Tropicals & Tender Perennials: Epi's Currious Growths., 1 by plantladylin

plantladylin wrote:
Wren: Your "Andre" is one handsome fellow! I remember seeing a picture you posted awhile back but this one really shows his gorgeous face! Does he have to be brushed a lot with that long fur?

FlowerofScotland: Your little pups are so cute there by the pool. It sorta looks like my house in reverse as we've had a house full of cats the past fifteen years. We did have five but are down to three now, all older gal's. We really miss having a dog in the family but don't feel it would be a good idea until the cats are gone, then we will adopt another dog. For the time being I just have to settle with my visiting my sister's and their dogs or our friends who have canines in the family. We've always been a large dog family with the exception of one little one. We had an Alaskan Malamute, a mixed breed Shepherd/Lab, both over a hundred pounds and a little one who weighed about 15 at his heaviest. His mom was a pure bred toy poodle and dad was, well we aren't sure, LOL. He thought he was a BIG DOG ... he had that poodle mentality where he thought he could rule the world and would try to pick fights with the big dogs. He would go after them snarling and barking and yapping every chance he got. We had to keep them separated, the Shepherd/Lab mix finally wouldn't take it anymore and turned on the little one. If my husband hadn't been there to pull him off, the little one would have been killed I think. Big dog had the little one by the throat ... didn't break the skin so maybe he was just trying to get his attention, and show that he was the Alpha dog. It did scare the little one but not to the point that he would stop wanting to fight! So, from then on we had to keep them separated. Sometimes it's just impossible to have two male dogs live peacefully when they both want to be leader of the pack. All three of them were neutered males but those two just couldn't get along. The Malamute was very docile and the little dog wanted to fight with him too.

My sister's and their families have big dogs. My youngest has a Golden Retriever that weighs about 85-90 lbs and a Springer Spaniel that is big too. My oldest sister has an English Mastiff (@ 215 lbs and underweight according to the vet!), a yellow lab (110 lbs) and a black lab/chow mix (95 lbs.) All three of their dogs have no training! It's rather chaotic in their house. The dogs are overly friendly and knock each other around trying to get petted. Well, they shove each other out of the way and jump around wanting to be in your lap ... like a group of 3 year olds, all wanting attention at the same time! Great dogs though ... I love them, I just think they should be better controlled. One thing very important to my DH and I is a dog being well trained so you have the control.

Clemen: Yes, your flower looks to be the Epi hookeri. Here's the picture I finally got of mine the last time it bloomed. First bloom I've been able to see in the 30+ years I've had the plant!

edited to correct spelling.

This message was edited Jan 5, 2009 9:16 AM