No insurance for you…

Great news – we bought a house!  It has a huge backyard, so Phoenix will have plenty of room to run and play.  However, with the good news comes some really outrageous news.

I was interested in getting a few quotes on house insurance, and Allstate was one of the companies I contacted.  When the agent was gathering information to generate a quote, one of the questions he asked me was, do I have any dogs?  Of course I told him yes, a Yorkshire Terrier and a Doberman Pinscher.  He also asked if the Doberman was full blooded.  I proudly answered yes and told him what a great dog he is.

I wondered why he asked those questions, thinking that I might get a small discount for having a “guard dog”.  After all, if a thief has to choose between a house without a Doberman and one with, which do you think he’ll choose?

Well, the agent called me back today and regretted to inform me that Allstate would not be able to insure my new house.  Why?  Because I have a dog that is on their “vicious dog list”.  Excuse me?  Have you ever met my dog?  Have you observed his temperment?  How can you make a blanket statement like that?  (Questions directed towards Allstate, not the agent, who was on my side by the way)

I’m still in shock that a company like Allstate would have a policy like this in place.  Has anyone ever run up against something like this?  I’d love to hear from you if you have.  I’d also encourage you to write a letter to Allstate, explaining to them what a bad policy this is.  No dog breed or dog owner should be discriminated against in this manner.

Posting drought

I haven’t written a new post in what feels like forever.  We are right in the middle of selling our house and looking for a new one.  We are trying to find Phoenix a big back yard!  This whole process is rather stressful, and it’s going to stay that way until we have moved (we aren’t sure where yet).  I’m hoping that will be towards the beginning of June, so stay tuned!  I haven’t forgotten about those pictures I promised.

Happy (belated) Birthday Phoenix!

Phoenix turned one year old on April 8.  We have already celebrated at our house, but I haven’t been able to post on the blog until now.  I plan to post a bunch of pictures from the past year, so keep watching the blog this week.

Outtakes

Here are a few pictures of Phoenix that aren’t necessarily great pictures, but they capture what a fun and goofy dog he is.  Click on a thumbnail to see the picture.

         

Siblings

Phoenix has a brother and two sisters that have demonstrated great potential in the show ring.  Visit Kani Dobermans to see their accomplishments.  When we picked Phoenix up from the breeder, he and Dallas were the last two remaining puppies so we got to meet Dallas and his owners.  Here are some recent pictures:

Dallas

Mayan

Sadie

Odds and ends

As you’ve probably noticed, I’m trying out a new theme. It has a different layout, so some of my earlier posts may not look exactly as I intended, but I really like the large custom header.

Next up, I’ve added a new link section – Dog Blogs. The first site I’m adding to the list is “Nanook the Newfy“. The site is, of course, about a Newfoundland. It is written from the dog’s perspective, which seems to be a trend for most dog blogs that I have found. The site is updated regularly with funny stories and excellent pictures. Nanook is a beautiful dog.

Speaking of funny stories, last night when I went to bed I was almost asleep when Phoenix started snoring unbelievably loud. If you didn’t know there was a dog in the room, you would swear that it was a person. I had to get up and wake Phoenix up, which wasn’t easy to do because he was in a deep sleep. The kind where you have to make him stand up and walk around to really wake up.

Today we went to the dog park after work. Phoenix played with a Jack Russel puppy that was about the size of Sully. He plays well with smaller dogs, probably because he lives with one.

Soccer Fields

There is a very large field near our house that we occasionally visit with the dogs.  It is perfect for playing soccer and throwing frisbees.  Here are some pictures we took this weekend.

These are a few action shots.  I love the one where I’m throwing the frisbee.  Look how hard Phoenix is turning.

Back from vacation

So my wife and I just returned from a week in the Rockies.  I didn’t like having to board Phoenix for that long, but the people at the vet really love Phoenix and he actually enjoys going there, so it makes it a bit easier.

My wife got sick the night of our first day of skiing, so that put quite a damper on our trip.  We made the best of it though and came away with some good memories.  Here are a few pictures.

I absolutely love the trees in the Rockies.

Here is a good view of another ski resort nearby.  I believe it is Breckenridge.

This is my favorite scenic picture, taken from the top of the Outback in Keystone.

Here is a picture of my wife and I on the slopes.  It was very cold and snowy most of the trip.  We had 10″ of powder one day!

Finally, this is a picture of us in the gondola heading up to a nice restaurant at the top of the mountain.

Needless to say, Phoenix was quite glad to see us return!  I guess I’m glad to be back, but now it’s back to reality and playing catch up at work.  The weather is slowly getting nicer around here, so it is more enjoyable to be outside.  More pictures of Phoenix coming soon!

February Update

Well, I see that it has been over 2 weeks since my last post, so I’ll include a lot of pictures in this one.  Here is one with Wes, who visited us this past weekend.  Phoenix just hopped up in the chair and assaulted him with a barrage of dog kisses (his way of saying hello).

I took these next couple of pictures after Phoenix and I had been on about a 10 mi. bike ride.  No, he doesn’t ride a bike, but he runs along side me as I do (some people actually ask me that question).  We have a great place to mountain bike with about 53 miles of singletrack, and Phoenix absolutely loves it.  Most people think he would run off while we ride, but he stays right with me.  He’s pretty tired after our outings as you can see here.

A couple of weeks ago, Phoenix got to experience his first snow.  We usually only get one snow per year around here, and when it does snow, it is rather fleeting.  I took these pictures at night, and it was very hard for the camera to focus so they aren’t very good.  The snow was gone by the next afternoon so I wasn’t able to take any more.  Perhaps we’ll get lucky and have one more snow this year.

And what better way to warm up after playing in the snow than sitting by a cozy fire?

Finally, I couldn’t resist including this picture of Sully.  I caught him just as he was starting to bark.

That’s it for now!

Blue Dobe

Phoenix, Sully, Mary and I went to the dog park this afternoon.  As we were driving away from the house I thought to myself that I should have grabbed the camera, but you know how it is such a pain to turn around once you have everyone loaded and on the way, so I just kept on going.

Once we arrived at the dog park I really wished that I had brought the camera because there was a blue Doberman there.  I am always excited when I see other Dobermans, because they are quite rare around here and I enjoy talking to their owners to share stories and compare experiences.

Loki was the Dobe’s name and he was a magnificent animal.  I honestly didn’t think I would like the blue color, because I am very partial to the traditional black and tan markings, but Loki was beautiful.  Come to think of it, I did see a blue Doberman puppy last summer that had a beautiful coat.  Anyway, the first thing the guy asked me was, “Does he tear everything up?”  I just laughed, because although Phoenix isn’t particularly destructive, he will eat anything that he can get his mouth on.  And I don’t just mean put it in his mouth and chew, I mean really eat it.  Consequently, he ends up spreading our laundry all over the yard.

We talked awhile about how great the Doberman breed is, and how he named his dog after the Norse god of mischief, and how Loki really lives up to his name!  I think it’s interesting that many people name their Dobermans after mythological characters.  (You can read an article here about why I named my dog Phoenix)  We also talked about how the Doberman gets a bad rap for being overly aggressive.  I was talking to a lady a bit later who owned a Great Dane who said that she was going to get a Doberman, but she lived downtown and her insurance company wouldn’t allow her to own one.  That’s such a shame because people don’t realize how wonderful and loving these dogs really are.

Well, I’m definitely taking my camera from now on.