Dog Day Afternoon

So, we heard from Marco's foster. Apparently Marco has trouble with traveling. Howling, whining, barking and my favorite, explosive diarrhea! Since we do a fair amount of traveling with our dogs, this didn't seem like it would be the best match.



We had scheduled a visit with Marco et. al. for yesterday afternoon, and got the call yesterday morning. After talking it over with The Wife, we decided to head to a town north of us by a bit and check out their pound dogs. We had been perusing Petfinder again, and had found that this particular shelter had five dogs that seemed like they had the potential to be a good match!


Our first experience was with Jack. Jack was a really great looking dog, but Jack didn't really care that we were there. After sniffing around the room, he started marking things. The wall, the cat tree, and then me. Jack lost so many points that he was escorted from the room without another word.


Then came Emma. She was a 5 month old puppy, and hyper as only a puppy in a pound could be. But she made the rounds to all of us, snuggling into laps, licking furiously at hands, and wagging tail like there was no tomorrow. She was all black, and a blur. Then the Boyo picked up a chew rope and the two had a gleeful tug of war for a bit. The Boyo was very upset when we ended the game to check out other dogs. But we liked her.


Next up was Shaggy. He was pretty calm, gentle and friendly, but roughly the size of a small pickup truck. He literally knocked the Boyo off of his feet with his wagging tail. If only he had been a quarter of his size, he would have been great.


Then came Autumn. A 4 year old German Shepherd mix. About the size of Ben the dog, and with a temperament that was awesome. She snuggled into laps, and was calm and timid. We really liked her too.


Last up was Rusty. 1 year old and a big Shepherd mix, but not too big perhaps. He was great with the Kiddos, sniffing and looking for attention, even from Sweet Pea who was calmly observing the chaos from her car seat. He was a really lovable dog.


Without trying hard, we agreed that either Emma, Autumn or Rusty would be a great fit in our pack. So we decided to see how Ben was with them. We had brought him along too meet any potential new pack mates. In hindsight, this may not have been the best idea.


When Ben gets into a new space, he gets really hyped up and very defensive of his personal space. So all of his meetings were growly. We took him and Rusty out into the exercise yard, where they completely ignored each other. Emma wanted to play with Ben, and couldn't seem to figure out what his deal was. We didn't try Autumn, as Ben had had enough stimulation for the day. It was beneficial though. Ben didn't attack anybody, and I was confident that any of the three we brought home would eventually win Ben over.


We headed home without a decision made. We did make lists of the pros and cons of each dog though, and throughout the evening and this morning kept asking each other which of the three we would pick if we had to choose right now. At each asking, a different dog would be chosen.

How would we make the choice?


Well, this morning we took the Boyo to a church sponsored daycare designed to let parents shop. While he was playing, we shopped and talked about the dogs. We ruled out Autumn because at 4 years old, she would be a senior dog in just a few years. The wounds from caring for and losing Rascal and Shoba are still too fresh, we didn't feel ready to face that again so soon with a new dog.


After more back and forth, I decided to let fate decide, much to The Wife's amusement. I pulled a quarter from my pocket, (Hawaii Quarter, with George Washington on one side and King Kamehameha I on the other) declared Heads would be for Emma and Tails would be for Rusty, and flipped the coin.


Heads. Emma it is. The Wife asked if I was sure. (She was already leaning towards Emma)

I flipped it again. Heads.

And again. Heads!

One more time. Yep, Heads!

Four for four.

Yep, I'm sure.


Now, as many of you know, Emma is also the name of our cat. We were going to need a new name. Yesterday, as the Boyo played with her, he kept saying "Come on Kitty! Get me Kitty" and such. But it just seems wrong on so many levels to name her Kitty, when she was just getting used to Emma, and Emma the cat is also known as Kitty around our home. Too much confusion.


So when we picked up the Boyo, I asked him what a good girls name would be for the new puppy.

"Ummm..... Joseph!" he said.

"Let's try again." Said I.


The Boyo is a creative sort, and has been for a time now with naming things. For many moons whenever he needs a name for something, he will often call that something 'Hollybeduda'. (That's pronounced Holly-beh-dude-ah) Not surprisingly then, when I asked him to try for another good girl's name, he answered with

"HOLLYBEDUDA!"

So, meet Hollybeduda! We will be calling her Holly for short, since she's a Christmas dog and all...


After picking her up, we headed for home. I'll be sharing those adventures tomorrow! This is already too long!


More Later