The Whimsical Adventure of Miss Mia

After her adoption-day breakout, we took little Mia back to her new home. Before leaving, we explained that she should probably stick to the house and the backyard for at least a week or two: she still had major hang-ups about new situations, and we were in fact adding the appearance of abandoning her again. Mia would need time to adjust and get comfortable, and once she welcomed people home with a wagging tail and greeted each morning with her particular snuggle-attacks, it would be relatively safe to begin taking on the challenges of the outside world.

The next afternoon, we got a worried telephone call - Miss Mia was gone again. Okay, we thought, We've done this before. If we get out there quickly...

But this time was different. Her new owner had taken her out for a walk the night before, figuring "it was quiet enough outside." Five paces out the door, she twisted her way out of her collar and bolted. She returned to the house a short while later, but a group of noisy teenagers on bicycles startled her, then chased her away. Not wanting to bother us after the day's earlier dog-hunt, they waited sixteen hours before throwing in the towel and calling us. It was a case of best intentions complicating things terribly: in that short amount of time, a frightened dog can theoretically travel only a few blocks, or up to 30 miles.

Regardless, we grabbed the intrepid search party from the day before (both two- and four-legged), and set to work. Five hours later, we had scoured all of the nearby woodlands to no avail. Broken-hearted, exhausted but still determined, we slogged our weary way home.

The next two weeks were a frustrating litany of posting flyers and missing pet listings, poring over the intake photos at every animal shelter in a 30-mile radius, and driving to any shelter that had a medium-sized, smooth-coated black female dog (as you could guess, that was pretty much all of them). Sophie even spent a day combing the woodlands again, this time with a couple of wonderful volunteers from a local Search and Rescue group. (Note: They did this as friends, NOT as part of an official search. No dogs were used, just human eyes and voices.) They helped her look - checking every place they could think of where a forty-pound dog could reasonably hide - and lent their keen eyes, level heads, and sympathetic shoulders to lean on when things seemed desperate and futile.

Almost a week later, the phone rang again. "Are you the people who are missing the little black dog? The shy one with the white toes? I think I saw her twice today." A woman had been walking her dog near where Mia had disappeared, and recognized her from the flyers we had put out. Even better, she had been spotted in the same area twice.

At dawn the next day, our dilapidated van rumbled to a halt near the narrow greenbelt where Miss Mia had been spotted. Sophie and Amelia cut north along a wooden fence line that smelled promising; Rufus and I skirted around to the southwest to check a creek lazing its way haphazardly through the wooded area.

About ten to fifteen minutes later, "Team Cornchip" reached the head of the creek. Rufus bounded around distractedly, finally settling near a small cluster of trees in order to relieve himself. Checking my pockets, I came to the maddening realization that Sophie had all of the clean-up bags with her. As Rufus stretched and began shaking off his "just-arrived jitters," I called Team Amelia and crossly discussed the dogs' seeming lack of focus, and the need to coordinate and divvy up the toiletries. We agreed to meet back up, where we'd decide whether to continue with the dogs in tow or not. I hung up the phone, and turned back to Rufus.

Suddenly, his nose shot up in the air. Taking two greedy breaths, he barked sharply. A heartbeat later, he lunged for the creek nearby. As we raced toward the water, there was little doubt he'd caught an exciting scent; exactly what was rustling through the bushes on the opposite bank was still unclear. I called out as we ran, and Rufus called out with me.

Then a pointy black nose popped out of the bushes. It was followed by two round, surprised eyes, and finally a whole dog emerged from the greenery. My heart leaped. And then Mia leaped. Straight into the rivulet between us, and the tangles of greenbriar below.

What followed would have doubtless looked comical from a different vantage point, with me lunging into the creek up to my thighs, desperately trying to extricate Mia with one hand while unsuccessfully trying to keep Rufus from diving in with the other. By the time we all scrambled back up the bank, we were soaked, muddy, and overjoyed. I hugged Miss Mia close to me as I dug in my pack for a slip-leash, and was rewarded with the overpowering smell of skunk musk. Apparently, we were not the first to find her in her leafy hideout.

After a thorough cleaning and a trip to the vet, Mia returned home - to our home. Maybe some day she will have confidence and courage to face the wide world, but that's a struggle she can take at her own pace now, safe in the knowledge that she'll have a home and a family that will always be there when she needs them (human and canine alike).

