Remember that puppy Erika Shupe got?

[chosenone]

That woman does not need a dog,, her best bet would be to get a stuffed animal that looks like a dog, oout a collar and leash on it and drag that around,, no crap or piss to worry about,, I have two rescue doxies,, the most stubborn breed known to man,, but we have learned to live with there quarks, they have no problem peeing on the rug if its to cold out in the middle of the night, I would love for her to watch my two for a week,, she would shoot herself,, SMILES

[Deist woman]

I am on my third Shih Tzu now. I know everyone thinks whatever breed they have is the best, but I have to say, these dogs have been ideal for my family. My current little guy is almost 5 years old. He weighs just a shade over 8 pounds. He did only minimal chewing as a puppy (chewed the corner of a wall; why, I don't know, but left some teeth marks that were easily repaired. He is not a hyper, yappy dog, but he will sure let you know if a stranger comes to the door.

When he came to us, he was already paper trained, because the breeder raised all of the puppies around other dogs, and they learned to use the pad, and to do outside, by example of the other dogs. I have to confess, I just let him use the pads all the time. We moved from Florida to Wyoming, and there is no way I'd expect a dog with 6 inch legs to try to loosen up enough to pee in 8 inch snow. :lol: He is the ideal lap dog. He believes playing fetch is as necessary as breathing. He also loves to lie in our laps while we watch TV or read. I get him groomed once a month, but if I had to, I could manage it at home. I did his grooming until a stretch of ill health slowed me down.

I have been trying to get another Shih Tzu, but they are very rare in this state, and the cost of those are outrageous, since they are supposed to be Champion stock. I don't plan to breed or show the puppy, so I don't see the need of paying that much for a show breed. I was going to get another puppy from my dog's breeder back in Florida, but we just missed a litter, and she doesn't plan to breed anymore. I've checked into rescue dogs; I'd be happy to have a mutt, but it has to be a small mutt, and small ones are rare around here.

My adult son has a chocolate lab. The sweetest dog ever, and very smart. But her chewing stage was so bad, that I kept a cardboard box, and everything she chewed went into it, and I charged son to replace them. She ate 4 TV remotes, and 2 cell phones, in addition to the usual shoes and belts. Now that she is grown up, she doesn't chew anymore. And she is totally housebroken (we DO expect her to go outside for her business, snow or no snow; I am not cleaning up Labrador pee pads. :lol: ))

You have to expect that with a new puppy, just as it is with a new baby, you are going to be cleaning up a LOT of messes. They are cute and lovable, but your patience is going to be tested.

[whoviana]

I would think that in a family with that many kids, a Golden Retriever would probably be more fitting. However, they're big dogs and they SHED like mad. I've informed my mister that when (heaven forbid) our old man crosses the rainbow bridge, we will be getting a golden (from rescue of course!). HOPEFULLY we have many more years to love on our old man before then. He's about 11 now and just as spry as a pup.

Goldies are really child-, and family friendly, nurturing and caring dogs. I've seen goldies adopt and nurse cats, porcupines, abandoned puppies and they are a huge ball of bouncy love. They are great and patient with kids.

[SnazzyNazzy]

We have a Pom-a-chon, who is just a doll baby. She is going to the vet next week, to see if she has a collapsed trachea, which I guess happens fairly often with Pomeranians :( .

[moodygirl86]

I have a serious head cold, and you just made me cough up a lung reading that. Now THAT'S cruel. :lol:

Thanks for this 16strong. I was starting to feel really depressed reading about this dreadful woman, and you've at least put a smile back on my chops. Hope you feel better soon!

[Aggie2145]

Goldies are really child-, and family friendly, nurturing and caring dogs. I've seen goldies adopt and nurse cats, porcupines, abandoned puppies and they are a huge ball of bouncy love. They are great and patient with kids.

I second the Goldie love (but really, how could you not love that face!) They are also very eager to please and take great pride in good behavior. My mom is part of a Goldie Rescue organization that fosters them until they find a forever home and she can have as many as six at a time (her two and four fosters.) They shed like it is going out of style and she sweeps and vacuums at least three times a day.

