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Old July 5th, 2010, 08:27 AM
eturner eturner is offline
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Hi Everyone, our story :)

Myself and my family are owned by two wonderful dogs, Molly a Giant Schnauzer and Jack a Mini Schnauzer. I have done Giant Schnauzer rescue for years and at our house with such prey driven dogs never would have even considered a cat...
Until the coldest day in December, we pulled into the garage and saw what we thought was a rat, it jumped in our blue box and turned out to be an emaciated and freezing grey tabby kitten. Gracie's litter mates were found frozen to death in our neighbours yard so we can only assume it was a litter dump
After weeks of careful introductions, Gracie and the dogs became friends and the little one soon became the light of all of our lives. Sadly in Mid-March at the tender age of 5 months or so, Gracie died as the result of a congenital heart defect and we were devastated. In her name, we went to an adopt-a-thon held at petsmart by our local shelter and saw a pathetic little calico kitten with a nasty eye infection, of course of all the cats and kittens there, we knew that she would be the one. Katie is a little calico fire-cracker! The dogs accepted her instantly and she has taken over ownership of all of us, including the dogs. Since we have a son and daughter and a male and female dog, we decided to reset the balance and to that end last week, we added the most adorable little male Ragdoll kitten named Dexter. He and the dogs are on great terms but our little Katie is going to have to warm up to him on her own terms. The introductions with the two of them are going slowly but with time and perseverance I'm sure it will all work out
Had anyone told me 7 months ago that I would have a kitten in the house, never mind two of them, I would have told them they were crazy! It seems that this dyed in the wool "Dog person" was also a "Cat person" waiting to happen!

Our little family:

Molly and Dexter:

Jack and Dexter:

Molly and Katie:

Our little Angel Gracie:
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Old July 5th, 2010, 09:37 AM
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Congratulations on the kitty adoptions ! can't wait to hear their adventures and see more pictures (by the way , adorable pics you posted )

welcome to pets.ca eturner !
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Old July 5th, 2010, 09:45 AM
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Welcome to pets! Your furkids are adorable. I just want to kiss that little kitten face off Dexter. Hahaha. Seems like the dogs have warmed up fast. Such nice pictures they all posed for!
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Old July 5th, 2010, 11:25 AM
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Welcome! It happens every time! Those kitties just worm their way into our hearts. Love your pets...my daughter has a Mini Schnauzer and he's so smart and loving, a terrific granddog and "brother" to our granddaughter.
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Old July 5th, 2010, 11:46 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by eturner View Post
Myself and my family are owned by two wonderful dogs, Molly a Giant Schnauzer and Jack a Mini Schnauzer.

Welcome to the board eturner! That statement is sooo true, we don't own them, they own us, and have us very well trained

I must say, you're fur family is just too cute!! That little Dexter is definitely smushable, as are all the rest
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Old July 5th, 2010, 02:18 PM
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Holy cuteness, eturner!! My fave is that shot of Jack with Dexter! But they're all so cute I can't figure out how you can keep from smooshin' them long enough to get anything done around the house!

Welcome to the board!
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Old July 5th, 2010, 02:22 PM
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Welcome to the site eturner. Hope you stick around. You are the type of person we love!!!! A rescuer!
Gracie She did her job during her short little life. She showed you how to love and appreciate cats. And what a doll she was. I am so sorry you lost her.
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Old July 5th, 2010, 03:36 PM
eturner eturner is offline
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Thanks so much for the warm welcome everyone!!
14+, thanks also for the dear words about our little Gracie, she was with us just a short time but had an enormous impact.
Except for Dexter, all of our furkids are rescues and our Molly started us on the incredibly heart breaking but rewarding path of rescue. Because of her we have placed over 100 Giants/Giant mixes (and the odd mini and other breeds too) that others thought disposible...grrrrrrr!
As to getting the work done around here with the cuteness factor taken into account, it all somehow has become organized chaos! Our teen kids and hubby are just as devoted to them as I am. Four is the limit though, the humans for the time being aren't yet out-numbered
I've spent much time reading on this board today and am very happy that I found it!!
Elizabeth, Oakville, ON
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Old July 5th, 2010, 04:04 PM
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eturner,hello,from a fellow Oakvillonian
I too,like 14+was touched by little Gracie little angel,who opened you and your pups up to the wonderful world of kitties.
Your Schnauzers are beautiful,both the little one and the giant one.

I remember a few years back that a Giant Schnauzer had been stolen,probably never found,but the owner asked people to look for anyone with a GS,I found out there were only 4 in Oakville,I find them to be beautiful dogs.
Your little kittens are adorable
WELCOME TO OUR FORUM
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Old July 5th, 2010, 05:25 PM
eturner eturner is offline
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Originally Posted by chico2 View Post
eturner,hello,from a fellow Oakvillonian
I too,like 14+was touched by little Gracie little angel,who opened you and your pups up to the wonderful world of kitties.
Your Schnauzers are beautiful,both the little one and the giant one.

