Useless Conversation

[Johny Cee]

This is the first year I've done our taxes start to finish since we've been married (at least 10 years). Now I remember why I gladly pay $400 for someone else to prepare them! (Only $300 more than Turbo Tax charges *and* I don't have to spend hours making sure I didn't forget anything!)

I'm glad my taxes are fairly simple. Worst I have to deal with is 1099-MISC income from the wife. Who nicely uses government standard mileage, per diem, and food rates. Simplifies that enormously.

Although I did learn you can only deduct 50% of meal expenses when on travel. (Mileage, air-fare, hotel -- all that's 100%. The meal portion? 50%. Not sure why).

They probably jumped to the ridiculous conclusion that you might have eaten even if you had stayed at home, and intend to compensate the extra cost rather than the whole cost.

Any deduction which has a high potential to actually be a personal expense has different rules...  either limitations on how much you can deduct or more strict guidelines on deductibility. 

Meals are 50% since they don't want to incentivize business owners or executives deducting expensive meals and getting a tax deduction for it.  Vehicles under 6000 lbs have limitations as to how much depreciation you can take in a year, so a business owner won't buy a luxury auto as a company car.  Famously, before SUVs were carved out from the 6000lbs exemption, Hummers/etc were popular business vehicles since they weren't limited my the auto limitations, so you could even Section 179 the whole amount in one year.

Computers/cell phones used to have pretty strict deductibility guidelines, but costs have come down so much that the IRS doesn't care anymore.

If your job involves travel the rules are a little different.  DOT travel (truck drivers) get 100%.  Some accountable plans, if its available to all employees and not just highly compensated, get around this as well.


IRS rules largely determine why many "destination" type conferences have the schedules they do....  deductibility is determined by days working versus days for personal, so you see the odd schedules with mornings or afternoons off etc. 

[Morat20]

I decided to finally catch up on medical billing. Because of the fun way it works, I pay up front...and then I get bills for three months, randomly coming in. Which I then have to verify to make sure they're real bills, and not the provider deciding to try double dipping.

So I've got a stack of bills related to some stuff from the end of last year and January. I'm going through it and I get to a pair of pills (no idea why the pathologist felt she had to split her bill into two parts, but whatever) and I start looking for the online payment method.

Nothing. Okay, well, I guess some doctor's haven't gotten even into 2000s, but I'll live. So I go to fill in my HSA information.....and there's nothing. No way to pay with a credit card. Checks only. WTF?

So not only do these people (pathologists, who must generate shit-tons of bills for every procedure) NOT have even a crappy online pay form.....they don't even process credit cards. I'll call them tomorrow and cheerfully explain that if they won't take CC over the phone, I'll just let it go to collections because at least THOSE people can process the 30 year old "credit card" technology.

I mean, jesus. It's bad enough I have to look for a stamp. Writing a check? Screw that.

[WayAbvPar]

I haven't written a check in close to twenty years. On the very few occasions I need one, I have my wife write one, since she actually still has a few checks left.

[Sky]

My orthopedic guy only takes cash or checks. Ye gods.

[Rasix]

We end up writing a fair amount of checks.  House cleaner takes checks.  Plus, all of contractors we've had doing work at our house mostly take checks or cash.  Child care expenses too are usually paid with a check. 

Keeps my cursive decent. 

[Johny Cee]

On why small businesses don't take credit/debit cards:

Processing is really, really fucking expensive.  Generally between 3 - 5% of money transferred come out in fees.  There are less expensive options, but usually you also get bare-bones support and the potential for fuckups.  If a small business can get away with it, they don't take debit/credit.

[Merusk]

Checks.. here's something that's really fucked with checks.

My wife was recently downsized as part of the Humana-Aetna merger. Despite not having lived in Ohio for 12 years she's still in the unemployment system from way back then and unemployment is now direct deposit. They have her old banking information for a now-defunct account and no way of changing it.

In order to get unemployment she had to order checks and send them a cancelled check for the routing and account number. Yes, we had to order 1000 checks she'll never use to send ONE cancelled check to a State Bureau that should be able to handle this with no problems. It's no wonder people were taking the EBT cards instead.

[Sky]

a State Bureau that should be able to handle this with no problems.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

NYS requires you to fill out a form with all the information on your W2, rather than just including the W2. States are collosal fuckups of bureaucracy and incompetence, even by governmental standards.

