Introducing Ken-Bear's - Windfield Head in a Cloud

July 28, 2011

... or as we call her, Caitlyn.

After loosing Bentley in May, we quickly realized that there was a huge void in our world. But as just as obvious, there was one in Zoey's world too. When she came into our home, Bentley was already a fixture. She has only known our house with another dog in it. So in an effort to fill this void, we decided to get another Old English sheep dog (OES); only this time, we chose to look for a puppy. We searched our regular avenues and found a breeder with some puppies available. We contacted the breeder, got some photos and decided to go ahead with getting one. Below is a link to a new blog that I started once the new kid arrived. Here is where you'll find the most up to date photos of our newest furkid, Caitlyn:

Zoey's busy day

July 7, 2011

Recently I hooked up a camera to shoot the front room of our house so we could see what the furkids do all day. We weren't too surprized. Below are just a couple examples of how rough they have it.

Here is Zoey greeting the postman...

So Long Buddy...

May 20, 2011

Above is a photo of Bentley. Unbeknownst to me at the time, it would be the last photo that I got to take of our beloved Bentley. Some things happen so fast and so unexpected, one doesn't have time to think about immortalization. In a nutshell, Bentley hadn't been feeling himself through the week of May 15th. So we made an appointment to see the Vet. He put Bentley on some pain meds and an antibiotic and away we went with the instructions that if he didn't feel better in a couple days, to come back. He didn't, we did. On May 19th, we went back in to see the Vet. Only this time, he was gonna take some x-rays.

What the Vet saw was not good. Bentley had an advanced case of bone cancer that would eventually split his left rear leg bone and the Vet was sure that it had already spread to his chest as this typically does. He said that the only real treatment was to amputate. But that would only buy him time until the cancer reared its ugly head again in his chest. The Vet also said that this could be four weeks to 18 months; a real crap shoot. With Bentley being a VERY active dog, this was not an option. We, with an extremely heavy heart, chose to put Bentley out of his pain, for good. So on May 20th, 2011, Bentley went to where I'm told pets go to wait for all those who mattered to them, at the Rainbow Bridge. See you soon buddy. Find Sean, Max and Skizzie and have some laughs until we get there. Rest assured, Zoey misses you as much if not more than us. I know she's thinking of you daily. Wanting to tug a rope and bark at things that aren't there by your side.

Film at Eleven

January 16, 2009

So, late last summer I got a new digital camera and I fianlly figured out how to convert the video files that it produces to a format the I can upload to youtube. Below are three, (in succession) videos of the two mutts 'rasslin.

The story behind Bentley and his photos

December 20, 2008

WOW! Where do I begin? Back in late August, we put down our beloved Cocker Spaniel, Sean. Wait just a minute... This is gonna get pretty wordy. If you wanna just skip over all this reading and look at the photos straight away, I won't hold it against ya. However, there is some interesting things in what I have to say; and a lesson to be learned too.

Since Jen and I both come from strong 'dog' families, we decided to start looking for a dog. Jen pretty much left the breed choice up to me. When I told her I always wanted an Old English sheep dog(OES), she was all for it. After much thought, we decided to look into rescues and shelters as opposed to buying a dog from a breeder. Not more than a couple weeks later, we located a rescue in Northern Kentucky who seemed happy to look for an OES in the network for us. After about a week, he contacted me and said that he found an OES named Bentley, that was in Indiana where an elderly woman who previously owned him couldn't care for him any longer and took him to her vet to have him put down(!). Thankfully, the vet who Bentley had been going to since he was a puppy said that he couldn't allow that, as he was a strong and healthy dog. He arranged for the woman to forfeit the dog if he was able to find a new owner. Enter the shelter we visited.

While dealing with this person, I had been scouring the net myself. One night I saw that there was a dog in the next town over that was the same age and even the same name as the one that the person in KY had been telling me about. So I called him to see if in fact it was the same dog. The rescue person said that it was and for some reason it had recently been moved to Ohio from Indiana and he didn't know why. When I asked him if there was any reason we couldn't go and look at Bentley, he said no, just not to mention the rescue as he had an application submitted for Bentley. So Jen and I made an appointment to go look at Bentley.

One look at Bentley and Jen and I were hooked. He was big and fluffy, like an OES should be. Did I mention he was BIG? He's about 30" at his shoulders and weighs about 80 pounds. So far, Bentley has been in his new home for two months and our eight cats have mixed reviews. Two holdouts refuse to even try to socialize with Bentley. The others seem to tolerate him and allow him to lick their heads. Bentley on the other hand seems VERY happy. He loves his new big yard, especially having new friends on every side to bark with. This makes me think that a taller fence is in order. I really think that he will clear our 42" tall fence with little or no effort; he jumps up onto the top rail now. We'll cross that bridge, err fence when we need to.