PS. from Sophie: The other family had already adopted another dog by the time we found Mia. Thus, we formally adopted her ourselves.
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Intermission...

A lot has been going on in the life of Rufus and his pack, although I have been hesitant to write it down; perhaps I'm worried about jinxing everything. Sophie reminded me yesterday, however, that this is supposed to be a chronicle of the Wooferdog, come what may. So I'll try to get things caught up a bit.

Big Damn Heroes

One of Rufus' foster siblings, the shy and timid Mia, was adopted this weekend by an absolutely fantastic family - loving, understanding, patient and good at making timid dogs feel right at home; pretty much an ideal family for her. We brought her over yesterday for an overnight visit to see if she would be a good match for them and their other dog, a happy-go lucky dachshund.

Well, earlier today we got a call: Miss Mia had dashed underfoot, out of the front door and away. They had managed to follow her to a huge field that led into a wooded area. Tim and I leashed up Rufus and Amelia and went to see if we could help find her.

None of our dogs has any real Search and Rescue training, and whenever we hide the squeaky toy around the house, Rufus is the only one who reliably can and will go find it. Nonetheless, we both knew that if anyone had a chance of finding a tiny, scared dog in the middle of nowhere, it would be another dog. But would they focus on her scent - assuming they even encountered it - or would they be distracted by every bug, bit of trash and smelly patch instead?

When we got there, Tim took Rufus, I took Amelia and we gave them Mia's adoption vest to smell. They both eagerly snuffled it for several seconds and then seemed to say, "Okay, we got it." Upon leaving the van, they both lunged ahead, dragging us both at top speed around the outer edges of the wooded area closest to where we parked. Amelia seemed insistent that we check out a private residence hidden at the end of a long driveway, so while Tim and Rufus penetrated deeper into the woods around the creek, Amelia and I went poking around the house which was luckily unoccupied at the time. I had no idea if she was following a particular scent or just being nosy but I had to trust her nose since it was the only tool I had other than my voice to call for Mia.

We then poked around the field a few times, but Amelia seemed to lose steam and become anxious so we crossed the street to look around the apartments a bit. When we crossed the street again, back towards the woods, we saw Mia's adoptive mom also searching along the edges of the woods. She led us over to where they had last seen Mia: a field of tall grass, weeds and flowers dotted by pines. Amelia and I trudged through the flowering weeds and the many, many bees that were pollinating them. Luckily for us, they were busy working, not stinging. Amelia walked purposefully towards the woods again, this time from the western side and into the thick of the trees, compelling me to crawl through on my hands and knees at times and crash blindly through dry, thorny branches to keep up with her. After a bit, she stopped and seemed confused. I was exhausted and sat down to give her some water. Just then Tim called my celphone and asked how things were going. He and Rufus were about a quarter of a mile away from our starting point. We agreed to go get more water soon, since we were both running low, and hung up. I was in no hurry to crawl back out through the thicket, so I sat a bit longer with Amelia. Suddenly, she got very still and craned her neck forward, one paw lifted in uncertainty. I followed her gaze to see a small black face peering out from the scraggly trees.

"Hey, Mia!" I called gently but cheerfully. "It's Emmy! Come on, girl!" Mia crept forward as did Amelia, and they gave each other a sniff and a lick and then Mia just leapt up on us both happily. I opened up the container of Bil-Jac treats for Mia to eat while I tried to hook her leash onto her collar. Amelia jammed her face into the treats and gobbled most of them up. Mia didn't seem to mind. She was just so happy to be rescued.

Once Mia was securely fastened to me via a well-wrapped leash, I called Tim with the happy news, then the adoptive mom, and finally the rescue she was adopted through. Tim told me to just stay there and sing so he could find us, but after several minutes, I decided to just suck it up and deal with the scratches and scrapes.

As we reached the clearing again, I dropped Amelia's leash by accident and she trotted off merrily into the six-foot-high grass, out of sight. I called to her but that didn't seem to stop her, so I started howling as mournfully as I could. She came racing back to us at once.
Back through the bee fields and then we caught sight of Tim. When Mia saw them, she was so happy! Safe at last and hanging out with her old pack.
We took her back to her adoptive parents, and although she was all anxious again, she - and her new family - will be fine. It took her a while to get used to our household and she'll get used to theirs as well. They certainly seem up for the challenge (not at all daunted by Mia's earlier "Great Escape") and are relaxed and happy, which is exactly what she needs. In a few days, I'm pretty sure she'll understand just how lucky she got.