I've toyed with the idea of getting into the State tech department to unfuck a bunch of it, but then I think of the hundreds of incompetent employees who have driven ever poor competent bastard running for the exits and come to my senses.

[HaemishM]

I've toyed with the idea of getting into the State tech department to unfuck a bunch of it, but then I think of the hundreds of incompetent employees who have driven ever poor competent bastard running for the exits and come to my senses.

Having had multiple dealings with multiple IT departments in various departments of our state government, trust me, you DO NOT want to be anywhere near state IT departments. Holy shit, they can't even fail upwards correctly.

[Merusk]

Oh, I realize this. The SHOULD is a far cry from reality, yes. Sad and an indicator of just how far behind we are in technical competence as a nation. At the rate we're dropping small African countries are probably ahead of us now.

[Chimpy]

State government has all kinds of crazy procurement rules (originally intended to combat graft and corruption), and now with the "lazy unionized leeches" drum being beat by the right wing you get pressure to "contract out" a lot of things to private companies. Which in IT means that shit gets pieced out by each individual organization and there is little to no internal staff with the knowledge to keep things working or get things to work correctly. And since the contractors don't care about anything but meeting minimum requirements and getting paid shit rarely ever works correctly.

[Selby]

And since the contractors don't care about anything but meeting minimum requirements and getting paid shit rarely ever works correctly.

They outsourced all of our IT at work here and at the previous place I worked at.  Since the government rules for "grading" new vendors takes various types of things into account, we've got a business that is run by a woman with a certain number of qualified minorities working there... and nothing gets done in any way that makes sense.  At least if it was in-house I'd have someone to yell at, here it's just someone who comes by, picks up the computer, and returns it in a day or two.  It might work... it might not, but that's not their problem!  New ticket please.  And most of the other issues you have are only resolvable by email or filling out a form on a website...  Government...

[Merusk]

Not just government, private companies are running that way quickly as well. A line item for $1400 a month is cheaper than an employee. Never mind the production employee downtime when shit doesn't work right.

[Johny Cee]

Checks.. here's something that's really fucked with checks.

My wife was recently downsized as part of the Humana-Aetna merger. Despite not having lived in Ohio for 12 years she's still in the unemployment system from way back then and unemployment is now direct deposit. They have her old banking information for a now-defunct account and no way of changing it.

In order to get unemployment she had to order checks and send them a cancelled check for the routing and account number. Yes, we had to order 1000 checks she'll never use to send ONE cancelled check to a State Bureau that should be able to handle this with no problems. It's no wonder people were taking the EBT cards instead.

Honestly, this makes perfect sense to me.

Probably Ohio had a rash of identity theft-claiming fake unemployment via the online or automated system.  To prevent that, you require a cancelled check to change the banking information so that a script/bot can't just keep using a no fee automated service to keep requesting UI benefits (or change the depository information for people who are receiving benefits such that payments start going to a dummy account.)  The marginal cost and effort means that low chance of success scams aren't cost effective.

Basically what happened with the IRS last year:  went to no fee filing, so scammers were just feeding Names/SSNs into the free filing system to request refunds to dummy accounts.  If we have clients this year who are changing their bank info, we are supposed to get copies of their Drivers Licences and feed in Driver License ID numbers as an extra identity check.

For the future, usually banks will provide you with an official document with routing/account numbers if you go to a branch and request it.  Also, you can order checks from nearly anywhere in whatever quantity you want from third party vendors (which will usually be cheaper than ordering from the bank).

[Sky]

State government has all kinds of crazy procurement rules

I'm trying to get a direct account set up with Apple currently, because NYS OGS is being disputed or something. Now, I actually know the commissioner of the state OGS, but I've yet to bust her chops about it (was tempting when I saw her last week!).

That's why I had the silly W2 copying form on my mind, Apple is requiring me to fill out an online ST-119.1 form (for tax exemption). We already have hard copies and usually fax them in (because I can't email it, apparently, speaking of backwards tech companies). I am not authorized to sign the form, nor is any employee; needs to be an officer. Our officers aren't easily available, especially our treasurer who works multiple jobs and has a gaggle of kids (her signature is on the existing form). So we may have to find the board president to come in and fill out the form for us. I've emailed the appropriate (I think, the one the gave me!) support people to ask "Hey, mind if I just fax in the document WE ALREADY HAVE?" All this for a goddamned iPod Nano.

If I don't hear from them today, I'm just going say fuck it and order one from a 3rd party seller on Amazon or something.

