !  In discussing this with my supervisor, our Natural Resource Manager, whose expertise is in mammals, he said, dogs may have been selectively bred from wolves, coyotes, & dingoes by man. While closely related, foxes are incapable of inter-breeding with true canines. So I would urge you who are interested in scientific knowledge as to where dogs came from, to consider watching this, if you can & choose to do so. For now, this night, I have no more to say !  Ho !     Fire On Water.

Hey EM - you used to have a different name on TD, yes? Muddy, Cuddy...no, no. Buddy..that's it. T named his new dog after
you in a weird, creepy kind of way. Wow.

To kinajin - you say, " tloa, you a wasicu and always will be one.  You'll find that you'll be more respected if you just admit it.  Now, I said to stop focusing on Kinajin.  I know you mean well, but focus on something else. Pila." With respect, you have both every right to your opinion(s) & to express them as you feel like & choose to do so ! Because I made one reference to you in a number of posts here in this thresd last night in regards to a wasicu saying, I am somehow focusing on you!. I do believe in this case you are mistaken entirely. Tell you what kinakin, if it should somehow please you, & make you somehow happy, I from this evening forward shall not mention your name again in any of my posts. Done deal ! I know & well aware of exactly who I am, past, present, & future. I have always spoken / typed from my heart, mind, & souls, & will continue to do so here. Some here may respect me, some may not. Most here who have in the past, have left here ! Not by my prodding ! This choice of respect here or not of which you speak, is for you & others here to decide. I am not, will not, change the basic core of who I am. I do make small changes & adjustments, & am open to both positive & negative criticism, for both are opportunities for learning experiences. I am sure you would appreciate it if I left this Forum, as so, so many others, non-Lakota have. I stay here for both myself & for the dwindling number of  non-Lakota new members in the near future, who may join here as a result of reading one of Joe's books & being so inspired as I once was, to come to this forum provided here by Joe. This is a point I am amazed that you continue to either not recognize, or simply choose to ignore !     Fire On Water.