Life at the Portie House....Now with Pictures

First a little background.
Ro, Cubby and myself are all animals lovers and 2 of the 3 of us has animal allergies. This makes it tough to have critters running about the house. A few years ago we had decided to get a dog, knowing we were headed for a financial outlay. Due to allergies, one of the non-shedding breeds was our destiny. We had decided on a Wheaton Terrier. My Aunt has one, and we like her. We then met a woman who told us about Portugeuse Water Dogs. It was an easy decision. Terriers bark a lot, Porties don't.
Ro researched the breed and found a reputable breeder about 90 minutes away. Up we went planning on purchasing a very young puppy. She introduced us to some older puppies that were about 6 months old and we fell in love with one named Archie. Archie has his picture posted in the puppy thread here on the forums and is just as cute now as he was 3 years ago.

Porties are often described as not for everyone, having an opinion and expressing it. They are highly intelligent and require a lot of mental and physical stimulation. I am here to tell you it is true. The past 3 years have been a roller coaster of fun, and I really would not know where to begin with his antics. The most recent of these is what Portie owners call table surfing. Table Surfing always involves jumping up on the table/counter/trash can when your owner isn't looking and eating whatever you can reach. Archie has a great love of bread in any form! For all the delight he has given us and love we give him, Archie got bored. So we decided we were ready for another dog, and ( of course) we got another Portie.

Paolo entered our home about 3 weeks ago. He is a young puppy at 10 weeks old when we brought him home. He was not house, kennel or leash trained. Much to our delight, within a week Paolo had mastered these 3 skills. We used boxes and laundry baskets to corral the puppy when he wasn't kenneled. Archie being taller and able to do a standing jump of 4 feet, could easily get over the barriers we erected. That was until Paolo grew a little steadier on his legs, a little bit stronger, and able to push through these barriers. When pushing fails, he chews them. Did I remember to mention that Porties are very mouthy? The breeder has lost window sills to their chewing desires. Archie only dented a chair leg. We learned quickly that many, many chew toys scattered about the house will save the furniture. Or it did, until Paolo came.

Paolo is still cutting teeth, and so EVERYTHING is a chew toy. Toys, shoes, furniture, clothes, you..your pants, you, Archie.
One of Paolo's favorite targets is Archie. He is small enough to walk under Archie and while there he nips at any bits that are hanging down. I confess that we find this hilarious, and we have to protect Archie from a beast that he out weighs by 40 pounds. So, Paolo gets corrected and Archie is safe. Now, when Paolo walks under him, no nipping happens to the under bits. Currently, it's all about the tail! Archie's tail, Paolo's tail, Paolo doesn't really seem to care. It moves, thus it must be attacked!

Porties are natural guard dogs, which is deceptive since they are so friendly when out and about. Yet, if you come into the home uninvited, they will attack. Archie held Ro's dad at bay until Ro rescued him one day. Paolo is certain that the newspaper in its plastic bag is a dangerous thing and rescues us from it daily. A Portie will prance when he/she thinks they have done a good job. Paolo and Archie prance a lot. They also like to play Tug 'o War. Paolo pulls for all he is worth and Archie just sits down. Lately, Archie lets go of the toy as we often use the word gentle or gently so he doesn't play to rough with Paolo. We really do want Paolo to grow to adulthood with as little damage as possible The Tug 'o War game can go on for hours. Picture if you can, Archie holding a soft toy or bone in his teeth. Paolo, will intentionally stick his nose in Archie's mouth to grab hold of the toy. Archie begins to walk, and Paolo is prancing along trying to take the toy from him.
Another favorite game is making noise that is neither a growl or bark while pawing each other and gaping jaws in the others general direction. Tonight they were playing it lying 6 inches apart pawing the sky.

Paolo grew, we know he grew because the box we used to block a hallway is thin, but 2 feet tall. He climbed up on the support we have holding it in place, and jumped over the barrier then went into the kitchen to get a drink, and came back to the living room. Never mind that both he and Archie have kennels in the living room with a bowl full of clean water.
Robear made the comment that the barrier now was more a suggestion. To which I stated in my best pirate voice, that it really was more like a guideline.