I remember a few years back that a Giant Schnauzer had been stolen,probably never found,but the owner asked people to look for anyone with a GS,I found out there were only 4 in Oakville,I find them to be beautiful dogs.
Your little kittens are adorable
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Thanks Chico!
To my knowledge there are at least 12 Giants in Oakville now, 4 that I have placed here I remember when Schooner went missing and we followed leads for ages to no avail, so sad. They really are beautiful but that unfortunatley works against us, folks love the look but don't research the breed and don't realize that a terrier temperament in a large package, combined with an extended adolescence means training is not an option. Most people who dump them, do so at around the age of 2 and it's really sad, Giants are "velcro" dogs and bond intensly with their people and mourn for them making retraining and placement difficult. They are definately my breed of choice but what makes them perfect for our active lifestyle (2 runs daily at the 7 km off-leash trail in Bronte Park) and total inclusion in family life, is what makes them anything but the perfect dog for many folks.
As you can see I could go on and on, but I just love Giants!!
When our little Gracie got sick, Molly mothered her beautifully, and both our pups were so upset when she was gone.
Thanks for the welcome, great to see someone else from Oakville!!!!!
Elizabeth
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Old July 5th, 2010, 05:33 PM
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What a beautiful fur family you have! Gracie was certainly a little beauty. I'm so sorry you lost her so soon.

Welcome to the board.
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Old July 6th, 2010, 08:52 AM
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eturner,I did not do any research on how many there is here,but was told there was about 4 Giants,but of course that's quiet a while ago.

At one time,up at Ren's Pet Depot(where I get my catfood,birds-seeds etc..),they had several owners with Giants,being shown how to properly groom them,maybe you were there.
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Old July 6th, 2010, 11:04 AM
eturner eturner is offline
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Originally Posted by chico2 View Post
eturner,I did not do any research on how many there is here,but was told there was about 4 Giants,but of course that's quiet a while ago.

At one time,up at Ren's Pet Depot(where I get my catfood,birds-seeds etc..),they had several owners with Giants,being shown how to properly groom them,maybe you were there.
With how fast Oakville is growing Chico the dog population rises just as quickly here There are so few Giants around that most of us know each other. We have romps planned all over the GTA. That would be cool to see a group of giants getting groomed I do mine myself and enjoy it.
Hope you are managing to keep cool on this hot, hot day here!!
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Old July 6th, 2010, 11:58 PM
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eturner, lovely photo's .
Just curious, are the Giants common in Canada, and if they are, was there any publicity that bought them to the public's attention? Like, we have a cute advert. running with a WHWT in it, and now the Westies are sought after. Not good for the breed because the impulse to buy one after seeing it on TV is almost as bad as walking into a pet shop and being unable to resist a cute pup. As you said, no research done on the breed . We don't see your breed very often in Australia at all, so placing over 100 , wow! That's a lot of sad dogs and thoughtless, uncaring people.
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Old July 7th, 2010, 02:09 AM
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Hi

Welcome to the forum! I love your furbabies and glad they are getting along pretty well...except for the 2 kitties. I am sorry to hear about poor Gracie, so sad.
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Old July 7th, 2010, 09:28 AM
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Welcome to our little community. What a bunch of cuteness you have there.
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Old July 8th, 2010, 11:46 AM
eturner eturner is offline
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Originally Posted by Goldfields View Post
eturner, lovely photo's .
Just curious, are the Giants common in Canada, and if they are, was there any publicity that bought them to the public's attention? Like, we have a cute advert. running with a WHWT in it, and now the Westies are sought after. Not good for the breed because the impulse to buy one after seeing it on TV is almost as bad as walking into a pet shop and being unable to resist a cute pup. As you said, no research done on the breed . We don't see your breed very often in Australia at all, so placing over 100 , wow! That's a lot of sad dogs and thoughtless, uncaring people.
A couple of years back, a Giant won the working group at Westminster and that publicity really sent a bit of a backlash in exactly the way that you described. Over the years is does get a bit daunting how many need rescuing but in the US it is so much worse than here in Canada. Mills and BYB'ers have really added to the problem! We have brought quite a few dogs up from the states to place here in Canada.
I've seen a huge rise in the number of WHWT's here in the past year, there was a dog food commercial featuring the cutest Westie named Maggie and now it seems everyone wants one, I can only imagine that westie rescue is facing a big rise too.
It's funny, our little white mini schnauzer is confused for a westie all the time Thanks for the welcome!
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Old July 8th, 2010, 01:37 PM
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eturner,if you had not told me your mini pup was a schnautzer,I would have said Westie too.
He/she has such big ears,adorable though
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Old July 8th, 2010, 07:37 PM
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I knew it was a mini schnauzer, eturner, not a Westie. Only yesterday too a friend told me about the white schnauzer that won at Crufts. Her son has a mini schnauzer and when I told her how many you'd placed she was amazed. Here, if her son walks his dog on the street, people often have to ask him what sort of dog it is, so fairly uncommon here. A beautiful dog though, I am a massive fan of anything with that "look". Like Airedales or Kerry Blues, wire haired Fox Terriers etc.. I feel for you, the stream of Giants needing homes must be so hard to take, but honestly, you can be so proud of your efforts so far. With shelties the opposite applies here in Australia. The demand for them far outstrips the supply. One year it was something like 300 enquiries to our Puppy Sales person in this State, but only 70 pups born that year. We have a good rescue service so when people ring me to see if I have pups I first tell them how few pups are available, suggest trying rescue first, then the Sales Puppy person as she may have older dogs on her books too. Needless to say, we don't get many in rescue.
When you get that boom in popularity sometimes temperament suffers too seeing the aim of puppy farmers is to just churn out pups for the market, did you find that with the Giants? I hope not. When you wrote this ....