[Johny Cee]

a State Bureau that should be able to handle this with no problems.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

NYS requires you to fill out a form with all the information on your W2, rather than just including the W2. States are collosal fuckups of bureaucracy and incompetence, even by governmental standards.

I've toyed with the idea of getting into the State tech department to unfuck a bunch of it, but then I think of the hundreds of incompetent employees who have driven ever poor competent bastard running for the exits and come to my senses.

Requiring you to re-enter data is an internal controls/accounting thing.  It FORCES you to look at the numbers, rather than just assuming the original is correct.  Yah, lots of people will mindlessly re-enter the numbers, but at least some will stop and go "wait a second...."  It's better to catch a problem before you have to amend various returns.

If you don't outright ask someone a question, you will be amazed at what they forget to tell you.  If it happened more than a couple months ago it's normal for people, they won't remember to mention that they got married, had a kid, or whatever.


I've had a couple calls this year for TurboTax (I think) "take a picture of your W-2" app to file a tax return.  Fucking app fails to read a W-2 correctly and throws out an error, they call their employer's accountant.

Them: "You underwitheld Social Security!"
Me: <looks at copy of W-2> "No, we didn't...  did you check that the numbers carried over from the app agreed to your W-2?
Them: "Uh...."

State government has all kinds of crazy procurement rules

I'm trying to get a direct account set up with Apple currently, because NYS OGS is being disputed or something. Now, I actually know the commissioner of the state OGS, but I've yet to bust her chops about it (was tempting when I saw her last week!).

That's why I had the silly W2 copying form on my mind, Apple is requiring me to fill out an online ST-119.1 form (for tax exemption). We already have hard copies and usually fax them in (because I can't email it, apparently, speaking of backwards tech companies). I am not authorized to sign the form, nor is any employee; needs to be an officer. Our officers aren't easily available, especially our treasurer who works multiple jobs and has a gaggle of kids (her signature is on the existing form). So we may have to find the board president to come in and fill out the form for us. I've emailed the appropriate (I think, the one the gave me!) support people to ask "Hey, mind if I just fax in the document WE ALREADY HAVE?" All this for a goddamned iPod Nano.

If I don't hear from them today, I'm just going say fuck it and order one from a 3rd party seller on Amazon or something.

Digital signature tech is really bad right now.  Generally, to cover themselves from sales tax audit (and NYS sales tax is notoriously audit happy and aggressive with internet sales of major companies... see New York's "Amazon Law") you want to make sure you have the right format.


In general, these types of forms require the signature of an Officer or a Responsible Person.  Many organizations have a Board appoint a Responsible Person to sign these types of forms (usually the Executive Director or someone else authorized to sign payroll returns and like).  You can ask your ED to talk to your Accountant/Auditor/Lawyer to clarify the situation about whether that might be a possibility?

[Sky]

No, I understand all that, that's why I mentioned the treasurer or board president, both being authorized officers.

Anyway. They allowed me to email them the form like actual competent beings.

I'm kinda shocked.

[Morat20]

So my dog located (with, to be honest, Sherlockian skills) a pincushion, and chewed it to shreds last night.

X-rays indicated he didn't ingest any pins (just, you know, sawdust and a lot of fabric) but the mass of fabric was..petty big (she was worreid it was thread. It wasn't. Embroidery on the pincushion fabric). The vet was pretty honest "If this was my dog...I literally don't know if I'd have it extracted or give it a day to see if it passes".

We went with "extracted", sadly not endoscopic. (Nobody could do it today).

It had already moved on towards it's eventually fate, although the vet said the dog wasn't going to enjoy that between the lump of cloth and all the sawdust. However, she DID find a five inch "rawhide spike" in there which she fished out. And kept. And plans to show us tomorrow.

I'm guessing in the "you can't feed your dog this, because this is basically a bone sword I just took out of his stomach. Our ancestors basically sewed hides together with one of these things", or possibly the "It wasn't a total waste of 1700 dollars! Look what I found!".

The dog eats pens, chapstick tubes, pincushions, but apparently swallows 2/3rds of a rawhide chew without bothering to chew?

Oh well. Beats him dying. Silly beagle.