I am sure there will be more Portie stories as life continues with our two beloved demons. Did I mention they are marked almost identically. We have bookends.

I would also like to point out that one of Paolo's favorite chew toys is Paleo.

Nothing beats seeing a corgi grab the scruff on the back of the neck of German Shepperd and use his body to sweep the front legs in a perfect takedown. NOTHING.

boogle wrote:

Nothing beats seeing a corgi grab the scruff on the back of the neck of German Shepperd and use his body to sweep the front legs in a perfect takedown. NOTHING.

"Boobs"

But nothing dog can I bet thats true!

This thread is worth nothing without... Oh, yeah. My job. I'll see if I can get some posted for you guys.

Today it is 70 outside after a snowstorm earlier in the week. The dogs were running in and out of the house onto the deck. Silly us! Archie doesn't play in his water bowl. We discovered Paolo does, the wood floor is soaked! So, the bowls were moved outside and now the deck and the dogs are soaked. It really shouldn't surprize us, they are water dogs. A small puddle is all they need to get wet.

Ro seems to have forgotten the pictures
The puppy has grown and life at the Portie House is entertaining as always. At the moment, their favorite game is to dismantle the couch by pulling the cushions onto the floor, so they can lie on them. When we take them swimming, they try to drown each other by dunking and sitting on each other. I never thought I'd put life preservers on my dogs. Need to find the pictures......

They are also really big into the "I can open my mouth wider" contest.

Robear your continual forgetfulness concerning posting pictures is disappointing. Seth needs mega Friday cuteness now. Googling pictures of portuguese water dogs is not enough!

Paleo, don't forget the , " oh! I bit your toe?!?" I thought it was the other dog.

lol aye, they are a riot. Paolo just bit my foot, pretending he was going after Archie. He and I had a discussion about that.......

Not to mention the "look at me! I'm Quinton Rampage Jackson!".

Here is the album I've set up for your visual delectation. I'd put more pics up, but I can't new ones from the camera as Paolo ate most of the cable I need for the data transfer.

Soooo cute!

Yellek wrote:

Soooo cute!

Thank you Yes, they are loving, cute, and adorable. Please do not let their adorable exteriors fool you. Under all that hair beats a heart that has no off button and cunning little canine minds that think of destructive ways to entertain themselves. We lovingly refer to them as our Daemons, Brats, Troublemakers and the current favorite The Beastie Boys.

Kiri wrote:
Yellek wrote:

Soooo cute!

Thank you Yes, they are loving, cute, and adorable. Please do not let their adorable exteriors fool you. Under all that hair beats a heart that has no off button and cunning little canine minds that think of destructive ways to entertain themselves. We lovingly refer to them as our Daemons, Brats, Troublemakers and the current favorite The Beastie Boys.

Sounds a lot like my monsters (oversize, overhyper, overvocal, cats).

D'aaww! How adorable. I just want to love on them now.

Cordelia is back at the ranch now, but she was definitely the best looking of the three. She was also as dumb as a bag of broken glass.

Paolo is a bit of a bully.

Archie lets him bully him too much.

For a thread titled "Now With Pictures", there are remarkably few pictures on offer.

Well, it's either still photos of sleeping Porties, or Porties sitting waiting for a treat, or blurs. Not much in-between.

Malor wrote:

For a thread titled "Now With Pictures", there are remarkably few pictures on offer.

Please refer to previous post which points out that the Beastie Boys ATE the USB cable to connect the camera to the computer. We only have access to the ones already on the computer

Ah, I didn't see the Album link before -- I was just scanning for in-thread pictures, and was teasing you a little about having none at all. They're cute!

re:chewed cable.... I bought a "universal usb cable" kit from Walmart a couple years ago that's been very handy. It has all the different standard tips (four, I think?), so you can connect just about anything to the computer. It's been real handy for the devices with the teeny-tiny plug that USB soundcard designers all seem to go for. The cable itself is on an autoretracting spool, and it and the tips go into a little cloth bag. IIRC, it was about $15.