However, as sweet and obedient as adult Goldens are, they still have a puppy phase and you have to be diligent in your training. My mom will take in raucous 6 month old goldies who were too much for their first family to handle and match them with forever families three months later. However, she will be the first to tell you that it took every day of her time with that dog to un-train their bad habits and teach them proper behavior.

I have only owned one Shih Tzu in my life, an eight year old that I received from a family friend who entered a nursing home. The dog ate a special frozen raw diet and was litter box trained (which completely freaked my cat out for a few weeks.) She lived a happy life until she lost her battle with heart disease. But she would not have been so well behaved if she was not the center of her owner's attention during the puppy stage.

[princessmahina]

The kids? Yes. BUt Bob seems just as bad as Erika (hell he puts up with her shit, and from the blog he seems to be a conspiracy theorist).

Send the kids to live with the since cut off MIL (who shows them what love is).

Do you have any examples of him being a conspiracy theorist? From what little I've seen of him, he seems a bit dim. This sounds interesting.

[NellieBell]

I called her on the dog yesterday on FB,, I told her I suspect the reason you got rid of it because it didn't fit in our perfect world,, she replied that ,, wouldbt you want a dog that fit in the family, to which I said,, yes,, but if its not biting the kids or making a mess which you can train not to do, then what you did was disgusting,, and I asked her how many dogs is this that you tossed out, of course the whole thing is gone today,, I hate that witch worse then LA smile wink FU

Thank you for calling her out. I sometimes wish I had FB just for situations like this. The more I've thought about how she handled both of those dogs, the angrier I've become. She disrupted a bunch of lives over something that may have corrected itself with time, training, patience and love. Traumatizing the dogs and possibly her kids. Someone should tell her that she probably gave away (or sold) her best friend just because they couldn't adapt to her schedule and perfect pet vision quickly enough. Or not, I'm sure the dogs have better taste than that. I wonder if she had the chance, if she'd done the same with her kids? Our three fur kids are family. I just can't fathom doing what she did. She's like the Fundie version of Mommy Dearest.

[feministxtian]

I second the Goldie love (but really, how could you not love that face!) They are also very eager to please and take great pride in good behavior. My mom is part of a Goldie Rescue organization that fosters them until they find a forever home and she can have as many as six at a time (her two and four fosters.) They shed like it is going out of style and she sweeps and vacuums at least three times a day.

However, as sweet and obedient as adult Goldens are, they still have a puppy phase and you have to be diligent in your training. My mom will take in raucous 6 month old goldies who were too much for their first family to handle and match them with forever families three months later. However, she will be the first to tell you that it took every day of her time with that dog to un-train their bad habits and teach them proper behavior.

I have only owned one Shih Tzu in my life, an eight year old that I received from a family friend who entered a nursing home. The dog ate a special frozen raw diet and was litter box trained (which completely freaked my cat out for a few weeks.) She lived a happy life until she lost her battle with heart disease. But she would not have been so well behaved if she was not the center of her owner's attention during the puppy stage.

I have a friend with two goldens. Good grief...the male...the 100lb behemoth thinks he's an itty bitty teacup poodle. Its fun to be sitting on the couch and suddenly have this beast laying across your lap. The female is the same.

Dogs of any breed take LOTS of attention, training and love during their puppyhood. I've raised many puppies over my life, of many different breeds. They were ALL active and sort of destructive as puppies...they all had to be taught good doggie behavior. It takes TIME to train a pup. When we got Anakin, I took a week off from work to spend time with him when we got him (I had PTO). For the first 6 months of his life, even though he was crated overnight, his crate was next to my bed. I spent many nights sleeping on the floor with my hand inside his crate. My back hated me (hardwood floors) but my dog loved it. He learned that I would always be there. To this day (almost 6 years later), he's MY dog. When we got Yoda, even though he was an adult, he slept with my boys every night. He had been abandoned and had severe separation anxiety, afraid that we wouldn't come back if we left. The boys sleeping with him gave him a sense of security and he doesn't have separation anxiety anymore. He KNOWS we're coming back. Maybe that's why they don't freak out every time we move.

