New Puppy

I have been wanting a dog for a long time. Our last dog, Nugget had to be put to sleep and it was a very hard decision. Then, because we knew we would be moving in a few years, we decided to wait. In the meantime Tara and i did some baby kitten fostering, just to get the feeling of having a pet. You can see it coming, can't you. We kept not on , but two of the kittens we fostered. Moving with cats was tough and then we had horses and cats and it just seemed that a dog was not going to work.

Lee and I went to many shelters and looked, but none was just right for me and by this time lee was concerned that one more animal, and a dog at that, was just too much. Not that I disagreed with him, but we had ALWAYS had a dog and I missed that companionship. I kept thinking that 57 acres with horses and deer and groundhogs sounded like dog heaven and we should get one.

Last week the Fincastle Herald had an ad from LAP, the League for Animal Protection. It is a local no-kill shelter that rescues dogs and cats. We have been there many times, but never saw the right dog. This time they were getting in 3 German shepherd mix puppies and I wanted a look. They had 2 puppies that I liked. The one I didn't like had too much hound and his legs were long and skinny and looked like they were put on sideways because they toe-d out so much. The other two were a boy that looked very shepherd-ish and a slightly smaller girl that was mostly brown and also very sweet. We went for the one that looked mostly shepherd.


Lee was not a happy camper. He really didn't want a dog as I work five days and he is usually home and most of the care during the week will fall to him. Particularly as summer is coming and he will not be doing any bus runs for 3 months. But he is so nice he will tolerate this new dog. Don't get me wrong, Lee likes dogs, but a puppy that has to be watched all the time will be a big chore for him.

We intend to buy a gate to finish the fenced in yard off the basement. It also has a dog door from the basement, so we could confine him down there with 2600 square feet of room, so maybe confine isn't the right word. Or we could re-install the wire so our invisible fence would work. What we can't do is fence all 57 acres. And we can't let him run loose. Cars, trains, coyotes, bears, cougars and irate neighbors with guns will make sure we know where he is at all times.


Now I have also really irritated our cats. They have been top dog, as it were, for their whole lives. They have even forced us to give away a very lovely cat that showed up at our door, they were so mean to her. So now, they will have to adjust. Rhett is sticking around and giving the puppy the evil eye and Ashley has moved upstairs to the top of the bookcase for the time being. He has come out at night to use the litter box and to eat, so I hope things will get better soon.
This puppy is very respectful of the cat's obvious superiority, even though he is slightly bigger than they are. So things should even out soon. He has only had one accident, the first hour or so, so that looks promising. I am hoping for a smooth transition and I hope Lee and the cats will forgive me when they see what a positive addition this is going to be:)!