who let the dawgs out

Yes, friends and neighbors, we have a dog now. Yesterday we went on a mission and went looking for a pound puppy, and went shopping for some "dog crud" (as my brother calls the accessories of dog-life).

Today we went and bailed our new friend outta lockup. (sorry but the jail/pound metaphor hasn't worn out its welcome yet). She's a 3-year old lab mix (whatever the other ingredients are, they musta been big because she's a BIG girl (alot of junk in the trunk), but not so much that we can't have her inside the house. Since she's been in lockup for about a year and a half, her house skills are a bit rusty, so we need to work on house manners a bit since she's out of practice. Just as jail doesn't teach you the skills to live in mainstream society, living in a shelter doesn't necessarily prepare you for living in a house with people and a surly spoiled cat, but she's friendly, tame, seems real eager to fit in and listens real well/follows directions, and for a lab, she's pretty mellow most of the time. She's still a bit clingy/needy, but I imagine the novelty of being in a new strange place hasn't even begun to wear off yet.

We had her outside all day today and wore her out real good with toys and general outdoor/yardwork so now she's curled up at my feet snoring/snorting away the way labs do when they're content with life. It's kind of a good thing that I'm home during the day most days right now because I think she needs some stability in her life. So for a while I get to play stay-at-home-mom. Kinda weird, but I've got crops that need planting, and plenty of projects to do around the house, so it'll be nice to have a personal shadow to keep me company while I do that stuff.

The cat is preturbed at having her routine totally disrupted, but fortunately she doesn't appear particularly afraid of this new curiously slobbering goofy thing that's taken over the house--just a bit annoyed. Unfortunately we're going to have to play the rotating animal game for awhile until the novelty wears off for both parties, but one thing I'm not worried about is the safety of the cat--she is going to be fine...she is already strutting around as seductively as possible to show her lack of concern. I'm sure she'll do that thing where she looks cute and vulnerable, and when the dog gets too close, she comes out of a bag, hissing and snarling. She's done that routine with dogs many a time, and they all fall in line.

It's still kind of mysterious and wonderful looking over and seeing a big black dog sprawled out on the floor by my feet. It's been such a long time since I've heard panting, had a leash, and had anybody around who wants to play fetch games. I can't wait to take her to a bigger park and let her charge around to her heart's content. (We live near a dog park). It makes me wish that kids worked this way too...where you could go in, look at some likely ones, eliminate the ones who are too loud, noisy, rude, bad tempered, lethargic, or bad-mannered, and if all else fails, you can bring them back in if for some reason they don't work out. Alas, you can't do that with real kids, although I know of one I'd adopt in a heartbeat if I were in a more stable situation instead of being a grad student with no job. He too is living in a temporary situation, is housebroken, plays well with others, and has the sad puppy dog eyes-look down cold. Hopefully someone will bring him home soon, get him some good toys, and get to know him, he's a sweet kid.

In the meantime, I've got a few weeks of initial settling in to do, and some house training, but this assignment's looking easier than some past cases I've had. This dog doesn't seem to have too many "issues".