Category: k

I do realize this is the second long post of the day about the dogs, which may seem excessive to some, but there’s a lot going on.

This was the first workday with K here. I was certainly curious as to how that would go. I mean, I need to keep a close watch on things, as I explained earlier. That doesn’t mean I need to make sure I can see and/or hear the dogs, it means I need to be close to them watching them so I can intervene if necessary.

They’re actually doing well. Belle and K are equally obsessed with watching the backyard for critters.

That by itself isn’t a problem. The door they watch from, however, is on another floor at the other end of the house from my office. There weren’t many issues today, but I didn’t want to take any chances. So I encouraged K to hang out in my office with me.

She didn’t seem to mind too much.

I found it sort of distracting, though. Because she snores. And she looked so darn cute.

I just had to take pictures.

I think I may have been getting on her nerves…

I wasn’t keeping K prisoner or anything. I didn’t even have the door closed. The other dogs came and went throughout the day. And I took them all outside every couple of hours. (It’s a good thing I am not super-busy this week. I AM KNOCKING ON WOOD NOW!)

The only issues with K and Belle have been while they’re playing and one or both of them get too wound up. They’re just like little kids wrestling. They can be rolling around, bumping, hitting, biting, etc., but if one gets a little hurt or suddenly scared, they freak out.

With me or Hubby staying close by, as soon as we see things getting too exciting, we make them stop playing for a minute. That’s usually enough to calm things down and they’re back to being friends.

Late this afternoon, after they’d been romping and rolling for a good bit, I could tell K was getting tired. They heard the mailman or something and K took off running toward the front gate. Belle took off after her, body slammed K, bounced off and ran in the other direction.

Meg has learned how to anticipate and dodge this little maneuver, which is Belle’s way of saying “chase me.” Well, K turned around very quickly and chased her. K, who is also very fast, either stepped on Belle’s heel or just scared Belle. All of a sudden, Belle yipped and got this look of terror on her face. Had I not been right there to step in, Belle may have snapped, literally. Which would have pissed K off. Their anger could have escalated quickly.

That’s why, until they get to know each other really well, we have to stay close by.

Don’t worry, though. This sort of adjustment is completely normal. Some dogs can’t even be in the same room together for weeks or even months. I think these two are going to be just fine. Especially since most of the time they play with each other like this…

They’d been chasing each other around the yard, flopping in the leaves. Somehow, they ended up laying in the leaves for a while, just wrestling with their heads. It was very cute.

As for Meg…

She really is perfectly happy watching the crazy little ones tear around the yard. As long as I don’t ignore her, of course, which I won’t.

And she does her share of running, too. She may be getting older, but she still likes to run. She just doesn’t have it in her to be chased by our two little speed demons.

Any time you get a new dog, whether it’s a puppy or an older, “used” dog (Hubby’s term for rescue dogs), there’s an adjustment period as everyone gets to know each other.

I’ve never gotten a puppy from a breeder. It would be cool to have a puppy because they are so darn cute. But puppies are essentially a blank slate. You don’t really know what their temperament will be, how big they’ll get, if they’ll be loners or like other dogs, etc.

When you get a “used” dog that’s an adult, if you get them from a rescue organization where the dog spends a period of time with a foster family, there’s a lot you know about a dog before you commit. And that can be important, especially when you already have two dogs in your family.

We had a very specific reason for adding a third dog. Belle, our 2.5 year-old Brittany needed a playmate. Meg, our 10.5 year-old, just couldn’t keep Belle entertained. Not that Belle was being bad, she is the best dog in the world, but we could tell she was bored.

So, after thinking about it and searching long and hard, we decided to adopt K, a 3.5 year-old female Brittany, to add to our pack.

The biggest concern when putting adult female dogs together is whether there will be bad dominance issues. The way dogs work, there is always a pecking order as to who is the top dog, who is number two, etc. It’s a natural thing. Some dogs are better off in one-dog homes because they are very dominant and, if placed with a similarly dominant female, very serious fights might ensue.

K has been with us for two days now. Meg has no issues with K as long as K doesn’t invade her personal space bubble. But that’s not a problem because, as we had hoped, K is more interested in Belle. The two of them have been wrestling and playing and tussling, but not in a bad way. Once there were some growls and snarls, but that’s because Belle was tired and K didn’t get the “back off and give me a break” message.

Still, we are watching them closely.

The biggest adjustment for me is going to be K’s morning thing. She’s even more of a morning girl than Belle. We have quite a routine where Meg and Belle usually stay in bed, even when Hubby gets up and leaves, until about 7:15 AM.

So, this morning, when K tried to get me up at the ungodly early hour of 5:11, I told her to go back to bed. I was thinking, I’ll teach her that we don’t get up that early. She tried again. Again I said, “No, K. Go back to bed.”