And again, we could NOT have found her without our dogs. Our plain old, everyday, nothing fancy, knuckleheaded hoodlums. They didn't have any special training. They just did what dogs have done for millenia: follow their noses and hope the humans with them will trust them enough to follow those noses as well.

Trying to Earn His Stars

A lot has been going on lately at "Chateau Wooferdog." Rufus and Amelia keep on growing; they're now 19 months old, and still have a long way to go. Especially Rufus, who has become increasingly wary of strangers over the past few months. It's something that I have worried about for quite some time, since Buster's distemper left Rufus quarantined for three of the most important months for socialization.

Yesterday, he barked at a boy who asked if he could pet him. I told him he wasn't feeling good that day, so we'd have to sit for a minute and see if he felt like it. While we talked, he pointed out the "ranger badge" stars on Rufus' collar and asked what they were there for.

I told him, "Well, Rufus has always wanted to take care of people, and keep bad guys away. So I figured he'd like a sheriff's star on his collar."

Once Rufus had calmed down a little (there was a soccer game going on as well), the little boy got a high-five from him and a "kiss" on the forehead by way of apology. After giving him a treat and petting him, the boy got up to go. "So," he asked, "When he grows up, do you think he'll catch bad guys?"

I shook my head. "Probably not. But I'd like it if he got to help people who needed it."

The boy smiled and waved before he left. "I think he'd be good at that."

Rufus has a long way to go, and a lot of manners to work on, but I'd love to see him grow into a friendly, outgoing and happy dog. More than anything else, I want that for him.
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Dinner time

Over the last few weeks, Rufus' interest in food has really waned to the point where we practically have to hand-feed him or hold his bowl for him. Although none of the other dogs are remotely food aggressive, he acts nervous, as if he doesn't feel he has the right to eat. It's so strange. We mix a variety of food in with his kibble: chicken, beef, sausage, yogurt, cheese, peanut butter, carrots, etc. We just can't figure out why he seems so reluctant to eat. He's not at all shy about begging for popsicle bites (I feed him little pieces straight from my mouth. Yum!) He doesn't get over-fed on treats during the day, though, so it's not that he's full already. The other three dogs bolt their dinners down and then wander around and lick out each others' empty bowls. They naturally stare at Rufus and we keep them away from his (usually still full) bowl. No one growls or tries to push him away. It is a mystery.

Crowded House

Mia, Rufus, Jasper and Amelia

Mia and Jasper are still here and both have some personality issues (extreme shyness/fear of new situations) that are going to make it very hard to rehome them. Mia is so terrified of leaving her territory she actually poops on herself if we try to take her anywhere. She will go for walks but if there are too many other people around, she tries to run away and hide. She'd be great for a reclusive person who doesn't want to have to walk a dog, though. Just give her a doggie door to the back yard and another dog to play with and she's fine.

Jasper is a big old love-a-lump and so patient with Rufus constantly jumping on him, humping him, pulling on his ears, etc. But he also has a major prey drive, so we've had to rehome one of our cats and he turns into a snarling beast when someone comes up to the back fence, even if we're there telling him "It's all right! Quiet!" He also anchors himself to the floor if we try to take him for a walk by himself. Like Mia, he only wants to go if the other dogs are going. He'd be another candidate for a lazy owner. He's not real energetic, although he does like a good run around the backyard with the other dogs.

Rufus especially seems anxious with all the other dogs around. He eats slowly and we frequently have to keep the other dogs away from his bowl so he can finish eating. He's also not used to having his toys and bones constantly taken. And having to share Mom and Dad and the bed, NOT COOL.

So we reaaaally hope we can rehome Jasper and Mia soon.

Oh! Before I forget: August Dog Rescue is dissolving, so Jasper and Mia will be available from the Collin County Humane Society (we're still fostering, but for CCHS now). Still, for the next couple of weeks, I think they'll be on the ADR Petfinder page. If you're interested in a homebody, low-maintenance dog, let us know and we'll put you in touch with whichever organization is handling it at the time.

Spread the word and help us all out! :D

Happy Rufus Day!!!

It was one year ago today we brought a small, fluffy little Wooferpuppy home to foster.  Haha.  Joke was on us!

Here are some recent photos of Rufus and his pals:

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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Merry Christmas!

