In answer to TW's question,  because they are not really a "breed", I guess you can call them whatever you want.  The site says they are also called Chirarian or something like that.  I personally vote for Pomerahuahua!!  I am going to start saying calling them that when people ask if they are labs.  It sounds way less sissy than Pomchi does.

Aside: if you really want some entertainment, go to that site and check out all of the zany breed mixes.  You can see such wonders as a Bassimo (Basset Hound x American Eskimo)  or a Chimation (Chihuahua x Dalmation).  Also noteworthy was the Pomacock (I think) (Pomeranian x Cocker Spaniel).

I comletely acknowledge and "own" my issue of becoming extremely annoyed when people call them labs.  I understand that they do, in fact, look a little labby, especially at first, especially in pictures.  I understand that they share some common traits with labs....like they both have 4 feet, for example.   Lab owners even say they look like labs.  The vet even called them labs.  (aaargh!!!) Ok, so having said that:

THEY ARE NOT LABS!  Clearly, they are not labs.  ***Clearly!!***  Do you people have eyes?  Have you SEEN a lab lately?  THEY ARE NOT LABS!!!!! 

1.) Labs are GI-normous! My dogs have just now, at 5mos, hit the 15lbs mark.  2.) Labs have giant sloppy, oozy tongues!  My dogs have tiny, curly tongues.  3.) Labs have long, droopy, saggy, squared off ears!  My dogs have ears that partially stand up, sometimes all the way (every day they look different) and are pointed on the ends. 4.) Labs have monster-sized, webbed paws! 5.) Labs do not have curly tails! 6.) Labs have huge, drooly, flappy jowels!  My dogs have petite little faces. 7.) Labs snoofy, fat noses are the size of my puppies' heads!

And also, keep in mind, that puppies are world class celebrities and we have been taking them everywhere, so if you need to be somewhere, you need to factor the time that you will need to spend answering questions about your adorable puppies, and giving Orville an opportunity to share his cuteness and his tongue with his swooning fans. (Wilbur, the Tenderoni, spends the time prancing around and feigning girly coyness - only giving special people an occasional furtive lick).

So at least 5 times a day I have this conversation:

"Oooooooohhh!!! Oooh!  Look at the cute puppies!!!" [diving down to puppies and positively reinforcing jumping-up behavior]  "What kind of dogs are they? Are they labs?"

Me: "Well, no, they are not labs, actually we are pretty sure their mom was a chihauhua and we think their dad was a pomeranian" (this last part added recently).

[Looking at me unbelievably] "Really? They look like labs! Aren't chihauhuas really small though?  They are bigger than a chihuahua."

"Well, actually I've heard that chihuahuas and poms can get up to 20 or even 30 pounds.  And see, their ears stand up some of the time.  You can see the chihuahua in them more when they stand up." [pointing to Orville who is looking at me with one ear standing up and the other half-cocked].  But who, knows, they may be mixed with something else too."

"Oh yeah... Like maybe a lab?"

My husband came home the other day and said, "oh, I was looking on the Internet today and I think I figured out what breed our puppies are!"

Of course I was extraordinarily interested in this, so he showed me this website which had pictures of our puppies and coming from someone who had spent DAYS on the Internet looking up dog breed characteristics trying to figure out this riddle - I was riveted!  So, I was scrolling down, looking at pics and OMG right in the middle of the page was a picture of Wilbur!!!  Cream colored, black nose, floppy ears, short hair, petite nose, just like a tiny shrunken down lab.  And what type of dog was this?  A lab mix?  A Rottweiler mix?  No, you will never guess.  A CHIHUAUA / POMERANIAN mix!!!!!  Which, as my faithful readers will remember, was exactly what their foster parents said they were.

OK, so the site won't allow me to link to its pics, so you will have to peruse for yourselves.  Look especially at Timbit, on the 1st page, and Pop, the last doggie on the bottom of the last page.

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/pomchi.htm

This website says that with a cross breed you can get any combination of characteristics from either breed.  And if you go through the pics, you can see that that is true.  My puppies ears stand up all the way sometimes, but most of the time have a little flop to them and some of the dogs on this page have ears like that too.  Now, my puppies are currently larger than what it says the "standard" is, as the website says, is defined by the "Pomchi Club of America".   So I guess either they are mixed with something else, (Chow? Wilbur has black on his tongue), or they are just non-standard.  Which, from what I have been reading, is not uncommon, especially in toy breeds.  Wasn't Molly dog larger than a standard Sheltie?  Currently Wilbur is 15 lbs and short little Orville, aka Piggamous, is 17 lbs.

I am so excited.  Now I have something to tell people when they ask? "What kind of puppies are those? Labs?"

Hello World,

I am in Bushkill, PA.  Apparently that's in the Poconos, although I can't confirm that yet since it's dark.

So what happened is that a sort of colleague of mine from the old Gibson Dimensions days called me about a year ago and asked me if I was still doing consulting, blah blah.  This guy used to work for the HIPAA Academy, the company where I got some HIPAA certifications from and whose course material I was using for about 10 mins until I started designing my own. He has been asking me to do various things, including teaching an on-line HIPAA class which would be offered through colleges around the nation.  I agreed to do that since it was a low effort kind of thing.  In the meantime, I have become increasingly disillusioned and fed up with my job.  It's such a joke.  For the past couple of months, it seems like everything I almost get excited about working on stalls as the result of some childish political dispute between my higher-ups.  Or, I am not allowed to work on something because a higher-up has already staked their name on it and they do not wish to share the credit.  Whatever. 

