I can't believe she's a year old already! Seems like you just got here!
Love the pictures!

This is my 4 1/2 year old Dalmatian, Pongo.
He was a Christmas present from my parents in 2007. I guess his most distinguishing characteristics are his eyes. It's hard to tell in this picture, but his left eye is brown, while his right eye is blue. It's not uncommon in Dalmatians, but it sure makes him stand out!

What a handsome dog! He is absolutely gorgeous!

Thank you very much! He appreciates the compliments!

AstroWolfD, that's a handsome dog, it's so cool that his eyes are different colors, I didn't know that dalmations could have different eye colors, but I think it's really cool

today is exactly one year since Lucy first entered my life and I guess she decided to remind me of that this morning cause she woke me up at 5 am with a shrill loud squeak (or maybe she just wanted to be the first to wish me a happy birthday....I don't know). And she wouldn't calm down till I had gotten up and given her a good breakfast, she has been eating a shameful lot these days. Demanding, spoiled little piggie ah well, I have no one to blame but myself. I try to let her out of the cage everyday to let her run around on me bed for excersize, sometimes I forget cause I'm out most of the days, but for the most part I remember. It's so funny to see her climb about and hide inbetween my pillows and soft toys. I'll try to get a video here sometimes soon

wild rose,
I didn't realize that you got Lucy on your birthday! How exciting! I would *never* spoil my animals...yes, that is sarcasm! My dogs are spoiled, especially Teyla. So, I can understand indulging her!

LOL ramagut, when I first read that I was like 'huh, you don't spoil you animals.....' but then I got the joke

I don't know if Lucy started eating more, or if they started started packing less feed into the package, at any rate, feed that used to last a month....doesn't last a month anymore

I need some help with my dog. She's taken to barking in the middle of the night and it's got my parents pretty furious at her. I can't bring her inside because that creates it's own issues. It's to the point I may have to find a new home for her, but she's 11 so finding her a new home won't be an easy thing to do.

Any suggestions, tips? Help!

kat, I really don't know what to tell you, but I'm sure there is some retraining involved. I would visit dog training websites searching for some help.

I walked her last night and apparently dad timed her. She only barked about 20 minutes. Today I took her to a dog park for the first time. Thankfully there were only two other dogs there. She did pretty well for about 20 minutes and then she started getting so wound up she was on the verge of completely not listening and aggravating one of the other dogs so we called it a day. We went over to the little dog side for about 5 more minutes since there weren't any other dogs in there. They just opened this dog park about 10 minutes from me. Rev doesn't do well in the car. All other dog parks are a minimum of 20 + minutes away and all are really crowded. This one may very well get that way, but at least there's a small window to introduce her to it.

I'm going to try the wear her out method right now. Someone I talked to also suggested that we try the water method since she hates water. Take a water bottle and spray her in the nose and tell her No like you would with a cat. The real problem is she is probably bored. So we'll see what happens next.

She did pretty well for about 20 minutes and then she started getting so wound up she was on the verge of completely not listening and aggravating one of the other dogs so we called it a day.

My dogs never listened when we were in the dog parks--I have been told by many owners that is the point; to let them be dogs!
However, aggravating other dogs is not really a good idea unless they are playing.
And at 20 minutes, she was just getting warmed up! I usually stayed around an hour. Of course, that's after they got used to the park.

Rev's been wheezing lately so I haven't been walking her lately. The dog she was aggravating had had a very bad experience in a dog park when they were young and I didn't want either dog to have a bad experience especially because I've never had to deal with an aggressive Rev. I'm pretty sure Rev just wanted to play, but she was being more physical than the other dog was comfortable with. She's always been a very friendly dog. I'm hoping to expand the time to about an hour the more familiar she gets with the place. If it's not raining tomorrow, I'm going to take her again also in the a.m. so hopefully there won't be too many dogs around again. After we've been there a few times, I'm considering bumping the trip later in the day where there will probably be more dogs around to see how she does.

Sounds like a plan.

My little snots have been getting away from me the last couple of days when we are out on walks. With my surgery on my knee, I don't have the same ability, evidently, to hold on to them.
Chester's not so bad, because he was picked up by the animal rescue in a truck stop parking lot and who knows how long he had been there, so he does have some common sense.
Teyla, on the other hand, has been coddled by me since she was 2 months old and she has no common sense. And with the interstate being at the end of our apartment complex, I'm terrified that she will get hurt.
Anyway, they have been sleeping well the past several nights!

We have a dog park here, but it's in the middle of this huge county park and there is no shade and it's just not real accessible or enjoyable.

I hope they start behaving for you better. I know what you mean about dog parks that are hard to get to. Up until this one opened, all the dog parks were over 20 minutes away. Rev hasn't learned that riding in the car is easier when she lays down yet. She stands, so she wobbles all over the place including off the seat.

We went back to the dog park this morning. We were all by our lonesome, but I think she had fun. We made it somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes today. I walked the path and she wandered around behind and in front of me.

That's what I would do when there were no other dogs in the dog park, otherwise my dogs didn't seem to know what to do. They would just stand there looking at me!