Well, we had planned to (grudgingly) leave Rufus and Amelia in charge of the house, and head up to see Sophie's family for the holidays. The first "white Christmas" Texas has seen in many years intervened, however - shutting down parts of both highways we'd have to traverse. (Note: It wasn't a lot of snow, but we got a huge amount of freezing rain, which sheathed many of the major roads here in ice. Better safe than sorry, I guess.)

So it's a quiet, wintry day at home with the dogs and cats for us. Which suits us quite well. Rufus and Amelia got to romp around in their first snowfall today, including chasing squirrels early in the morning for Ammie and the largest ice-cubes Rufus has ever owned. It's all melting away to mud and sludge at this point, but it was grand while it lasted.

In other news, our decade-old Olympus C-5060 camera has finally died. Since we can't come close to affording a digital SLR (which is what I ultimately want, camera-hound that I am), we've opted for a Canon PowerShot SX120 in the interim. Hopefully, it won't take long to get the hang of using the new camera, but I apologize for any major lags in photographic quality.

Other than that, we wish you, your families and friends all a wonderful and loving holiday season. May your days be merry and bright, and may your nights be warm, cozy and a bit fuzzy.
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Monkey vs Dog in the Great Panty Battle

So, I'm gathering up laundry and Rufus grabs a pair of panties and runs out the back door. He proceeds to rip them up (Emmy helps) and chasing is no good, so I grab a big stick and start whacking it against the tree he's running around, and I yell "Drop it!" (whack) "Drop it" (whack) while following him around the tree. Basically, I become Big Scary Monkey. The stick shatters with every smack and I very rarely lose my temper with Rufus to that extent. (Annoyance is a totally different thing.) With a look of shock, he finally dropped it and just stood back and let me take the shredded remains of my undies. Now is very contritely sitting at my feet. So is Emmy (who drops things immediately.) Panties destroyed but maybe he'll stop swiping my stuff. I'm sure it's not the Dog Whisperer way to solve the problem, but it worked on this day.

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Big scare

As I mentioned in a previous post, Rufus likes to grab Amelia by the collar and drag her around. Well, tonight he got ahold of it and somehow twisted it around his lower jaw so that he was stuck and she was choking. Tim and I had to hold them both still against their panicked thrashing and cut her collar loose enough that we could roll Rufus over and get them both free. Very scary for all of us as Amelia was running out of air and Rufus' teeth were wedged in there tight. Immediately after they were rescued, both sniffed and licked each others' face as if to say "Hey, no hard feelings."

Unexpected Guests

Although you might have a difficult time judging by the temperature, the local Texas flora have come to realize that it's late fall. All three of our elderly mulberry trees have cast off their summer foliage with a vengeance, pretty much burying our yard in a thick carpet of leaves. So off to the store I went in search of extra-extra large trash bags with intent to do some frenzied yardwork.

On my way home earlier, I had noticed two unfamiliar dogs wandering in our neighborhood. I stuck a few treats in my back pocket before heading to the store, just in case they were still roaming around lost. And sure enough, they were: a young shepherd/lab mix who could have easily been a black version of Rufus, and an elderly beagle. The beagle had a collar on with a tag bearing his name ("Short Stop") and his owner's number. Leaving a message on the owner's voicemail, I thought to myself, Well, now you've gone and done it. Got to look after him until the owner calls back. Another fine mess... Although the black dog had no collar, I was very hesitant to let him keep wandering back and forth in traffic on his own, so the three of us headed back to the ol' Chateau Rufus.

At first, I figured I'd just keep the two visitors out front. Sophie was out in the backyard, however, and I walked around to ask her to keep an eye on the newcomers while I brought out a crate for Short Stop. Amelia and Rufus ran to the gate to greet me, right up to the point where Shadow (the black anti-Rufus) rounded the corner behind me.

Ohboy.

Amelia didn't take too well to a strange dog following me, with a fence between us. The argument that ensued was loud, scary, and particularly hard on our gate (which survived, but I think it might need a little work this weekend). Apparently, her guard dog instincts run deep. So while Sophie came around to keep Shadow in check, I went and brought Amelia out front for a slightly more controlled meeting of the canines.

