The Rest of the Story

The dog.

It's been crazy around here, and the dog is really only 1/3 of it. But to ease your curiosity, this entry will be just about Bear.

We've been kind of murmuring about a dog for most of the summer. Many of you know that we lost our beloved Soya 3 years ago. At the time, Taylor was about 9 or 10. He said, "I don't ever want to get another dog because then they die."

Just in the last few months he's been mentioning a dog. Mensa Boy has not been a big fan, but said he wouldn't stand in our way. Nate has been supportive, but not really pushing it.

Taylor and Soya were pretty close. She was mostly my dog, but she always spent a lot of time sleeping next to Taylor as he watched TV or played video games. He would talk in her ears.

Nate will be graduating from high school next spring and going off to college and that will leave Taylor here as the only kid. Also, our carpets are in bad shape and need to be replaced.

So it seemed like no time like the present to house train a puppy.

Bear was owned by a family in Chester who tried to surrender him to the Lancaster Animal Shelter. They would not take him because there are so many surrendered, found, or taken every day that they can't also take animals from other counties. The woman sounded like she didn't want to go "all the way" to the Chester pound. So B.J, a volunteer, said she'd foster him.

He's about 13 weeks old, according to the vet. (note to self: have Taylor pick a birthday)

He's very cuddly and for the first two days he was quiet and slept a lot. He was also crawling with fleas, which we had killed before we even let him in the house. We took him the local vet and they gave him a magic pill that killed them all in about 30 minutes. I just gave him another pill today and put on some Topspot. We also had him tested for a skin condition, which he passed, but we have another culture working for ringworm. He's got a spot on his front leg that he's been chewing on.

Buddy Sarah loaned us two Kennel Cabs, one he just fits in now, and another he can grow into. He's very good about it. We let him out, tell him he's going to bed, and he sleeps all night. Hasn't said a word for 2 nights. Each morning he goes straight outside from there. I suspect we are in the honeymoon phase with that.

He's not a great eater. In fact, I suspect all the food he's getting right now is what I put in his little Kong. So I put puppy food in there rather than treats. His foster home fed him scrambled eggs for breakfast. At my house, dogs eat dog food. So he's going to have to get over this pickiness. NO ONE is allowed to be a picky eater.

His personality is starting to come out now, and I suspect we will be referring to him as "the terrorist" soon. Tomorrow I'll have to take Taylor to a bookstore to find a training book. We'll need to keep a firm hand on this one. We do, after all, suspect that he's mostly Jack Russell Terrier.

My circle of buds have been teasing me now, saying they want to get me a pooch purse. A big, flowered, pooch purse. HA. They are soooooo funnnnny!

My assessment of this whole thing is now I've given my adversaries (and believe me, there are adversaries with this library thing) a pretty good response when I tangle with them:

"I'll get you, my pretty! And your little dog too!"