Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Our New Baby

So, here is our latest addition to the family.  Drew is his name.  Some of you may wonder why we have taken in a dog that weighs in at around 85 pounds and that did weigh just over 100 pounds a couple of months back.  You my be even more surprised to learn that he is a house dog.  WHAT?!

It is a bit of a story, but here is a fairly short version.  About three weeks ago, this stray shows up.  He is very friendly and takes commands well.  He also has a tag.  Normally when a stray shows up we run it off before Jeff has a chance to.  In this dog's case, since he seemed to be well mannered, we called the number on the tag.  The vet let us know that they would have the owner call us back.  So, while we are waiting for that call, the wheels in Elijah's head are spinning triple time.  He wants a dog.  He wants a dog so badly it is almost painful. 

"What if they don't call?  Can we keep him?" 

Great!  Now I get to remind of how much his daddy really does not like dogs, especially strays.  I had already called to let Jeff know not to freak out about the dog in the yard, that we were just waiting for the owners.  He was surprisingly at ease with that.  I told Elijah that if he wanted to keep the dog that he had to pray about it.  Not just a selfish, "please let me keep the dog prayer", but one where he prayed that if people were looking for this dog that they would call and come get him.  Also he had to pray that the idea would come from his daddy. I told him that he was not allowed to ask.  I think every little boy needs a dog and this is a boy's dog.  So I prayed about it too.

About an hour later a lady called saying she was a former owner.  She said she had been trying to contact the new owners for quite a while because the dog was on medication and she just wanted to be sure he was doing well.  The new owners had avoided talking to her.  That had just been a couple of months ago.  This dog, when he showed up was in sad shape.  You could count his ribs from 20 feet away and you could see his hip bones.  She said he weighed 102 pounds when she gave him away.  I bet he didn't weigh 75 at that point.  I told her we would wait to see if they called and that we wouldn't take him to the pound.  His name was Drugo.  Having no dog food, we gave him some cat food, a couple of stale biscuits and gravy.  That was gone in a minute.  And drink!  This poor guy drank water like a horse.  Elijah played with him in the yard and they were fun to watch.  He knew all the basics commands: sit, stay, come, etc.  When Jeff got home he even played with the dog a bit.  Then the dog was tired and he just laid on the deck.  He was obviously under nourished.

The next day, Jeff asked if anyone else had called.  They had not.  He told me to get some more info from the lady who I had talked to.  Based on that, we might be able to keep him.  What?!  Who are you?  I knew it was one of two things.  Alien abduction and brainwashing or an answered prayer.  I'm going with the prayer.  I got the info I needed and still no one else had called.  That evening Jeff said to call the lady back and let her know that we were going to keep him if she didn't want him back.  You cannot imagine Elijah's excitement.  Mine either.  Probably the biggest difference between Jeff and me is that I love animals and he really doesn't (except the edible ones).  I may be just about as happy as Elijah.  Maybe more.

So it's been three weeks.  The dog ran off within two days but then came back.  We had learned that he was a house dog and decided that, at least for now, he will remain one.  We took him to the vet last week.  He only weighed 82 pounds.  The vet said that he could easily carry the 102 he had weighed before.  His paws are as big as the palm of my hand and his head is kitchen cabinet height.  About the only down side to this dog is the shedding.  I guess the silver lining in that is that I am dusting, sweeping, and vacuuming daily now.  Deleavening should be a breeze this year!  Oh, and he may not be much of a guard dog.  He rarely barks and just let the OGE guy right in the yard to change out our meter. 

Mineral Wells park in Guthrie

So, it seems we have a great dog.  Much of the work has already been done for us.  It is like getting a new baby that is potty trained.  Maybe even better.  I wonder if the dogs like to snowboard?  Maybe we'll have to see?

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