It's Mr. Pepper at The Kimber Modern, the hotel where we stayed when we were in Austin, Texas the week before Christmas. I thought I'd accidentally deleted these photos, but I see I had them in my laptop, which I hadn't used since the trip.
It's nice to see these pics, especially as we endure the super-cold winter days. I'm using the laptop this morning because the furnace malfunctioned. The boiler is fine, so the rooms with the radiators are unusually warm, but the desktop, my preferred work spot, is in one of the furnace-heated rooms, and even with a space heater under the desk and overflow heat from the adjacent rooms with radiators, it's still only 55° at nose level. That wouldn't be so bad, but at foot level, it's much colder. The repairman is scheduled to arrive now, if not sooner, and the problem is luckily limited to part of the house.
But it's nice to look back on the warm days in Texas, and this sturdy little dog, who, Meade says, has my hairstyle. I didn't really get Yorkshire terriers before. I thought they were cute, lovable lapdogs, but this was an athletic, self-contained individual, not nervous or needy, but solid and affectionate:
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If I could put a Lab's personality into a Yorkie, it would be hands down my favorite dog. If you were to put a Yorkie's personality into a Lab's body, you would soon have to shoot it.
Tim, I think Mr Pepper is the Yorkie you describe. What personality traits do you want? This dog was calm and dignified, tolerant of affection but not too emotional.
Remember that every dog has its inner wolf just wanting to bust out and howl.
Try a miniature labradoodle - poodle habits with lab love. Plus no shedding - it's hair, not fur.
I was big dog person until we got our little (24 lbs) guy.
Let us know when Mr. Pepper finishes grad school and gets his doctorate.
-XC
Little dogs are great, my sister has a half ShihTzu , half Maltese named Maggie. She is tender hearted, yet brave, not a yapper and has a comical scruffy face, similar to this liitle guy.
Another great smaller breed is a Cavapoo. Adorable teddy bear face, intelligent and excellent personality. Cavapoo's are half St.Charles Cavalier Spaniel and half poodle.
Oh forgot say that my daughter and son in law got one, a Cavapoo, for my grandkids last fall. His name is Auggie, so adorable. A really good small dog.
I would like a Yorkie that does not run away, the way a Lab sticks around even without a leash.
I would like a Yorkie that comes when you call him, even if you don't have bacon in your hand.
I would like a Yorkie that didn't require a dog whisperer to teach it to behave properly.
I would like a Yorkie that doesn't whine at three AM because he is hungry, and doesn't need a degree in dog behavior to break him of the habit.
I guess the Lab just is just more eager to please and smart enough to figure out what will please.
But the Yorkies don't shed like a Lab, which is a huge plus, I admit.
Right, and the Cavapoo is sometimes a Mangiapoo.
Maybe I have an exceptional Lab and had a lousy Yorkie.
A fair number of little dogs are insecure and have difficult dispositions. And yet, the members of the same breeds that don't have those tendencies are not only pleasant, but extraordinarily likeable. I notice this most with Chihuahuas. I've yet to meet one that I felt indifferent about- they are either wonderful or terrible.
We had rottweiller setter cross for 11 years. 120 lbs. Best disposition, great with even toddlers. We now have a poddle terrier mix. Great cuddle dog and still OK with kids, not as nice as our big one. Wife loved to walk the big lug, always got massive amounts of respect. I think she likes the cuddler more.
Pugs are miniature labs. They don't look it, but they act it.
What's the old saw? People who look like their dogs? You two are a matched set. @Meade - Query: You a big dog or a small dog guy?
"this was an athletic, self-contained individual"
There aren't that many true toy breeds; most of those dog breeds now kept as companions were bred to do real work until quite recently. Yorkies are no exception. They were bred as ratters, to work alone and make their won decisions. Athletic and self-contained are to be expected.
Good looking fella! I have 3 Havanese that are about the same size. Best dogs I've ever had.
I will say for my Yorkie that he was not slouch at killing chickens. People don't realize that they were bred to kill things. Labs, on the other hand, are bred to be able to be trained, for example, not to kill a duck when retrieving it.
Inga,
"Little dogs are great if they don't squeak"
FIFY. :-)
CStanley,
Interest observation about chihuahuas. Formerly I despised them (see reference to squeaky above) but my oldest actually has one that's pretty chill.
Althouse,
Where do you get all these other-people's-dogs??? :-) Seems like an endless supply...
Not much of a little-dog-kissing-my-face fan. My folk's ShihTzu bit through my upper lip, when, what I thought we were doing was giving each other a little peck. I was very wrong.
Kirk- It's not the squeaking that bothers me about the bad chihuahuas...it's the attacking I'm a vet, and I would rank them among the highest difficulty to restrain for procedures. Sometimes even those bad eggs are fine when taken out of the room from the owners though, because sometimes the problem is that they are so fiercely overprotective of their people.
I'm a big dog guy, never met a small dog that wasn't a yappy bitey mess.
Best dog I ever had was a Shepard-Weimaraner mix. Great disposition, smart, super cute. Shedded like fur sprinkler and as I get older I have less tolerance for the pet mess. But he was a great dog and almost 20 years later I still miss him.
This dog belonged to someone who ran the hotel. I've been in other hotels that had a hotel dog. On the drive home we stopped at a Holiday Inn that had a dog at the front desk. It was a terrier named Holiday. At the Ritz Carlton where we stayed in Colorado when we got married they had a Lab named Batchelor who you could take out for a walk.
Your first time!
With a Yorkie!
Decent dog but you had so many better choices in the neighborhood.
They must feel like the boys did when you went off to college.
"Query: You a big dog or a small dog guy?"
Meadium.
Time to add that rescue dogs are the best. The two I mentioned were the result of lots of looking, personality mostly. Wanted med to small size, the big one fooled the vet that we had check him out.
