Rufus the Rambunctious

He's been crazy all night, pouncing around on everyone and barking up a storm outside. Now it seems that letting him bring in a four-foot branch to gnaw on is a good pacifier. It was hilarious watching him try and carry it through the door, though: CRASH. BANG. BUMP. I had to use my "ability to carry things vertically" to get it inside. It's messy but ah, the quiet.

Happy Birthday, Rufus!

Mr. Cornchip is one year old today! Actually, both he and Emmy celebrate a birthday today, based on the shelter's estimated date of birth for them both. We celebrated with new squeaky balls, yummy treats and a trip to the dog park with our friend Christy and two of her four dogs; a male greyhound and a female pit. There was much running around, wrestling, fetching and sniffing all around with these dogs as well as a host of various other dogs. They played for over two hours before we finally called it a day and took them home. Right now they are deeply asleep all over the futon. Rufus is lying across my shin quite painfully, at the moment.
Each visit to the dog park gives our pups a better grip on socialization and I think it's helped Rufus become less of a brat and more of a "serious dog." Amelia's a regular little referee: if two dogs go after each other, she gets in and separates them, completely fearless and focused. She's so fearless and forgiving. Yesterday, a female pit attacked Mia (she's fine) and then turned on Amelia. Today, they played together like nothing ever happened. Dogs are like kids, they have good days and grumpy days, but playtime makes everything better.
Rufus surprised us as well. Today during a brief fracas, Tim commanded Rufus "Down!" and the little fart actually obeyed at once, lying down on the grass next to us. He's enjoying Mia's salacious attention: she cleans his teeth for him! However, one thing she stands firm on: the rawhide chewies are HERS. She doesn't care about any other toy or item, but woe betide the dog who tries to take away her rawhide chewy.

Our favorite things: Sticks and Squeaky Toys

Rufus has done so much maturing in just the past few weeks. Being around a variety of other dogs and people has been beneficial to us all and although I have always adored my dogs, I'm getting a much deeper respect for their resilience and intelligence. My dogs are very good dogs.

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Part of a Larger Pack

Large groups of dogs or people still trouble Rufus. A few times at the dog park, he'll get snarled at for trying to mount other dogs or simply put a paw on their backs, and although his instincts tell him to do these things, he doesn't get that he's "least respected dog" in most dog groups. We should have started taking him to the parks much sooner, but we didn't think about it until recently. Poor Rufus is our "test dog" and like a first child, all our mistakes will be made with him. But he's trying so hard now that he's got two other dogs at home. Mia is willing to let him be bossy and is making submissive overtures to him. I think this is good for his confidence. He's been a dream dog this morning, just perfect. For example, I noticed something paper-like in the back yard and went to have a look to see if it was a ripped out page from a magazine or something the crapheads two doors down threw into our yard. It was, in fact, a bit of tape from one of those lint-roller things. Before I could get to it, Rufus darted out and grabbed it, trying for a game of chase-me. I shrugged and went back into the house. (We only play chase-me with his toys or with sticks from the yard.) At once he followed me inside and dropped the tape on the floor at my feet. It's hard to describe, but he's just acting more mature today. And the girls don't seem to mind a bit if he wants to be boss. Mia's going to be a great fit wherever she finally winds up. She just goes with the flow.

I love watching Rufus grow up. I hope he can overcome our bad parenting. :)

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Mamma Mia

Every so often, a mother dog comes in with her pups. It's always extra heartbreaking for me when that happens. Usually, the pups are taken away one by one, leaving mama alone and less-likely to be adopted. (For some reason, a lot of people are turned off by the saggy teats of nursing or recently-nursing bitches.) Then, if she's not rescued or adopted, she's put to sleep when the shelter gets too full of newer, more adoptable dogs.

Mia came in with two of four puppies. (The other two were probably sold/given away by the owner. I don't know for sure.) She was so very skinny and so very shy. When food was brought to her, she let her babies eat first, although they were also still nursing. She never growled or barked at anyone, even when they would pick up her puppies. She kept a watchful, worried eye on them but deferred to human interaction. In a few days, her puppies were adopted out. No one seemed to notice her after that. The soft blankets were taken away and she was moved from a large kennel into a small, dark corner. On top of all of this: she's a small black dog. Black dogs are very hard to place. Her chances were slim, even though she was calm, sweet, submissive and non-aggressive towards anyone or anything.

These sort of decisions are becoming much easier for us to agree on. I emailed Russell Posch and asked if he could find a rescue group willing to pull her if Tim and I would foster. Within minutes, August Dog Rescue stepped up and claimed her. I called Tim at work and told him and when he left that evening, he stopped by the shelter and picked her up.

She's still shy, but isn't letting the other dogs, who are twice her size but only half her age boss her around. She never makes a sound unless she's getting pounced on too roughly, and she's absolutely gentle and polite to the cats. Curious, but in no way aggressive or threatening. Last night she kept pacing around the house and yard until we all finally went to bed. Without a pause, she hopped right on up with the rest of us, settling between us. Although she panted nervously quite a lot, she stayed in our bed and even laid her head across my side.

She's not food-possessive and doesn't seem overly interested in toys. Right now she's snoozing on the futon with Amelia and two of the cats. If she catches me looking directly at her, though, she'll hop off and wander around until I ignore her again and then she'll hop back up. Seems she's a bit nervous about attention. Hopefully, a lot of love and praise will solve that problem. (For now, I just try to use my peripheral vision or look at her sideways so she doesn't shy away.)

There are photos on the new camera but I will wait for Mr. Collier to download them on his computer tonight (or tomorrow.) But for now, just picture a small greyhound with shorter legs and a slightly wider nose and you've got a good idea what Miss Mia looks like. What I find most beautiful about her, though, is her spirit.

UPDATE: Mia's official page is HERE. She's looking for a household of dogs, cats, people, etc. The more the merrier.
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