[Sky]

My cat will eat pretty much anything when he gets too hungry, because we feed him at teh edge of starvation (and he's still gone from 18 to 25lbs), less than the 'weight loss' chart on the weight loss food from the vet. Actually several vets have tried to shame me into admitting we feed him more, and tell me to feed him less. I finally lost it with the head vet and had to yell at her, because I fucking love my cat and this frustrates the hell out of me. So if we feed him even less than we do now, he will pull up carpet and eat nylon, in the winter he lurks around the wood stove and eats wood chips, and I never have to worry about spiders or centipedes that migrate out of the basement. I once had to pull dental floss out of his bunghole, he got so lucky on that one...and we got a covered garbage can after that (he knocks over small garbage cans and eats whatever he finds, nail clippings?!?).

I can't believe the moron has lived to 8 years old!

[Morat20]

He's home now, with a gigantic incision, and has already tried to jump once. He regretted it pretty much instantly.

There's a ton of meds to give him too. You'd think someone gutted him, fondled his internal organs, then shoved it all back in.

Found out what the mass was -- it wasn't the specific rawhide chew treat I thought it was. It was the other one, the one I thought he chewed the most thoroughly -- one of those small rawhide knots. Despite the vigorous crunching sounds, apparently he barely chewed it, it unraveled into the individual strips of rawhide, then knotted back up again in his stomach.

It would have eventually dissolved as long as it stayed in his stomach, but if parts of it had started to pass it would have obstructed things badly.

Now I just get to spend the next 10 days trying to keep bouncy the wonder beagle from jumping.

[rattran]

My cat will eat pretty much anything when he gets too hungry, because we feed him at teh edge of starvation (and he's still gone from 18 to 25lbs), less than the 'weight loss' chart on the weight loss food from the vet. Actually several vets have tried to shame me into admitting we feed him more, and tell me to feed him less. I finally lost it with the head vet and had to yell at her, because I fucking love my cat and this frustrates the hell out of me. So if we feed him even less than we do now, he will pull up carpet and eat nylon, in the winter he lurks around the wood stove and eats wood chips, and I never have to worry about spiders or centipedes that migrate out of the basement. I once had to pull dental floss out of his bunghole, he got so lucky on that one...and we got a covered garbage can after that (he knocks over small garbage cans and eats whatever he finds, nail clippings?!?).

I can't believe the moron has lived to 8 years old!

Our 25 pound cat Mr B eats less than the 17 year old 8 pound cat, or the 1 year old 7 pounder. He's on a grain-free gluten-free fish-free diet due to allergies, won't eat wet food, plays a lot, and is still a fat bastard. My old vet pretty much said fuck it, enjoy your fat cat as long as he lasts, he seems happy and healthy.  Probably the best way to go with Bart as well.

[Morat20]

Dog has already made me call the vet. He heard the sound of a bag being thrown away (yes, the bag containing exactly one remaining treat of the kind that was pulled from his stomach) and darted towards the living room, making a GIANT jump (wherein he belly flopped because his back legs are attached to his stomach, the one with the GIANT INCISION), and rushes out.

Does not seem to be in any pain, the stitches seem fine, but I did check with the vet on that. We rearranged furniture to keep him from getting onto the bed at all, and he's currently sulking in his kennel.

[Sky]

My old vet pretty much said fuck it, enjoy your fat cat as long as he lasts, he seems happy and healthy.  Probably the best way to go with Bart as well.

Yep. Pretty much what I ended my rant to her with: "I'd rather have a 10-yr old diabetic but happy tub of cat than have him die in 3 months from nylon twisted up in his guts because he was starving."

[Endie]

Nah I have always fed my collie super-light and just take care she is usually exhausted and isn't bored, and it's been really good for her health.

[Morat20]

My old vet pretty much said fuck it, enjoy your fat cat as long as he lasts, he seems happy and healthy.  Probably the best way to go with Bart as well.

Yep. Pretty much what I ended my rant to her with: "I'd rather have a 10-yr old diabetic but happy tub of cat than have him die in 3 months from nylon twisted up in his guts because he was starving."

Something similar came up today when discussing the wad of rawhide. I flat out told the vet that if he doesn't get chewtoys (and Kong's don't seem to satisfy him chew wise. He's thrilled at the fun of getting the food out, but doesn't bother chewing if he can drool it out. Neither do those nylabones. He needs to see pretty fast progress while still getting a nice solid toothy feel), he'll eat ANYTHING. I caught him moving my rolling chair so he could get on it, and then onto my desk, to get a pen to crack open.

Rawhide beats plastic or wood. We're gonna try kongs again, but I think I'll stick with those big rectangular strips. He has to work those down.