Added advantage that Heinz 57 dogs don't carry the same risky genetic problems as the pure breds
Wow, the Kimber Modern has nosebleed prices - $265 for the Courtyard or Balcony and $340 for the 450 sf White Suite.
Then there is the other way to find a South Congress rental dwelling for just $110 per night.
But the Kimber Modern includes Mr. Pepper . . . and breakfast.
CStanley,
"It's not the squeaking that bothers me "
Oh, so you're a victim of profound, early hearing loss? :-)
Kirk- more like selective hearing loss from years of tuning it out. :-)
We are on our fourth Yorkie, we love them. I think they reflect how they are raised. Ours are not yappy little lapdogs. They are intelligent, playful terriers, as they are supposed to be. The one we have now will be our last as we are pretty old to be raising a dog that can live to a very ripe old age. We looked very hard to find an oversize Yorkie from a legitimate breeder because we were afraid a small puppy might be injured by elderly people tripping over it. We found one in Johnson City and we have loved her for 5 years now. She is not the smartest one we have had but that could be because we don't spend as much time on teaching hand signals and names of things as we did on the others. She does know her toys by name and I have taught her to come to me by just motioning with the come sign you would use with anybody. We know they were bred for ratting, but even though she digs and digs for them she has never yet caught one of the many gophers who get me into the Caddyshack mode of blowing up the lawn. Oh, for a killer Yorkie.
Perhaps because they're so portable, it's very easy to bond closely to a little dog. If they're a dachshund.
I can't believe, you Ann, a law professor, have never held a dog on your lap before. As many dog pictures that you take?
(the other kev)
Golden Retrievers have an awesome temperament, but they believe they're lap dogs.
One of my ex-girlfriends owned eight.
Loved them all, but I discovered I like breathing more.
I have a borkie (bichon/yorkie) whom I love dearly. She has all the peachy/apricot notes of the Yorkie without the blue notes, her hair doesn't know whether to be curly like a bichon or straight like a yorkie so she always looks like she has a bad hair day. Her ears, too, don't know whether to be bichon ears (round and floppy) or yorkie (pointed and upright). Her's are pointed and floppy. And she's always "putting her head on sideways". So darn cute.
I agree with Rockport Conservative. Yorkies can be great dogs, and my Yorkie was well loved by most of the family, but you need to teach them, to train them. They don't just come out of the bitch well behaved.
A Doberman is a lap dog for a few weeks.
They're always happy to nestle in a floor-constructed lap though.
"Wow, the Kimber Modern has nosebleed prices - $265 for the Courtyard or Balcony and $340 for the 450 sf White Suite. Then there is the other way to find a South Congress rental dwelling for just $110 per night. But the Kimber Modern includes Mr. Pepper . . . and breakfast."
We took a Courtyard room but next time we'll probably spring for the White Suite because it has: 1. a king size bed, 2. a beautiful bathtub in addition to a shower, and 3. Its own private deck.
But the courtyard room was great, and when you walk out the door, you're on the deck you see pictured, which has a big live oak tree growing up through it, and a large common room next to it with floor to ceiling glass walls. The common room has an expresso/capuccino/latte machine, always available and free, and there is a beautiful breakfast and a late afternoon spread (with wine and beer) that are free. So as a place to live and eat, there's a lot included. It feels luxurious but at the same time casual, as there are no hotel personnel waiting on you. You have a passcode that you already know when you arrive that will get you into your room. And it's just half a block in from the part of S. Congress where there are lots of restaurants, cafes, bars, and shops. It was a great place for us to hang out and relax, and my sons and ex-husband hung out with us there, on the deck and in the common room for much of the time. They could pick up some ice cream at Amy's on the corner and bring some bottles of wine or scotch, and it was just great!
"I can't believe, you Ann, a law professor, have never held a dog on your lap before. As many dog pictures that you take?"
You can't be picking up other people's dogs, and the dogs Meade borrows are too big to get on your lap, but Irene has proved to me that I have had a miniature poodle puppy on my lap, so I was wrong! My sister has a Shih tsu, and it's quite possible that I've had that on my lap too.
We love our bichon. She only barks when she sees other dogs and doesn't shed. She has a wonderful temperament and we trained her for all the normal things but we added training her to respond to the word "gentle". We did that Since we have a neighbor that had bad experiences with dogs when she was little and she said this is the first dog she feels truly comfortable around.
When we walk she doesn't need a leash. If she gets "too far" ahead of us we just say "wait" and she stands still until we tell her it's ok to go again.
After having big dogs I really love our little dog. I'd suggest a bichon to anyone!
We have the most amazing little guy - a Podengo Poqueno (spelling), a Portugese rabit hound. We got him from a shelter in New Hampshire. He had been picked up on the streets of San Antonio.
He weighs about 25 pounds; is well behaved and well mannered; well trained and will come when called (unless there's a squirrel or porcupine in the area);loves the grandchildren. To top it off, his name is MacDuff.
Never seen one of these before.
Nice borkie!
Thanks Althouse! I lover her. She snuggles next to me in the chair, sometimes under the blanket. She's 10 pounds of lovin'.
Althouse,
"You can't be picking up other people's dogs"
Says who? Besides, the outgoing ones at least, who think they are lapdogs, want to be there and it's more like you have to actively keep them off.
The Yorkie next door to us, Andy, is an incredibly fierce guard dog. He will protect our house and driveway from any and all. Unfortunately, "any and all" includes myself. Pesky beastie.
The Yorkie next door to us, Andy, is an incredibly fierce guard dog. He will protect our house and driveway from any and all. Unfortunately, "any and all" includes myself. Pesky beastie.
Sorry about the double comment. Blogger apologized to me.
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