Scribbles 'n Scraps

Alright, after getting some advice from an “expert” – my mom. (she used to run the St. Louis Newfoundland Rescue Group many eons ago). We decided to get Molly a “playpen” for when were are gone. That way she doesn’t eliminate in her crate because we didn’t get home in time, and that way we don’t have a horrible time housebreaking.

So we set the little square up and put her little puppy pad in there and a few toys and let her get used to it from the outside. She did great.

We thought we should put her in there a little bit at a time so she would get used to it and not hate it. So we popped her inside, and of course, the old saying “Curiousity Killed The Cat” kicked in. Maple decided she needed to check the new play area out herself. So once Molly went in, so did Maple on her own. This is what we found.

And of course, moments later they were playing as they do in the kitchen often. So it was kind of neat to see. Maple is a Manx cat and seems to have a very maternal nature about her. You can see it in how she interacts with the other animals in the house. So it is only fitting that she is Molly’s new best friend.

Well, the time has come to introduce the new addition to our home. Since Reba didn’t work out, because we love our cats dearly and do not want them eaten, we decided to go with a puppy because then at least they “grow up” together. It was actually per a lot of advice.

This is Molly. She is a Border Collie and she is between two to three months old. She’s adorable as all puppies are. We weren’t going to do a puppy because we know how time consuming they are, but so was Reba so it cannot be all bad. And her story was too sad not to at least try with her. The story behind Molly, is that her mother and her three sisters were brought in by an older man who was “moving”. The mother Border Collie had her puppies in the shed, and he left them alone. They had no socialization before they came to the adoption center. Of the four, one was terrified and wouldn’t come anywhere near anyone. If she could have melded into the cement wall, she would have. One came right up, though cautious. The dominant one of course. Then there were two in the middle. One was black and brown and when we held her, she wouldn’t avert her gaze ANYWHERE. She just was stiff and wouldn’t move. She was absolutely terrified. I felt so horrible for these puppies. Then there was Molly. The sweet little black and white girl who wanted desperately to come and see what the fuss was all about, but was much to terrifed to try. When they brought her to us, she was much like the first one, terrified and didn’t move. But her eyes kept looking all over. You could tell she was curious about everything, but was a  bit too scared. We chose her. No particular reason. Just something when I held her. Molly is a different puppy from yesterday. After about four hours here, she started to play cautiously, was totally interested in our cats and thought they were her playmates, and all in all started acting like a real puppy. She is adorable, affectionate, smart and even tempered. I’m already falling in love.

*sigh*

Does it ever get “normal”? There’s always something!

Well, the bad news is, that no matter how much I was willing to work with Reba, and no matter how much we liked her, there is some behavior I am just not willing to work with, when I have five kids.

Sad, but true, we had to take her back. She tried to eat our cat. I was half kidding when I mentioned it before. But she really DID try to eat our cat. Mocha was in her mouth completely, and I swear by the grace of God she suffered no damage except she is a bit more “careful” now. The shelter was great about it, and completely understood, they admitted that they had not realized that she was agressive at all. They weren’t happy to hear that she almost ate our cat, they are happy that Mocha is ok and that now we know she has to be placed with a family with no small pets.

It sucks too. I went into the whole dog adoption thing with the mind set that getting an older dog was humane. The sweet puppies go home easily but the larger dogs just sit and wait for a home for months. Reba had been there since September. That’s half her life!

However, I guess the good news is, is that we do have a new puppy (that is Reba pictured above, not the new puppy). One of those bittersweet moments. I will post about her tomorrow.

I don’t know what I was thinking, or rather what we were thinking. We already have 5 children, 3 cats (one of which is just a foster kitty and will be hopefully finding a new home soon), 2 guinea pigs and now we have gone and adopted a dog that is bigger than my youngest two children!

Reba is actually a really good puppy, for being a second hand dog. She has small obedience problems, and will need a little bit of training, but she is relatively good. She is a total people person! She loves people. However, she really loves cats too, and keeps trying to eat our cats. Well, at first we didn’t think she was trying to eat them, we thought she was just trying to play. Not really.

I took her to the vet today and my $50 adopted dog turned into something a bit more expensive. Her 6 months in the Humane Society gave her kennel cough (which we had already been treating and is almost gone), a nice ear infection in her right ear, and some kind of weird parasite that isn’t contageous but that she has to take meds for.

It’s been loads of fun.

But really Reba is a great dog (I think I am just trying to convince myself here). My daughter, Brielle, checked out every Rottweiler book she could find and two libraries. She has been reading them, mostly looking at the cute dog and puppy pictures. But she is determined to bond with the dog the way she bonded with our dog Bandit who had to be put to sleep last year because he had a brain tumor.

All the kids are really eager to have the weather really warm up so we can go on walks with her. At the vets suggestion, she needs to lose about 8-10lbs. I figure I could definitely afford to lose that weight too, so hey – we’ll work it off together! Plus, I am unsure how easily the kids will be able to “walk” her as she is pretty strong and has a very high prey drive. However, she listens ok.

I will say that she is a bit time consuming. She is pooping outside only (with the exception of twice in her crate), thank goodness. But has had three accidents in the house, though I figure if it’s only 3 times to the countless times she’s gone outside, something is going right, she is doing better. She likes to chew as all Rottie’s do, but we are really having trouble finding the right toy for her, and personally the cats are not it. My vet suggested a Kong and we had one with Bandit and he loved it, so I guess this weekend we are going to purchase one. Boy dogs are expensive LOL I had forgotten that.

She was kind of funny this morning, she had a lot of issues when the big yellow monster swallowed the kids up, and took them away. But she was happy and her tail was wagging a mile a minute when it spit them back out this afternoon. She’s finally getting used to it!

YAY!