(The culprit was a tiny little knot of rawhide. He cracked it open, but didn't really do much beyond break it in half. The knotted ends unravelled into 5 inch long strips after he swallowed them pretty much hole, which reknotted inside his gullet. His stomach probably would have broken it up enough before passing it on, but we were worried it was cloth or knitting yarn...(,

[NowhereMan]

So I'm considering getting a dog for the first time (probably in 6 months or so). I'm kind of torn though. It'll be an apartment, not overly small (2 small bedrooms and a living room) and there's a nearby park. My dilemma is simply I don't particularly want a toy breed, Terriers are a good size but tend to be high energy. Current best suggestion is a cocker Spaniel or similar I think, I've always found Spaniels lovely and they're a handsome hound (even if cocker Spaniels have silly big ears). I'm definitely not averse to getting a mutt but looking at kennels and breeders they only seem to deal in pedigree breeds or XXX/poodle mixes (I'm guessing due to reduced shedding and more allergy friendly?) My plan is to visit a couple of rescue places as well before at least to get some advice from experienced handlers on the breed considering the location. I really, really do not want to get a dog only to discover a year in it's just not able to live in the space. Figured I'd ask here for general advice as long as the topic was on pets.

Also Morat's stories terrify and fascinate me. I am currently thinking not Beagle as charming as the dog may be.

[schild]

After 4 very profitable trips to the local shit casino, I am now break even from an awful Vegas trip using the leftovers from my Vegas trip as ticket in.

Phew.

[Johny Cee]

So I'm considering getting a dog for the first time (probably in 6 months or so). I'm kind of torn though. It'll be an apartment, not overly small (2 small bedrooms and a living room) and there's a nearby park. My dilemma is simply I don't particularly want a toy breed, Terriers are a good size but tend to be high energy. Current best suggestion is a cocker Spaniel or similar I think, I've always found Spaniels lovely and they're a handsome hound (even if cocker Spaniels have silly big ears). I'm definitely not averse to getting a mutt but looking at kennels and breeders they only seem to deal in pedigree breeds or XXX/poodle mixes (I'm guessing due to reduced shedding and more allergy friendly?) My plan is to visit a couple of rescue places as well before at least to get some advice from experienced handlers on the breed considering the location. I really, really do not want to get a dog only to discover a year in it's just not able to live in the space. Figured I'd ask here for general advice as long as the topic was on pets.

Also Morat's stories terrify and fascinate me. I am currently thinking not Beagle as charming as the dog may be.

Beagles are awesome dogs... but they are high energy balls of destructive energy originally bred to hunt. 

If you work and have a small space, a smaller breed is definitely better.  We got a shih-poo (shih tzu/poodle mix) and he has been pretty awesome... about 20 lbs, no shedding, doesn't set off dog allergies (no guarantees for strong allergies).  Companion breed so he is happiest just following you around or sitting by you.  Not yappy or ridiculous looking, like many smaller breeds.   Cockers are also a really good option...  my brother just adopted a cocker (his wife grew up with a cocker that was devoted to her).  Shih Tzus are actually some great dogs too, though they can be stubborn.

You definitely want a rescue or to adopt a full grown dog...  besides being cute, the puppy and adolscent stages are just    The wife wanted a puppy, and she has mild allergies, so we were forced into paying for a poodle mix basically.  Probably best option is to adopt a dog from someone who has to give theirs up.

Just be aware:

It really limits you.  They need to go out regularly, so "just" doing things after work becomes impossible.  You have to figure out what to do with the dog if you ever go on vacation.  Hell, our going out for dinner or a movie is really down since we feel too guilty about leaving the poor bugger alone.  We're lucky that our idea of vacation is going to the cabin in the ADKs.

They are EXPENSIVE to properly care for...  couple hundred dollars for vaccinations, a non-shedding breed needs regular grooming ($500+ per year)/shedding breed needs lots more housekeeping, dog food, toys, treats, dental cleaning, meds like heartworm pills, etc.  It adds up.  And god help you if you have to go to the vet.

Taking a dog out for regular exercise will easily eat up an hour a day.

You will have destroyed furniture or carpet or floor.  Even the most well behaved dog will have some bad behavior (first time my wife went to Florida during tax season I'd come home to chewed furniture and accusing glare), or will have occasional stomach upsets that will leave puddles of bodily fluids staining your nice carpet/floor.

[Pennilenko]

Heh, sounds remarkably similar to children.

