Real Estate and the Dogs

Along with many people in Florida now, we are busy house hunting. To be blunt, we are being taxed out of our own home, so it's necessary to find another that's more affordable tax-wise. What has me amused is that our arguments for/against each new home we look at has very little to do with our needs, and everything to do with what our dogs need! We were looking at the first round of home's listing sheets last night when I realized this. The one with the gorgeous retro kitchen was vetoed because it didn't have enough yard for the dogs to play in. The one with the prettiest view was tossed because there wasn't enough open floor space in the kitchen to put all of the dog bowls, and it had stairs that might be difficult for our littlest dogs. We decided against the one with the best location because it didn't have an extra bedroom for the dogs (and our pups are used to having their own play room).
So I guess at this point it would be more accurate to say that we are house hunting... for our dogs!
Maybe we are totally crazy, but for us there is very little difference between planning for children and planning for the dogs. How about you? If you were looking for a home, how much weight would your dogs' needs carry when you made your decision?

A Nursing Home for Dogs

Recently, Japan has announced that they are opening the first dog nursing home complete with round-the-clock veterinary care and puppies to play with the elderly dogs. Owners will pay around $800 a month to keep their pets there.

While we can only assume that dog nursing homes will become a trend that will eventually reach the U.S., I have to wonder how many of us will actually use them?

On one hand, I can see how owners whose pets have advanced illnesses may want or actually need the nursing home option for their dogs.
But on the other hand I personally can't imagine ever trusting the care of my own elderly dogs to strangers, and it seems that monthly fee would be beyond the reach of the average dog owner anyway.

What about you? Would you put your elderly dog in a nursing home?

How did you name your dog?

I ran across a 'Net post the other day about someone who had bet $20 on the Kentucky Derby one year and, after winning the bet (on a long shot), they used the money to buy a dog... Thus they named it "Derby".
Then, a couple of days later I met a woman in PetsMart who had an Peekapoo puppy, which she called "Pikachu." She said her kids were crazy about the cartoon and she liked the way the names rhymed.
In our business we run across a huge variety of dog names, but these two really tweaked my curiosity about how other owners name their pups.

For us, Jay, Lance, and Princess Francis were all named by their previous owners and/or rescue center (though we do refer to Princess as "Hurricane Francis" from time to time!), and we didn't want to confuse them by changing their names. Mia didn't respond to any name when we got her from her abused situation, and we literally spent 2 days calling out female dog and human names to her until we found one that made her wag... she chose her own name.

So how did your dog get his or her name?