My kids have learned how to treat critters from the example that we set. My older son adopted 2 senior dogs who had been relinquished just because they had gotten old. My son made sure their lives were FULL of love and when the time came for them to cross the rainbow bridge, he was right there. I remember him calling me crying like a baby when they had to be put down...this is my 27 year old tough guy combat vet son. He had them cremated and has their urns and pictures of them on his dresser. He now has Jack and Sabot...rescues and spoiled rotten. My daughter is the crazy cat lady. She has 3 cats...rescues and spoiled rotten. My younger son and his wife have Princess, a former stray who is God knows how old. She's spoiled rotten too.

Erika's kids will learn that pets are disposable. That's a shitty thing to teach kids.

PS...my parents raised and trained GSDs. We had a female...her name was Penny. She was MY dog in a HUGE way. She died when I was 19 (31 years ago) and I STILL miss her like crazy. I miss all the critters that crossed the rainbow bridge in my lifetime.

[slickcat79]

Since they insist on getting a dog. A family like this would fair better to adopt a young adult dog from a foster family. Erica has certain expectations and since every dog is a unique individual creature, she may be able to find a dog in the 1-3 year range with a more fully formed personality and temperament . She is buying into the belief that she can mold a puppy to be whatever she wants and that isn't always the case. She also won't let go of the idea of owning a shitzu which is silly, there are probably plenty of dogs in rescue that would blend more easily into her family that are past the puppy stage. That will never happen so let's see how many failed attempts at new puppy's this family tries before throwing in the towel. What a terrible lesson for the kids.

This. Erika claims that people should want a dog that fits their family, but it should be pretty obvious to her that a shih tzu is unlikely to be a good fit. She wants to take a dog that multiple people have warned her against and shape it to match her ridiculous standards, which will not happen ever.

[happy atheist]

She is also a shoe chewer and as a puppy ate an entire papier mache statue of a conquistador that I brought back from central America. So again, I had to modify my behavior and keep those sorts of things out of her reach.

I'm picturing a house full of papier mache statues, all kept up on high shelves away from the doggies. :lol:

Goldies are really child-, and family friendly, nurturing and caring dogs. I've seen goldies adopt and nurse cats, porcupines, abandoned puppies and they are a huge ball of bouncy love. They are great and patient with kids.

Mine is made entirely of atomic energy and loose fur. She's an enthusiastic jumper, and it's been a real challenge trying to curb that behavior. We're making slow progress. But she loves snow more than I have ever loved anything in my life, and it's hilarious to watch her snowplow her way through it, and leap up to catch snowflakes, and growl at snowmen.

[Chowder Head]

We have a Pom-a-chon, who is just a doll baby. She is going to the vet next week, to see if she has a collapsed trachea, which I guess happens fairly often with Pomeranians :( .

I am sorry to hear this about your baby. Unfortunately collapsed trachea can be common in most small breeds.

[eh02]

How many dogs is this woman going to get before she finally realizes she should just NOT HAVE A DOG? What's going to possibly be different about the third one? All puppies wreck things, pee everywhere, eat the worst possible things, keep you up at night, get sick...my dog was 1 year when I got him and STILL had puppy behaviors until he hit about 3. He was housebroken, but still had strong urges to chew, would get into the trash, had tons of energy. That is NORMAL. He's a mutt and I still probably paid $2000 in vet bills in the first few years I had him for allergies and all sorts of random things.

I'm new to this woman and just looked her up on FB. Two 4 year old little girls in a little 4x4 play yard. Don't even know what to say. Wish anything could surprise me anymore, but FJ taught me to know better.

[Koala]

What the fuck is that contraption she has her 4 year old daughters locked in?????? That's ridiculous! :evil:

An idiot who shall remain nameless asked:

How old are they and how do you get them to stay in the play yard????