LOL thanks Mal. Good to know about the cables. We have been lucky. Paolo's usual choices are the dead monitor cords. This time he got something we still use.

Actually I found another cable to use. I rarely have to buy one, but I did today to connect a printer - the only one I had was 1.1 and it needed 2.0.

Radio Shack wanted to charge me $32.95 for a six foot USB cable, believe it or not. I bought one for $10 in a camera store; still too much but I wanted it today.

We'll shoot some more pics this week and post them.

It has been an exciting few days here at the Portie House. Paolo, the younger of the two dogs, has been at his first show. We acquired him with the understanding that he would be a stud dog for the Breeder and that meant showing him until he achieves his championship. We have been enjoying the experience because we are new to it, and it is still fun. Paolo has spent the weekend hanging out in an RV, sitting in the dashboard window.
We know nothing about dog shows. There is so much more to it than you see on t.v. The shows are designed to have many classes to give the dogs a better chance of getting points to get their championships. A win in your class gets you a point(s). A win for the breed, superceedes the point(s) you got for your class. The number of points given depends on how many dogs are in the class. More points are given for females than males.We entered Paolo in the puppy class age 9 to 12 months. Having been to a show and seeing that many pups were entered, we hoped for one point out of the 3 show days he entered.

Paolo is the only male in the 9-12 month catagory all weekend. By default, he wins his class. He does not get a point because you need at least 2 dogs (male or female) in a class. He was also given the winner ribbon. This enters him in another catagory in addition to the general PWD classification. I think. Still figuring out how all this works. The Breeder has been awesome in teaching us.

Paolo, having won his class, was entered in the best of the PWD round. The judge really liked him. He was not best of breed; however, he won winners best which gave him a point.
So, Paolo won 1 point in his second time EVER in a show ring during his first show. Apparently, this is not a usual occurance. We are thrilled.

Archie has been hanging out at home not happy he isn't getting out and about. Seriously, no kidding. he hasn't blocked the door so we can't get out of the house this time. But I am waiting.

Paolo competed Saturday and Sunday in two other shows. Saturday, he took Reserve - no points. Sunday was a repeat of Friday's success, against different dogs. Won his group and Winners Dog (best of the non-champion Porties, male and female). So he's got two points and is going to go live with the breeder for a bit to get some fancifying done.

We're really proud, it's a very good showing for his first outing.

IMAGE(http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv72/RobearGWJ/th_IMG_0705.jpg)

Here they are at the beach this summer.

IMAGE(http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv72/RobearGWJ/th_IMG_0601.jpg)

Awesomesauce! Glad to hear that the comp went well. As for Paolo, well, Bow-chicka-bow-wow has never been so appropriate it seems

Especially since if he gets his championship, it'll be nookie time!

Time for a Portie update. Paolo has been traveling locally and showing. He has roughly 4 maybe 5 points of his 15 to Champion. He is quite the little prancer in the ring. He has learned to basically show himself as the breeder says. The boys are their usually rowdy selves. Tearing around the house and breaking the occasional item we left to close to an edge.
Porties are mouthy dogs. They will chew on anything. Our house is usually littered with toys/bones. We have noticed that when we buy new toys/bones they disappear after a few days. We discovered while Paolo was away where all the toys/bones have been going. Archie hides them when Paolo is home, and then takes them out of their hiding spots when Paolo is away for a few days.

It's true. After Paolo is gone for a day or two, a pile of bones appears in the living room. Quite amusing.

We found the best chewing bone ever. There's a company that sells harvested deer antlers (not from slaughterhouses, but rather discarded). They cut them into appropriate sizes. They actually smell of deer, and the dogs go nuts for them. And they are incredibly tough, it takes forever to chew down the edges. So if you have a chewer, look up some deer antlers for them.