There was a little tension at first, while the two sniffed and sized each other up. Then, instead of growling or lunging at the visiting dog, Amelia flopped down into the biggest play-bow I've ever seen, and she and Shadow rolled around like a couple of puppies. Rufus came out next, with predictably similar results. Everyone showed a casual interest in Short Stop, who preferred to let the younger dogs act silly while he relaxed in his crate. Reasonably assured that the dogs were going to get along fine together, we set about doing some all-but-forgotten yardwork while the puppies rolled around in the piles of leaves.

Short Stop's owner finally called back (Shadow, it turns out, was theirs as well - he'd apparently ditched his collar at some point), and we agreed to look after the two dogs until they got off work, and could come take them home. Short Stop had begun baying, however, apparently upset over being left out of the fun. Rather than subject the neighbors to a beagle serenade, we let him come into the backyard and hang out with the other dogs. He walked around the yard with Amelia for a minute, paused as they passed Shadow, then promptly laid into the black youngster with a distinctly un-playful wrath.

Ohboy, take two.

What followed was a flurry of activity. I snatched Short Stop up, scruffing him until he regained his composure. While my attention was on the beagle, Rufus rushed over to the (justifiably) panicked Shadow - who promptly lunged at him. I heard Amelia's rolling bark from beside me, saw her leap forward, and thought: this is going to get very ugly, very fast.

But it didn't. Amelia tackled Shadow in mid-lunge, knocked him onto the ground, and just pinned him there like a wrestler until everyone had calmed down. Short Stop went back to his crate to cool his heels, and the other three dogs kept cavorting around, demolishing our piles of leaves as if nothing had happened. By the time their owner arrived to pick them up, Short Stop had calmed down again, Shadow had played himself breathless, and both were thrilled to be heading home. Rufus and Amelia got some wet food with their dinner, helped me bag up a few more leaves, then curled up to sleep off a hard day's romp.

Incidentally, our next-door neighbor pointed out today that Amelia was tearing up our bags of leaves. In fact, she was dragging them back out across the yard, then ripping them open - apparently, she had so much fun playing that she wanted to reset all the leaf-piles for another game today.
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Rufus and Amelia

Things have worked themselves out between our Rufus and his sister, Amelia. They are inseparable and take turns being obnoxious to one another. Rufus loves to grab ahold of one of Emmy's ears or legs or her collar and try to drag her outside to play. Amelia still takes Rufus' toys and treats and always eats first. They are barkin' buddies who alert each other to the presence of cats, people and sirens. They are jointly responsible for destroying any stray sock, sweater or magazine that happens to fall within reach and together have successfully ousted one or the other of us from bed (whereupon one dog sleeps with Mom and one with Dad. Usually.) Walks are twice as tricky with two adolescent adventure dogs, but we're getting there, slowly.

It's so worth it when they settle down and lay their noses together during a nap or when they lick each others' faces affectionately. I love my dogs. I'm lucky to have them.

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Things Rufus has eaten

Numerous shoes
DVD remote control
Plush toys
"Indestructable" compressed rawhide chews (took less than an hour)
Wooden chair made by Tim's father
Wooden TV stand
Three bras
One pillowcase
Innumerable cardboard soda can boxes
The mail
Nearly new green shirt
(10/01) Plushie
Misc. cords (Amelia probably helped a lot with these)
kitchen sponge
Copy of Games magazine (found in shreds all over the backyard)
(10/6) Grey flannel pillowcase (which Tim turned into a braided tug toy)
Few dozen socks
(10/13) A silk/sequined bag and the vintage costume jewelry inside it (his turds must look FABULOUS!)
(10/15- busy day!) 5 of Sophie's tops, a mystery cord, two socks
(10/27) Sophie's pillow. Photo below:

(11/02) Sophie's pink woolen hoodie
(11/03) Sophie's grey hoodie shirt
Playstation controllers, as well as some games and CD cases
More books and an art print
Comforter
HUGE dog bed, brand new (He managed to unzip it, so at least the shell of it is intact.)
Another Games magazine

And that's just the stuff we know about. I'll add more as it is remembered or destroyed.

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Sibling Rivalry

Well, its about a week into this new pack formation and it's not going as smoothly as it did with Buster. Emmy's very protective of the resources: food, toys and affection, so she's been doing a fare share of menacing Rufus. He's a pretty good-natured fellow but he's having a hard time dealing with not getting his toys when he wants them and having to wait to eat until she's done. The weird thing is, we've tried separating them at mealtime and Rufus doesn't like that. He seems quite upset if we close a door between them, whether he's on the inside or she is. So, for now we'll just put out plenty of food and hope that once she's had her fill, she'll leave him alone to eat and that he'll stop moping and start eating.

