Monday, June 8, 2009

Entry for August 15, 2007



This is my OTHER baby, Jasmine. Sort of a dark picture, but I can't find the one I wanted to post.

She is a Keeshound/ German Shepherd mix. Over 13 years old, and many days still a puppy at heart - even with the arthritis and poor eye site.

We got her on the fourth of July, in 1994. Just before we went to Italy. She was suppose to be the family dog, but mainly for DD - who was 3 at the time (I need to find one of those pics! the two of them were SO cute!)

It's an interesting story on how we got her. . . When we started the puppy search, we had barely agreed on a size but had no idea about a breed. See, DH had grown up with a Saint Bernard and wanted one of those. I had grown up with lots of different dogs; black labs, a boxer, a great Dane, a Pomeranian mix when I first went out on my own. But my favorite dog was my first - CHICO, a little Mexican Chihuahua mix, so I wanted one of those. Well, we compromised on a knee-high dog. We went to the local shelter, and the only knee high dog that interested us both was a blond cocker spaniel. We were ready to adopt right away, but we were turned down when they learned we had a small child at home. I guess cocker's have a reputation for biting/being aggressive with little ones.

So we took this as a sign that we needed to research our prospective new dog's breed a little closer. We checked out some books from the library and started reading, we settled on a Keeshound. They were said to be good with kids, and great family dogs. We wanted to find a dog that would be protective of DD and I, while DH was out to sea. But not so protective of either of us that when DH came home after months out to sea that the dog would try to attack him, when he started his usual tickle attacks! We decided to get a Keeshound.

A little background info here; we had only been married for about 5 years, and DH was still early in his military career. So needless to say we didn't have a lot of extra money (IE: we could barely pay the bills AND pay for food at the same time) SO, when we went to the pet store and found a Keeshound puppy, and then saw the (at that time) $500! price tag, we about died! Needless to say, we could NOT afford that. That was one full month's lot rent AND one whole month's groceries! We were heart broken.

Well, that following weekend I was looking through the Sunday paper pet section (maybe hoping to find a Keeshound for free?) and came across an add for "Puppies - $25". That was all the info they gave. I had a very hard time trying to convince DH that we should at least call and check them out. But we finally did.

AND . . . the mom was a pure bred Keeshound! Daddy was the German Shepherd that lived next store, and they were charging $25 in hope of finding better homes than if they had just said "free puppies". They were planning to breed her with another pure bred Keeshound, but she had other ideas! She liked the "boy next door"! So that is how we got our Jasmine.

And if you are interested in the naming . . . We told our DD to name her. She was just over 3 yo. Her favorite movie in the whole world was Disney's Alladin. It went something like this:

DD: What's the doggies name? Us: She doesn't have a name yet. Why don't you give her one? DD: OK, but what's her name? After this went on for awhile we got the point across. Then it went, US: Well, what do you want to call her? DD: Alladin! US: But Alladin is a boy. Our puppy is a girl. So, what should we call her? DD: Alladin! After this went on for awhile more, we shamelessly coached her. "Alladin is a boy, our puppy is a girl. So what if we named her . . . Jasmine?!" DD: YEAH! Jasmine!

And there you go!

1 comment:

  1. Bobbi: What a beauty. Give her a hug and pet from me. She looks so much like Beau. Love that half Keeshond half German shephard make-up, that made for the great dogs we have/had. I hope you have many more years with your Jasmine, I would have loved 3 more with my Beau and a Keeshond who used our veternarian was 18 when I saw him and he was in perfect health. Long lived dogs. I just want to snuggle in her ruff.
    Thursday August 16, 2007

    LDSVenus: She's cute, actually a good mixture for being protect and loving at the same time :). But my I bet she sheds :P. Yes Cocker Spaniels do have a rep for biting :(, anytime a breed gets really popular you have back yard breeder that breed too close in the line (mother to son, or mother to brother type of thing) and that is NOT ideal. That keeps the bad traits in the line and you have dogs that have quirky personalities. You find that true with all popular dogs, so when buying a registered popular dog, check his/her back ground, ask to see a copy of his/her lineage to make sure they dont breed very close in the line (needs to be several, at least 4, generations out.) I bred German Shepards, that is how I know.
    Thursday August 16, 2007

    Tammy M: Oh, she sheds BIG TIME. But luckily most of it clumps together on the floor, so I can walk around and grab clumps in between vacuuming. :) Especially on the tile floors.
    And Bobbi, from what I understand, having the Shepherd in her lowers the life expectancy. I have been told that they are closer to 12-15 yrs.

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