The Dog SAGA

Toby and Pickle
Our visiting friend
Our little girl, Pippi and her new boyfriend!
I am on the verge of tears; a friend sent me a link to the local humane society.  The, "Pet of the Week", is a sweet dog I, "dog sat" for 3 months.  His owner went back to the U.K. for a visit and needed someone to watch his pet.  I volunteered, I am a sucker when it comes to animals, especially sweet and needy dogs!   This dog was a hand full.  Although, he easily fell into our routine and made quick friends with my female puppy.  Truly a pleasure to watch them play.  But my alpha male did not care for him,  he is too small to really have an opinion, he just growled and showed his displeasure by being naughty every chance he had, (peeing indoors!)  My other male, really disliked this dog and no matter how hard I tried, this particular dog did not want "new" dog around.  My dog loves me so much, I could tell he was really tring to deal with this situation.  We plodded along for 3 months, trying our best to make this work.

"New" dog also brought with him a host of gifts during his stay.  The funniest, yet intolerable gift was,  jumping up to the kitchen counters to chase the cat!  Imagine, a 40 pound, hairy, sand- filled dog jumping across your kitchen counters chasing a terrified cat!  I had never seen anything like it!  (Neither had the cat!)   She was used to the dogs wanting a bit of her and she would leap to her sanctuary to the upper cabinets.  I am sure if I had not intervened, this dog would have been walking across the rafters in my kitchen to get poor kitty!  Crazy!

Another character trait this dog has;  on our daily walks off the yard, down the road to our favorite empty lot/beach,  he would chase and bark senselessly at any bicyclist or golf cart that happened to drive by!  And, god forbid it were an innocent jogger!  I tried and tried to train this dog to behave.  Nothing!  Then the worst occurred; he would react to the passerby and my dogs started acting like idiots too!  Now I had 4 dogs, a pack really, chasing bikes, cars and joggers!  It came down to, limiting who got to go on the walk or no walk at all!  They were all disappointed and me too!  (On these walks, I always found interesting items that had washed ashore during the night!  It was my early morning treasure hunt and quiet time, usually!  Another story, later.)

Now, my least favorite contribution from my friend who came to visit!  If you haven't guessed by now, I like things tidy, neat, organized, clean!  (I took the "facebook", "What Mental Disease are You?  I'm OCD!  Always knew it, LOL!)

My little hairy, furry friend brought into my house and gave to my beloved 4 legged friends, TICKS!  I have been a dedicated pet owner and follow instructions from my vet to the "T".  My dogs and cats get their vaccines, heart guard, flea and tick medications!  Until this doggy came to visit, I had only seen ticks on the internet or on other people's dogs!  My house and dogs became infested!  They were everywhere: our sofa, bed, floors, walls, behind pictures and not to mention, on the dogs!  In one night, I pulled 20 gross ticks off one dog!  Panicked, I called and emailed everyone I knew who had any knowledge about dogs/pets about what to do!  The troops came in and sprayed, bathed and dipped the dogs.  Then went about inspecting the house and yard.  More sprays!  This went on and on....

My little visitor left our home to the happy arms of his traveling owner, a month and a half ago.  Last weekend,  I had the house and yard sprayed, the dogs bathed and dipped again.  4 months of monthly, expensive treatments.  Happy to say, we are tick-free in the, " Casa Amarillo" residence!  The day this dog left, it was like a black cloud left too!  Every furry friend here went back to normal!  They knew he was gone!   They went back to being un-aggressive and obedient.  They took up their old "posts" in their doggy world and the state of "calm" came back!

So, with all this said, I cannot go and adopt this dog!  As much as I would like to; I would be asking for disaster!  I suppose I could ask a professional to come in and train the dogs and me, but this expense is something I cannot afford now and why really?  Then the monthly chemical treatments!  I cannot stand the smell and poisoning that causes.  The monthly, or as needed baths will continue, but the flea/tick drops should be enough!

Somebody, adopt this little boy!  He has had a very traumatic life and yet is a cartoon character to watch!  He's full of energy and just needs attention, training and a lot of love.  He truly does adapt to any circumstances and surroundings;  he needs a kind, dedicated and loving home with a fenced yard!  An owner without pets or maybe a young, spayed female dog would work too!  And, I believe with hard work and daily baths,  the tick problem could be under control.

Now that this is off my chest, I still feel a bit guilty for not calling the humane society to take him back.  As I look at my little ones; they are all resting quietly, they have barked only to let me know our caretaker has arrived.  The only bugs I have seen today have been mosquitos and moths.  Errrrrrrr, got to stop, he cannot come back!  I will convince someone else to adopt him and help with the baths and training,  THAT, is what I will do!

Make a donation to your local humane society and better yet, go in and adopt a furry face of your own!  Please do not let my rant/story discourage you!  4 out of the 5 pets we have, are adopted.  They are sweet, gentle and dedicated.

xox, d :)