Hi all... I just about froze my bulbs off outside! Its so cold! I walked to the liquor store (I'm making the wife hot buttered rum tonight!) and thought by walking I'm saving wear and tear on the car and not burning dinos... and it isn't a far walk but now I'm sooo cold! Its hard being green when you're blue. I had to go to Lowes today-- pathetic offering. Paperwhites! Pffft! I'm glad there are other double junkies. I'm not ashamed of it at all. Kristi I don't know how many bulbs I have now... when I de-potted my bulbs a bunch of babies broke off so they are technically bulbs...though not blooming size yet. They all went into a big communal pot to keep growing. I think Picotee and Ragtime both broke off two pretty big babies that I think could be blooming size in a year. I think from now on, as I grow them, I will offer up spare babies to you guys here. I just haven't the room. But I will keep just enough on hand that should one give the ghost, I'll have a spare. Off to the gym before we hit the rum ;o) Ryan

deb18 What a sad but typical story. These people obviously couldn't care for one dog. Many people of this type decide to obtain several dogs to abuse and neglect. Perhaps if owners were required to take a class, pass a test, and pay for a license these people wouldn't have killed that dog or endangered your family with the vicious dog they created. Perhaps if the laws were more preventive rather than reactive these people wouldn't be allowed to own a dog or own a vicious dog. The laws as they were written weren't able to help the dog nor were they able to protect your family. The laws aren't very responsive after a tragedy either. Those dog owners would have a right to their dog even if it attacked your kids, you, or your pets. They have a right to that dog and a chance to harm the dog and the community again. They might get a stern lecture, a small fine, and then they get to break the law again. The community is not protected nor is the dog protected. You were lucky in one area - the dog didn't attack you or your kids. You chose not to directly confront the dog owners and the humane society didn't make the situation worse by revealing that you complained about how they don't care for their dog. In many communities animal control won't do anything to help the dog or the community but will go out and talk to the dog owners that are abusing/neglecting their dogs and reveal who complained. This does nothing for the dog as they are unwilling to help the dog. Often the unstable dog owners will start to harass their neighbors, shouting at their neighbor, vandalizing their neighbor's property, threatening their neighbor etc. Animal control believes that these dog owners are reasonable people who just don't know how to care for their pets and will shape up with some education or that these people are just innocent dog owners that are persecuted by their neighbors. Under current laws these people have a right to own a dog or dogs even if they aren't taking care of the dog or dogs. Your lucky you moved after the dog died and before they got more dogs. My neighbors trained their dogs to bark constantly. Their dogs became vicious of course and eventually attacked a child. They got rid of the dogs a few months after the attack and got about a half dozen smaller barking dogs. I had no break in between to sell my house - despite all the dog owners out there no one seems to want a house next door to half a dozen dogs that bark constantly. Maybe their should be zoning neighborhoods for dogs and neighborhoods for people. Ideally people would only own dogs if they properly care for the dogs. Those that couldn't care for the dogs would have their dogs immediately seized to be either adopted by a responsible owner or euthanized. Those dogs who aren't owned by professional breeders or dogs that are unsuitable for breeding should be spayed or neutered. There are way too many dogs and cats compared to people and its even worse when you narrow it down to responsible and knowledgable people who want to own and are willing and able to care for a dog or cat.

Well, here's what I found after a quick search. There's more, but these are a starting point: For Dallas residents who live in the following zip codes: 75203, 75211,75212, 75216, 75217, 75224, 75227, 75228, 75232, 75233, 75236, 75237, 75241, 75253: To qualify for a free spay/neuter surgery, you need to live in one of the above Dallas zip codes and earn less than $35,000 per year. Please call 972-669-5000 MAC (Metroplex Animal Coalition), to receive a coupon for a free spay/neuter for your pet's surgery OR you can download the forms from their websiste, www.metroplexanimalcoalition.org Humane Society of Dallas County 2179 Manor Way Dallas, TX 75235 214-350-7387 HSDC offers a low cost spay/neuter program. Guardians may call and receive a voucher for a low cost spay or neuter good up to the amount on the certificate and HSDC will reimburse the veterinarian for the value of the certificate. For example, the guardian receives a voucher for $30 and takes the dog or cat to a local veterinarian who charges $40 for a spay. The guardian pays $10 and HSDC pays $30. Spay Neuter Your Pet (SNYP) PO Box 29435 Dallas, TX 75229 214-349-7697 Discount certificates for pet spay/neuter in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. SPCA of Texas- Dallas Martin Spay/Neuter Clinic Dallas, TX 214-651-9611 ext 116 or 133 Low cost spay/neuter. Also, for pets of qualified low income people, there are low cost veterinary services. Here is a link that might be useful: S/N

It is not "normal" for a puppy to be defensive, but he is a little guy and only just started receiving kindness when you got him. I don't have an opinion on whether this pup is really aggressive. There are so many different reasons for a dog to respond with snarling, etc. Resource guarding is very specific behavior and may not be an issue beyond resources. Resource guarding is different from dog aggression and you would need an experienced trainer or behaviorist to determine that and the strategies to deal with it. He should be neutered as soon as medically possibly. That would be at 6 months, I think. One key in dog training is to set up the puppy for success BEFORE you need to correct undesirable behavior. Raising your voice is not a correction for an untrained dog, and verbal corrections don't need to be loud, anyway. So instead of just putting them together and verbally correcting him, supervise their interactions and reward him profusely for appropriate behavior. Just putting them together on one bowl is not really training, and a moment could go south in a second. And he would not apply the experience of "sharing" a bowl of food with "sharing" in general. He might instead learn that he has to compete to get what he wants. He should learn to eat only on command, and that really needs professional guidance with a trainer if you are not familiar with how to train this. Training a puppy is very complicated. It is way easier to train proper behavior than untrain bad behavior, so doing this now is a good investment of time. Do NOT apply Milan-style training ever. Trying to train a dog by copying Milan is like trying to drive a race car after watching NASCAR. Dogs, especially puppies, learn more with positive reinforcement than negative corrections and domination. Good luck, and thank you so much for seeing how important this little guy's life is.