As for the attention-whoring, she actually bolted over Tim who was laying on the futon between the dogs, petting them both. While we know we can't influence their pack order, we CAN demand good behavior. It's just trying to enforce manners and civility while allowing them to work things out on their own that's so stressful. It's also hard on us seeing Rufus bullied. He's smart, though, and it seems that about half the time he's baiting her to get her to chase him.

It's only been a week. Too early to be too concerned I think. She's just going to need a lot of training to learn how to live indoors with a pack that pays attention to her. It appears she may have been an outside dog, because she's peeing in the house, even next to the food bin (which is fortunately a plastic tub, so no contamination.) She's also peed in the hallway outside the bathroom. For now we've set up baby gates to keep her confined to the livingroom.

Rufus seems mopey sometimes. But he seemed mopey before we brought her home. I think we'll just have to wait and keep loving them both and trying to be good role models. I just don't want to lose the happy, confident boy that our Rufus has become.

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Lonely Dog

Over the past few weeks, Rufus has slowly become more and more destructive: a sure sign of boredom and frustration. I've personally lost my only black bra, two pairs of shoes (almost a third pair but I rescued them after losing only part of the heel,) a halter top, many empty soda boxes, pillowcases, a cat bed, a wooden chair, a tv tray, stuffed animals, and who knows what else we simply haven't found the remains of yet. He has also become very recalcitrant on his walks and we've had to cut short our last couple of forays and head back home after Rufus got too unruly and wild. At home, he'd get into everything, bully the cats, nip at us and run out back and bark in order to get us to go outside and see what was up, whereupon he'd try and start a game of chase-me chase-you. We were losing patience and sanity. Obviously there was only one solution.

We got another dog.

Her name is Amelia, but "Emmy" for short, and she's probably got some pit bull or mastiff or both in her. You may notice she looks a bit like Buster, but that's not the reason we chose her. She simply charmed us and had such a good, sweet, playful temperament that we were pretty sure she could keep up with Rufus without being bullied or being a bully to him. If you follow our "Shelter Diaries," you'll have already read about her and her pal Royce. Unfortunately, Royce is still at the shelter and on the urgent list. We'd have taken them both if not for the fact that we've got too many animals as it is.

Rufus is very happy with his new sister and hopefully, she'll be a good influence on him. We'll post photos and video later. In the meantime, here are a couple from her time at the shelter.

It's our first night together and I'm looking forward to seeing her become used to her new home and her new pack. Welcome, Amelia! We love you!

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Shower time

When Rufus was small enough to fit in the kitchen sink, that was where he got his baths. As he grew too big for that, I began simply taking him into the shower with me. It was never his favorite thing, and although he is always very good and patient, he is very happy to get out of there, shake water everywhere, and roll around on the carpet like a maniac.

He's caught on to the fact that, when it's shower time, I wait for him to follow me into the bathroom (which he always does, no matter what I'm up to) and then I close the door so he can't escape. Nowadays, he stops halfway into the bathroom until he knows it's safe to proceed. Thus, after a long muddy romp in the backyard, I had to trick him into coming all the way into the bathroom while still being able to close the door behind him. Not hard, just had to put something interesting on the lid of the toilet so he came over to investigate. Ha! He was trapped. As I started forward to take his collar off, he backed up, but then stopped and with a look of resignation, waited for me to remove it.

Now, at this point, what I have always had to do was lift him into the tub. He's about 50 lbs. of muscle and long, long legs, so it's not easy to do. After turning on the shower and setting it to a dog-friendly temperature, I decided to see if he'd get in on his own. I didn't think for a minute that he would, but it was a good stalling tactic while I braced myself to hoist him over the edge of the tub.

I looked at Rufus, then at the tub and said, "Get in."

And he DID!

He still doesn't enjoy taking a shower and he still can't wait to get out and roll around on the floors, attack the towels, etc, but it was so very heartening to see him willing to do something he didn't want to when there was no treat involved other than pleasing his "mom." He stood there so good under the water while I washed him, and waited for me to get clean too (he jumped on me with his muddy feet.)

I am very proud of my funny little dog. He still has a long way to go before he's no longer a bratty teenager, but this was a really awesome step in that direction.

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