I found this picture of a German Wirehaired Pointer online. Looks just like Nase, but it's hard to get a picture of Nase this good with my little camera phone.  So I don't know, mutt or obscure hunting breed?

Empty House + Owen Out of Town = New Dog

The house was WAY too empty without Tally, and Owen left to go out of town for work.  I tried to bring in a border collie, but they spent all their time trying to get outside to go back to work with the horses.  They're just not meant to be indoor dogs.  So just before Owen left we went to an animal rescue in Windsor and found Nase.  They were calling him an Airdale mix, but after meeting him and having him for about a week I think he's a pointer/terrier mix.  He's gaited, so moves both right legs and then both left legs, making him very light on his feet and quiet when he walks, as opposed to Tally's hearty stomping around the kitchen.  He has long whiskers and shaggy lips and eyebrows as well that make us think terrier.  He's too slightly built to have much lab in him even though he's black, but his conformation is a lot like Molly, my Shorthaired Pointer.  He also likes to point at the birds when they land on fence posts.  He loves to go for walks around in the pastures with the other dogs (Miles & Belle the working border collies, and Newman, the neighbor's corgi who basically lives here) but mostly he loves to nap.  I've never had a slow dog before, and I'm not sure what to do with this champion couch potato.  All he wants is a romp outside in the morning, and the rest of the day he likes to sleep on the floor next to my side of the bed.  He will sample a chew toy now and then (still learning which house items are dog toys and which are human items).  He lived all his life in shelters, is 1.5 years old, and will be about 50 lbs once I get some groceries into him.  New things are a little scary, like the microwave, horses, our shorty friend Newman, carpet, the washing machine and dryer...  He seems pretty happy to be here so far, and dispenses whiskery kisses anytime.  An interesting aside, the shelter was calling him "Fred", but we changed it to Nase because I dated a guy named Fred in high school and it just didn't seem right to tell Owen in the evening that I spent my rainy day snuggling with "Fred".

Sad Goodbye to Tally Ho

It's with a very heavy heart I must report that our Tally Ho had to be put down a little over a week ago.  Her health problems became too much for us and her, and included seizures, autoimmune disease, incontinence, eye and facial swelling, and vomiting.  We did all we could for our little hound, and she'll always live in our hearts at Bit of Honey Training.  Our "ranch in heaven" is going to have to be big to accommodate all the creatures we have loved.  As Phoenix, my friend's 6 year-old says, speaking of the resurrection, "wow - when the dogs come back you're going to have a LOT of animals!"  Some of the things I'll remember most about Tally is her yodeling (often people would ask us if there was a human child crying in the next room), her endless energy and rabbiting skills, and how she loved to nap in my chair, or on me.  She was one of the most snuggly dogs I've met and incredibly affectionate.  While she never did entirely acclimate to thin men wearing cowboy hats (smart dog), she welcomed everyone else onto the property with gusto.  Owen would always say in a high-pitched voice, "Here I come...!" As Tally would sneakily crawl into your lap on the couch.   She especially loved giving dog kisses to little girls at smooching height.