Erica's reply:

Training. And they've been doing it since they were 6 months old. But they still need reminders to stay there unless they've asked permission to get out, to go potty or something. They're actually a bit old to have it enclosed around them (age 4); usually we just put it up against the family room like a wall to remind them that that's where they're supposed to be playing. But since we rearranged the furniture and put in hard wood floors they've needed too many reminders that they're supposed to stay in the family room at certain times, so I'm enclosing it again in a circle for a while until they see that the family rules haven't changed and choose to submit. *chuckle*

It's like crate training for kids. :angry-banghead: WHO the fuck has nearly a dozen kids on purpose and then doesn't let them roam freely about the house?????

[eh02]

What the fuck is that contraption she has her 4 year old daughters locked in?????? That's ridiculous! :evil:

An idiot who shall remain nameless asked:

Erica's reply:

It's like crate training for kids. :angry-banghead: WHO the fuck has nearly a dozen kids on purpose and then doesn't let them roam freely about the house?????

I think the thing that is so creepy about parents like this is that they "train" their kids just for the sake of wanting them to be "trained." It doesn't really matter if they are asking them to do something that is for their own good or for no reason at all. Just that they obey indiscriminately.

All parents have some things they are strict about obedience on. Like "training" your kid not to run into the street where they could be hit by a car. Because you are teaching them something that keeps them safe. But WTF are you training your kid to do when you put two of them together in a tiny playpen like an animal? What skill exactly is that supposed to give them? Uhg. It's like making them stand on one foot with a book balanced on their head for an hour just so you can run to facebook and brag about how well trained they are, like they're fcking circus monkeys.

[feministxtian]

When my kids were small I was the "queen of baby gates". We lived in a split level house so there were gates at the top of the steps, the kitchen doorway and at the bottom of the steps. The gates were mostly to keep the younger ones corralled on one level of the house or out of the kitchen. Once my youngest hit 4 or so, most of the gates came down. The one to the kitchen was the last one.

Heck, I've got baby gates up now...to keep the dogs out of the formal living room/dining room...GBD has a bad habit of getting into trouble if he's not watched. HOWEVER...I don't think I'd put 2 4 year olds in a playpen...geez Erika...loosen up.

[feministxtian]

OT....there's a picture on Erika's FB of Erika's husband and one of their daughters that is just creepy

[ILoveJellybeans]

She puts her 4 year olds in a playpen like babies??? That's weird. The only reason to put a child in a playpen or put gates up is to keep babies too young to understand how to keep themselves out of danger, from getting into anything that is harmful. Four year olds can understand not to touch the oven, and to not do things such as pull all the books off the shelf, so why contain them? Let them play where they want to in the house. They shouldn't need permission to leave their cage to go to the toilet. Also there is hardly any space in that for two pre-schoolers, if it was a cage for animals, it would be considered overcrowded.

[Howl]

I'm so hoping this woman never gets it into her head to adopt a baby or a child.

[divadivine]

If anyone was a big Gilmore Girls fan, you'll remember the dog Jason had that didn't bark or move unless commanded. I think Jason said he was trained by Monks. That is the kind of dog Erika wants. That dog only exists on the set of a TV show because the trainer has worked for a very long time with the dog. Erika doesn't want to do the work with the dog. She wants a perfect pet. Instantly.

I cannot believe she coops those two 4 year olds up in a play area all day. My 3 year old goddaughter would freak out if she couldn't move around the house freely & get to the bathroom without asking to get out of the play yard. The only time she's been contained was when she slept in the crib or a pack-n-play (when she would visit me for a night & that was a safe place for her to sleep). Even when she was little the only places she couldn't go in the house were the bathroom & the basement stairs. Those were blocked with baby gates.

Erika you're a control freak who doesn't need to have pets or children. *smile*

[Loveday]

When my kids were small I was the "queen of baby gates". We lived in a split level house so there were gates at the top of the steps, the kitchen doorway and at the bottom of the steps. The gates were mostly to keep the younger ones corralled on one level of the house or out of the kitchen. Once my youngest hit 4 or so, most of the gates came down. The one to the kitchen was the last one.