They are definately my breed of choice but what makes them perfect for our active lifestyle (2 runs daily at the 7 km off-leash trail in Bronte Park) and total inclusion in family life, is what makes them anything but the perfect dog for many folks.

it reminded me of someone I know who bought a Kerry Blue without realising what they are like. OMG, was it a hyper boy, totally untrained. We did one show together and luckily I introduced her to an All Breeds Judge/terrier man that I knew could show her how to trim the dog, and he was so blown away with the quality of this dog, and she was so fed up with it, that it passed into his hands and became one of the greats of the breed. I love happy endings.
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Old July 13th, 2010, 08:49 AM
eturner eturner is offline
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I knew it was a mini schnauzer, eturner, not a Westie. Only yesterday too a friend told me about the white schnauzer that won at Crufts. Her son has a mini schnauzer and when I told her how many you'd placed she was amazed. Here, if her son walks his dog on the street, people often have to ask him what sort of dog it is, so fairly uncommon here. A beautiful dog though, I am a massive fan of anything with that "look". Like Airedales or Kerry Blues, wire haired Fox Terriers etc.. I feel for you, the stream of Giants needing homes must be so hard to take, but honestly, you can be so proud of your efforts so far. With shelties the opposite applies here in Australia. The demand for them far outstrips the supply. One year it was something like 300 enquiries to our Puppy Sales person in this State, but only 70 pups born that year. We have a good rescue service so when people ring me to see if I have pups I first tell them how few pups are available, suggest trying rescue first, then the Sales Puppy person as she may have older dogs on her books too. Needless to say, we don't get many in rescue.
When you get that boom in popularity sometimes temperament suffers too seeing the aim of puppy farmers is to just churn out pups for the market, did you find that with the Giants? I hope not. When you wrote this ....

They are definately my breed of choice but what makes them perfect for our active lifestyle (2 runs daily at the 7 km off-leash trail in Bronte Park) and total inclusion in family life, is what makes them anything but the perfect dog for many folks.

it reminded me of someone I know who bought a Kerry Blue without realising what they are like. OMG, was it a hyper boy, totally untrained. We did one show together and luckily I introduced her to an All Breeds Judge/terrier man that I knew could show her how to trim the dog, and he was so blown away with the quality of this dog, and she was so fed up with it, that it passed into his hands and became one of the greats of the breed. I love happy endings.
Yes Goldfields, I was tickled when the white mini won Crufts, they are not allowed to be shown this side of the Atlantic and are very frowned upon. Our little Jack is from a breeding in South Florida, to my knowledge his sire is the only white mini ever to show in the States. Jack was shipped up here as a puppy by a neighbour who wanted a designer dog, they tired of him in short order and she asked me to place him. She didn't tell us that he had been having seizures. Long story short, he had an aneurism that needed to be clipped and after surgery he was such a little trooper that he stole our hearts completely and his fostership turned into permanent family member status.
With the Giants, there is one outrageously large mill in California (albeit masquerading as a legitimate kennel) who ships anywhere worldwide on Wednesdays and the lions share of byb's and mills who breed do it with her dogs, it's such a disgrace. 15 years ago, we didn't even have an organized rescue here in Canada because there was absolutely no need for it. It has been busiest in the last 5 years or so and it's just so sad. The health issues are also becoming a problem too, toe cancer, urinary leakage and HD to name a few. There are some wonderful rescues in the States at present but the numbers have become staggering in the last few years. I'm hoping that the breed quietly goes back to obscurity as Giants really aren't the breed for everyone. It is funny that mentioned the Kerry Blue (gosh I love them!) I'm sure that after Mick won Westminster their popularity skyrocketed. They are so like Giants in a smaller package and they require a good deal of training too but like Giants if you train early and have a strong Alpha presence in their lives, you couldn't ask for a better companion for life
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Old July 13th, 2010, 08:51 AM
eturner eturner is offline
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eturner,if you had not told me your mini pup was a schnautzer,I would have said Westie too.
He/she has such big ears,adorable though
LOL, those ears!! We call him radar, but they just add to his allure Our Giant girl Molly has the "flying nun" ears that are so against conformation too but they only enhance her puppyish looks
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