Remember I said there was a lesson to be learned here? Well here it is; Never blindly trust ANYONE! If you go to adopt a dog and go through a private individual who claims to be part of a 'group', do EVERYTHING you can to investigate them. The person in Kentucky was going to charge us $225 to pick up Bentley, take him into his home and 'observe' him for several days to determine his demeanor, ALL JUST FOR US FOR US! Then, when I found that Bentley was in Ohio, he still wanted to drive the 75+ miles to come up here, pick-up Bentley, take him back down to Northern KY for those few days. Then and only after his 'assessment' could we drive down to Northern KY, pay him $225 and then drive back home. Making our round trip of 150 miles or so when Bentley is only a short 15 miles away during all this. As it turns out, Bentley was born and raised in SPRINGFIELD, OHIO! He's NEVER been to Indiana! The rescue person was simply out to bilk us for the adoption fee.

Furthermore, after talking to the woman who runs the shelter we found Bentley in, she said that the person who did have an application it on Bentley had been turned down that same day that we saw him. It turns out that this person, who ironically lives in Northern Kentucky(!) told her that he no longer works with any rescue groups and that he didn't have any other dogs. When she made her routine reference calls to that person's vet, she was told that he was in there just the day before with TWO OF HIS OWN DOGS and the vet said he RUNS A RESCUE. So, not only is this person bilking the public for easy money, (Figure about $75 or more a day to 'babysit' a dog), he's openly lying to shelters to get the dogs that he's turning around for the fat bank. WOW!

In the end, we adopted Bentley for a mere $50 adoption fee from the shelter who housed him for over a week. They also had him taken to their vet for a check-up. That alone runs close to the $50 we paid. Trust me. I'm not bitchin' about the money. I'm bitchin' about how the rescue guy goes about getting it. Simply this; dishonest, immoral and unethical behavior; I could go on but I think my point is solidly made. Sorry about the rant, but it had to said.

So, without further ado, I present Bentley.

Click on each of the below photos to see a MUCH larger-scale photo.

The story behind Zoey and her photos

December 20, 2008

Well, we did it again! I have this real nasty habit of biting off more than I can chew and we thought this was another case of that. Fortunately, my wife has plenty of 'momma' in her. More of that expression later

We found Zoey a little while later, after spotting Bentley on the internet, but before we got to meet Bentley. We arranged to see Zoey on the same Saturday as Bentley. When we saw Zoey, it was only while she was in her kennel at the shelter. Zoey was scheduled to go off to obedience training the next Monday and they weren't allowed to let her out of her kennel.

Just like in Bentley's case, it only took one look at her for us to be convinced we wanted to try to adopt her. So we submitted our application and went on to look at Bentley. If you've gotten this far, you should already know the story on Bentley. If not, go back to the top and read that, it's a good read.

So here's the interesting story on Zoey She was turned into the shelter by a man who was having trouble understanding that puppies do what puppies do, i.e. chewing, jumping, and the like. The man and his wife have two very young kids and didn't like this fact. So the husband brought her in. Several days AFTER we submitted our application and GOT approved, the woman called wanting her dog back. She claimed that her husband brought her in before they had finished their discussion. And she didn't call the shelter for the six or seven days because they were still hashing out that decision. The woman told the woman at the shelter that they would sue the shelter if they didn't get their dog back. She added that her husband was a lawyer. The woman at the shelter reminded the previous owner that if her husband really was a lawyer, then he should understand that the papers that he signed upon dropping off the dog were a legal, binding contract and that she had already had a new family approved for adoption. This is the point that a dumb woman turned stupid. The next day she called and said that the breeder that she got Zoey from was going to sue her AND the shelter because they had Zoey fixed and THAT put the previous owner in breach of contract. It seems that the previous owner signed a contract with the breeder to breed Zoey and he was to get first pick. Again the woman at the shelter reminded the previous owner that the legal, binding contract was signed, had already had a new family approved for adoption and there was nothing else that could be done.

So, we ended up going in early to cover the cost of the adoption. This was a good thing because it put the shelter in a position to remove Zoey's photos from the internet and that in turn seemed to help get the previous owner to back off, and that's a good thing.

Now, I submit for your approval, Zoey.

Click on each of the below photos to see a MUCH larger-scale photo.