I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family...but he doesn't have a name yet.
Ivan?Beauregard?Leroy?
Sam?
I'm long past hoping that he's lost or that I'll be able to find another home for him.
I try to stay positive here but, I have to admit, I find humans to be consistently disappointing -hamstrung by stunted imagination and conditional compassion.
Not worth the gunpowder to blow them up, as my dear Grandma used to say.
I went out to investigate some canine goings-on on the beach. Occasionally the dog of one of our distant neighbors gets left behind on walks and has to fend for herself; I hate to see her get harassed by strays, so I go out and play chaperon. This time it wasn't her and instead I broke up a dog sex party...a bitch in heat and a few determined males. That explains all the noise at night lately.
I scooped her up (really she jumped into my arms) and headed home with her suitors in tow. She'll be going to the vet to be spayed just as soon as our truck is working.
After that I don't know.
Soon after she was taken out of play the males wandered off, but for one.
He sat at the gate looking forlorn and wouldn't be run off.
He's big, scarred, covered with bite marks, ticks and fleas
and is perfectly wonderful.
I went out to see him and fell in love. Seriously unbelievable...
intact, with a bitch in heat around and yet everybody liked him immediately.
Even Bosha, the weirdest dog I've ever met
(she's our neighbor's dog and is staying here while her human is out of town.).
Bosha and Maggie
We built a pen for him to stay in at night and when the bitch is loose,
but within a day or 2 he has taken to sleeping on the upstairs porch.
He hasn't ventured inside more than a few feet; he isn't sure about those ceiling fans.
He looks like a cross between a yellow lab and a pit bull to me.
Sweet, silly and slightly cross-eyed; you couldn't wish for a nicer dog.
Well... he is a little too interested in the chickens, but we'll work on it.
Update: We're calling him Floyd. He's a sweet, fun guy -an overgrown puppy with plenty of bad habits. He also seems to have some vision trouble that we're trying to understand. He's been neutered and blood tests turned up ehrlichiosis, a common tickborne bacterial infection that would prove fatal if untreated. So, a pill a day and lots of discipline for Floyd.
Final Update 10/11: What began so well has come to a sad end. Once Floyd was comfortable his dominant/territorial tendencies came out. We soon realized he couldn't be trusted around other males or too many dogs at once. Despite our best efforts over the course of a very stressful 9 months, we had to admit defeat and have him put down; we didn't have the space, resources or manpower to safely keep him.