[Morat20]

Also Morat's stories terrify and fascinate me. I am currently thinking not Beagle as charming as the dog may be.

They're loud, they chew, and they're energetic. They eat everything, and get ridiculous gas. You learn how to make a dog vomit early, because you're not sure WHAT he just swallowed but it was probably not something he should have --- like a bottle of wood glue or something.

However, they're smart, loving, really devoted, and easily trained -- although they're really food oriented, so you get maximum obedience whenever you've got a treat in your hands. My father-in-law can take his lab off the leash and the dog will follow him closely, without special training. A beagle, unless REALLY rigorously trained, will catch a scent and dart off.

They'll learn any command you want super fast. But if you want them to obey when distracted (which interesting smells do), you're best off finding a good trainer and a group training session (other dogs are great distractions to practice with) and working from there.

Fucking wonderful dog, which is why I didn't blink at paying out the ass for the surgery. I love that animal.

Having said that: Rescue dogs are great. If you want pure-bred, but don't want to pay and don't want to wait for one to pop up at a shelter, you can find the 'real' breeders (not the backyard guys) who will cheerfully sell you the ones that don't make the cut at a fraction of the cost, but only if you pay to have them spayed/neutered first. (Our beagle is purebred, from a breeder who does multiple shows a year. But he's got a flaw -- small white patch on the shoulder, where it should be black. That's enough to prevent it from being show worthy. They just wanted him to go to a good home, but not someone that would try to stud him out). He cost, basically, what they spent on shots and neutering him.

My previous dog was a rescue -- great dog, if quirky.

About the only thing I can say, especially in an apartment -- kennel train your dog. A lot of them will HATE it at first -- except crying and whining. But a properly sized crate/kennel will make house training them much easier, it makes travel much easier, and the dog quickly comes to see the kennel as 'theirs' and their preferred sleeping spot (especially when you're not around). The only downside is you really need to spend time playing with them if you do that. They'll have energy to burn.

We started off the beagle kennel training (he hated it. Took a few weeks to get him happy to go in). It was nights and the occasional day when everyone was out (thankfully pretty rare, given when we got him). That kept him out of stuff, by and large, until he figured out (mostly) what he could and couldn't get into. Now he's in the kennel when people are at work, but sleeps in the bed with us at night.

I complain about him eating pens and pincushions, but that's a combination of unhappiness (my wife has been out of town a lot on work the last few months, and he hates that) and running out of his proper chew toys. (Except for the chapstick tubes. He'll eat those anytime, but he just wants the chapstick filling. He spits out everything else).

Can't recommend kennel training and find a reputable dog training group led by a skilled trainer enough.

And spaniels are pretty awesome. I had English Springer's growing up, and the only down side is the long ears tend to drag in their food and water dishes. The right shape water dish fixes one, and hand to god we just used a clothespin if she ate anything that wasn't dry food for the other.....

[Yegolev]

Easier to just hurry home every night to throw some cash into the toilet, sprinkle loose hair around your house, lock yourself in for hours at a time, and pester your friends to watch your house every time you want to leave town.

[Sky]

I hate seeing caged dogs, as a kid who grew up in the country where dogs pretty much ran free.

I'd love a dog, but I'm also a responsible pet owner living in the city.  Thus a cat (and not the 6 cats I'd love to have).

[RhyssaFireheart]

Apartment doesn't have to mean small(er) dog though.  Some larger breeds aren't that high energy and adopting an older rescue dog could be ideal as well.  They could be perfectly happy snoozing all day while you're at work and getting a walk twice/thrice a day.  When we lived in our condo (1100 sq ft) our first Golden was fine with it, but we did have the advantage of living on the first floor which made housebreaking a bit easier.

I'm one of those people who doesn't agree with crate training though.  We blocked the current puppy into our back hallway until we were sure he was housebroken and while he's home alone, he gets the run of the downstairs.  Upstairs is still off limits until I get our current quilt switched out (it's getting shabby and he's found a few places to pull the batting out and chew it up some more) but otherwise, the whole house is open to him.  It trains them to think of the entire house as "their space" and not just one single spot.  I guess crate training is so recommended and prevalent that I run into people who are amazed that all my dogs have had the full run of the house once they are trained.  Yeah, because it's their house, too.

[Chimpy]

Stupid network equipment requiring tftp to upgrade firmware, why can't you support SCP? I have to use ssh to connect to you!

[Sky]

Yeah, because it's their house, too.

My house is more my cat's house if you go by habitation hours.