A short time later I heard running water. Not water, pee.

Yep, K taught me a lesson this morning. When she insists on getting up, she has a good reason.

I sure hope she adjusts to our morning routine soon.

All in all, things are going very well. Most of the day yesterday was spent clearing the yard of the gazillion leaves that had fallen. So I don’t have any pictures to share. But I did take some this morning of K and Belle playing, which I’ll post later. The two of them seemed quite happy, chasing each other around the yard, sliding to a stop in the piles of leaves, wrestling for a bit then chasing each other some more.

As they figure each other out, I am pretty sure K and Belle are going to be very good company for each other. And Meg seems quite happy to watch the two of them cavorting around like crazy dogs, while she gets to go about her business. As long as Mama and Dad give Meg plenty of love and keep the younguns from getting on her old nerves, all will be just fine.

We were finally able to get K today. It’s not like she was in dire straits or anything waiting for us. She was living with a wonderful foster family who loved her a whole bunch. But we were anxious to bring her home.

I made Hubby drive home so I could document the journey. This was taken not long after we left her foster home. She’s looking a bit worried.

She still looks a little worried here, but she did relax gradually. She is a very good car passenger.

K has really long legs. So when she sits, she sits very straight. This is not the most flattering position. I’ll have to teach her how to sit like a proper little lady so all her stuff isn’t hanging out.

She really seems to like Hubby. Which is good, ’cause he likes her right back.

After the usual doggie greetings, the chase was on. Belle and K are both very fast.

I have a feeling I’m going to end up with a lot of blurry pictures.

It really is great to see them running together. K is exactly what Belle needed.

They even found a pile of leaves to wrestle in, which was quite comical to watch.

I know this isn’t a fabulous shot, but it’s the best I could do with the three of them today. Maybe I’ll have better luck tomorrow.

“You’re doing what?” is essentially the reaction I got from Mawsie (my Mom) when I told her about our exciting news.

This is not the best picture of Mawsie, since she looks all pissed off (she doesn’t like dogs). But it’s recent, so I decided to use it.

Anyway…

She didn’t take the news as well as I thought she would. I mean, you’d think she’d understand that, with Eric having just moved out, things are a bit quiet here at the ToadMama Maryland abode. I know he hasn’t been gone long, but this empty nest thing is, well, weird. It’s so, um, boring?

Yeah that’s it. Without the proverbial patter of little feet running around it’s just plain dull. Meg, at 10.5, is down with dull, to a degree, but not so okay with a bored 2.5-year-old Belle harassing her. I try to keep Belle entertained, but playing with adult people is apparently just not that much fun. If the grandkids lived closer and weren’t always so busy, they could come liven things up. But, if they did, it would just be boring again when they left.

Considering that I am still relatively young, Hubby and I thought long and hard, then longer and harder, and made the decision to expand the family. There’s just something about a third little being calling me “Mama” that tickles me.

Yep, believe it or not, we’re adopting another baby girl. And we’re naming her Kay.

She’s about 3.5 years old. It may not look like it, but she is a Brittany, like Meg and Belle. She has a fairly uncommon liver and white roan coat. The “roan” just means she’s got patches of fur where white and colored hair grow together. So she can’t be described as white with liver markings and ticking (aka “dots”).

We (Meg, Belle and I) went to meet Kay on Sunday. Belle, who is always bashful with new dogs and people, took a little while to warm up to her.

Meg was fine with Kay from the start. They’ll need to figure out who is top dog, which is normal, but I don’t foresee any major issues. Meg and Belle went through the same thing.

Kay is larger than Belle, who is a tiny little Britt, but not quite as big as Meg.

I do believe Kay will be the perfect playmate for Belle, but I also think she might just become Meg’s occasional (we hope!) partner in crime. Both were equally intrigued by the open door at the foster family’s house because there was a cat in the room beyond.

I didn’t realize, until I was reviewing the pictures, that Kay does the same weird neck thing that Meg does. Instead of turning her head left or right and looking over her shoulder, Meg will often just lift her chin straight up and back, like Kay is doing in the picture above.

Hubby and I are both quite excited about the expansion. I would love to post a picture of Hubby and I looking excited about the expansion, but he’s off work this week, hanging out at the WV place. So, you’ll just have to trust me.

Kay is moving in on Sunday, November 8. Hubby, the girls and I can’t wait.

As for my Mom… she may like to pretend she doesn’t like dogs…

…but she can’t seem to resist sweet old Meg. Meg is, after all, her oldest Granddog.

Of course, not many people can resist Meg.

UPDATE: I just HAD to add this picture, which K’s foster Mom e-mailed me just minutes ago.

That’s K waving “hi” to her new family.