The First Woof and Wag

This is my attempt at journaling my progression of dog ownership. It is a "dog blog" and before you judge me too much I'd like to explain why I bothered. Firstly, as you can already guess being a dog owner will be a big deal for me. A life step that I'd rather not forget. Second, the community of dog owner's online is huge and I'm talking at least half of the 500 Billion people who currently use the social media networking website Facebook. It's a good way to get advice, tips, and make contact with the dog people of the world. Thirdly, I do not believe in Facebook dog profiles, nor do I believe in the creation of pet based social communication online. Let's face it if Minnie the dog was to post a status update on Facebook then it would be woof, sniff, or whine and not "getting ready for a walk with the owners". So, this is for me, end point. Fourth, I live away from some of my closest friends and family. They are interested in the progress of not only my life but the life of my future pup. Having a blog (hopefully with videos at some point) will make it easier for them to connect with my various trials, tribulations, and celebrations with the pet. It will also provide some commentary on the things I am reading, seeing, or product that I think is worth talking about. Finally, I have spent the past 3 years excited about the purchase and ultimate responsibility of a dog. I have nothing against cats ( I quite like them, even own one named Caley who's a ragdoll) it's just that a dog is a little more responsibility. It's also an indication of my adult growth (in my opinion) so it's priority to keep myself in check.

Enough justification for one day on why I created the Blog. Now I'd like to tell you about my potential pup preference. As many of my friends and family know, I LOVE greyhounds. It's a personal goal of mine to own one at some point. However, these dogs (though the laziest animals I've seen) are a large breed. Naturally, this is problematic when living in rented spaces. I'm afraid to say that my small basement apartment is not large enough to house a large breed like that at this time. That's why I'm getting one of these:

This is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. It is different from the, often confused, English Toy Spaniel (called the King Charles Spaniel in the UK) which has a flattened face due to breeding with Pugs and Pekinese. These dogs are in the Toy Group of the CKC (Canadian Kennel Club) but are the largest of the toy breeds standing 12-13 inches and weighing 13-18 pounds. Now, I'm not usually a fan of lap dogs but these guys are extraordinary in my opinion. See the following videos for a quick visual.

Animal Planets Dogs 101 Segment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd5dR7YR2ig

Breed All About it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ave3YP77vhU

Jackson the Amazing 4 Month Old Cav:

The Cav (as I lovingly shorten it) is a companion dog. Excellently, it loves to train to please you. This makes me excited at the possibility of having an Agility trained pet. It's also well suited for travel with it's easy-going temperament and small size. These dogs were considered royalty and at one point it was declared that they were never to be denied access to a public place in the UK. They are spaniels though so they are particularly good at retrieval tasks. Long ago, it was illegal to hunt with a dog higher than 13 inches in Britain so these dogs were favoured. Though it is in the top 10 of favourite breeds (in competition with Labrador Retrievers) I have seen very few in Newfoundland and Labrador.

In a future post, I will be talking about breeders here in the province.