So a couple of weeks ago my colleague asked me if I was interested in teaching a 6-day HIPAA "boot camp" at a resort in PA.  Ummm, yeah!  I have been soooooo bored and I love training.  The money I will make is equivalent to a month's salary.  And I will actually be able to put my skills to use.... I was beginning to worry that I would never find work anywhere else again because I truly feel that I am dumber for having worked in my present job for some time.   One of my friends at work said to me "I feel as if I'm just withering away at the vine.."  Amen, sister.  My sentiments exactly.   It turns out that my colleague has several projects that I can help on, including remote 1 on 1 training and designing templates and stuff.  I am so stoked.  I almost quit my job.... but then my husband reminded me that he is scheduled for shoulder surgery next month and changing insurance right now would suck.  So.... I'll have two jobs for awhile and see how it goes.

Right now I'm sitting in my villa in the Poconos, preparing for my class, which starts on Monday, but I need tomorrow to make sure my classroom is all set up.  My villa has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen and a fireplace, a loft and three balconies.  It is nice!  I have a roomate too, another instructor who leaves on Wed.  Per instructions from the training place, rental cars are not covered, so I arrived by "limo" which is sort of a joke.  The company is called "Champagne Limo Service" but there was no champagne and no limo.  Just a regular car and a driver for the low low price of $496.  He did offer me a Diet Pepsi.

I'm going to miss my puppies!!!  I'll bet Orville's ears will be all the way standing up when I get back.  They are almost there now.  I don't know if Wilbur's will stand up or not.  The rate they've been growing, they are gonna be the size of cows when I get home.

OK, so here are the lyrics to the "Tiny Baby" song that my mom made up when I was born and used to sing to me when she was rocking me to sleep.  The last verse is the one that I found so unbearably sad that I would never let my mom sing it to me - she just had to hum that verse.  Leave it to my mom to add a tearjerking verse to a bedtime song.   It's not really that sad but I can't read it without getting a lump in my throat.  I guess that's my Pavlovian conditioned response.

Now that I've posted it on the Internet I'm sure someone will steal it and make it a hit.  Maybe Britney can use it when she gets out of rehab and grows her hair back.

For the record, I don't remember the Rocky Rock song with "little" in it either, but I think it is a song that lends itself to improvisation and ad lib....

A tiny baby soft to hold, so small and yet worth more than gold
A priceless treasure heaven-sent
This little girl of mine

Her tiny hands and dainty feet
Her dimpled cheeks, so soft and sweet
With beauty still so innocent
This little girl of mine

And when she’s grown and gone away
The house so still, no children play
Precious childhood memories will linger on
Of this little girl of mine

I feel terrible.  This is awful.  I forgot the name of my imaginary friend.

My niecey called me last week and was asking me about all of my funny names from childhood.  I said, "oh, the name of my imaginary friend was funny, his name was............. what was his name?"  Oh my gosh.  I've never forgotten it before and now I'm not sure how to proceed.

When I was in college I took a metaphysics class.  We talked about the different types of existence, and defining different categories for existence.  For example, some things do not exist because their existence is logically impossible, like a square circle.  Other types of things exists only conceptually because their perfect physical implementation is problematic, for example, true random sampling.  Other types of things exist conceptually because there is a common notion of what they are, even though they may not be "real" per se, for example, unicorns and leprechauns.  In some cases, you could argue that they have a more widespread existence than something that is real.  If you asked 10 children to describe a unicorn, they probably could.  But if you asked 10 children to describe an emu, they may not be able to if they didn't know what an emu was.  So which then is more "real"?

You could make the same argument for historical figures, and this relates to a past post of mine.  Who is more "real", the George Washington that chopped down a cherry tree, or the one who did things that no one now remembers?  The legendary facts live far longer than the actual events. Who is more real, the Shakespearean character Hamlet, or the completely unremembered person who sold meat on a stick at the opening night of the first Hamlet play?  That unremembered person was at one time flesh and blood and "real", but now is completely forgotten and insignficant.   Hamlet is immortal.  Winnie the Pooh is immortal.  At some point imagination becomes incarnate.  Pinnochio can become a real boy! 

So you could say that things we looking pretty good for my imaginary friend, but this latest turn of events has got to be a blow.  I hope it doesn't have a negative impact on our relationship.  I'm also hoping that my mother wrote down his name somewhere in all of her cherished notes.... I know that he lived in Africa and that his sister's name was Mary; and also that he could take his skin off when it got hot (as it does in Africa).   Since we haven't been in touch, I can't really say what he has been up to or how his other friends have been: Cranky, Crumby, Craney.  If only my mom can remember where those notes are.... or if only someone else can remember his name..... if not, I'm afraid that whats-his-name's metaphysical status could really suffer.......dum DA dum DUM ***suspensful music plays as he dangles precariously on the fringe of existence***