Heck, I've got baby gates up now...to keep the dogs out of the formal living room/dining room...GBD has a bad habit of getting into trouble if he's not watched. HOWEVER...I don't think I'd put 2 4 year olds in a playpen...geez Erika...loosen up.

I was big on baby gates when my two were little as well. The stairs, the kitchen doorways (no actual doors, just archways), sometimes the living room (which was a big playroom at the time). All to simply keep them safe and away from really dangerous areas. The rest of the downstairs was theirs to roam freely. I did use a playpen a few times: the one my parents had used with me, a wooden playpen from the 1950s. It wasn't the safest thing, but we mostly put the kids into it to take pictures of them in Mom's 'antique.' :lol: I never left them alone when they were in it. And they certainly weren't in it when they were FOUR! :angry-banghead:

[Hane]

Unless laminate flooring has greatly improved in the past five years, she better pray a kid doesn't puke on it, or a bucket of water spills or a dishwasher leaks etc. because unless you're there with towels in hand the minute it happens, that pricey laminate curls up when wet. I rue the day I chose to replace our linoleum with it and it's leaving as soon as I can afford hardwood. She'd go ape shit crazy if a puppy piddled and no one got to it in time.

Yup and yup. I had a laminate floor in my kitchen when I got my puppy, so I temporarily covered it with a sheet of vinyl flooring. Years later, when I remodeled the kitchen, I went for vinyl flooring. My Peke is nearly 12, and she still doesn't have the housebreaking thing down.

[OkToBeTakei]

What the fuck is that contraption she has her 4 year old daughters locked in?????? That's ridiculous! :evil:

An idiot who shall remain nameless asked:

Erica's reply:

It's like crate training for kids. :angry-banghead: WHO the fuck has nearly a dozen kids on purpose and then doesn't let them roam freely about the house?????

She loves to cage/restrain her kids for her own 'training' purposes. Way back in one of her posts of a family camp trip one wee boy was' 'disobedient.' She had him tethered so he could not wander beyond a certain distance. She also had kids in highchairs purely because she could restrain them rather than actual need (I recall around age 3 or 4.)

The other one that comes to mind was some day trip where 'the older' kids were having fun (some kind of farm fair) but the younger children were too young to behave *chuckle* She had them strapped up in pushchairs. Again they were probably 3 or 4 ...Dog? Never mind owning a dog this women should not be allowed kids.

[PennySycamore]

That woman does not need a dog,, her best bet would be to get a stuffed animal that looks like a dog, oout a collar and leash on it and drag that around,, no crap or piss to worry about,, I have two rescue doxies,, the most stubborn breed known to man,, but we have learned to live with there quarks, they have no problem peeing on the rug if its to cold out in the middle of the night, I would love for her to watch my two for a week,, she would shoot herself,, SMILES

If you've ever seen or read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, then you know that the kind of dog that Erika needs is an invisible one like the guy does in the book. They used to sell these stiffened leashes and collars that looked like you were walking an invisible dog and that's what this guy had. Lots of colorful characters in the book.

[catlady]

here's my dog story: my 5-yr-old gray lab was a high-maintenance puppy for about 2 years. we tried to crate-train him, but from day one (no lie), he barked for a minimum of half an hour, until he fell asleep. which meant he kept me awake until midnight every night, and then he woke up around 430 when Mr Catlady got up for work, and barked until I let him out. this went on Every.Single.Day. for three months. it mostly stopped when we took down the crate and replaced it with a gate system in the kitchen. this gave him 3-4 times the space, with no cover. it cost over $200, but in time Puppy learned how to chew on the gate latch and let himself out. so we closed it with cable ties. and he chewed off the cable ties and let himself out. it turns out he's claustrophobic. the kennel helped us determine this after the vacation where he chewed off his own collar and licked a bald spot onto his leg. he stayed in a kennel only one other time during a family emergency and gave himself another bald spot. (it's a nervous reaction)

he is also the only Lab I've known who hates to get wet. he will not swim, avoids the hose, and refuses to go outside in the rain.

Erika "Loser" Shupe would have given him away after a week since he is nowhere near his breed standards.