"I never claimed to be sane."
One June morning when my father-in-law was visiting, a neighbor knocked on my door. Both of us were in our pajamas, although she looked much better than I did, I can tell you that. She had a puppy in her arms and asked if it was mine. That particular day I not only had a house guest, but I had my own 2 dogs AND I also had our friend's 2 dogs that I pet-sit monthly.
This little stray pup had been barking at her home all night long and this gal and her husband were desperate to find her owners. Both adults were late for work and I suggested that the pup could stay with us since I had a kennel just her size, while we both continued to look for her owner. In my kennel we could at least keep her safe from the streets.
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| My neighbor holding the stray she found. We used this picture to plaster photos all over Facebook and our neighborhood. |
We kept her in our garage with a large box fan running to keep her cool and eventually took her to a mobile vet clinic to be checked out and given some initial shots and dewormer. I couldn't have a potentially sick puppy near my healthy dogs nor my friend's 2 healthy dogs. The vet said this girl was about 10 weeks old, 12 pounds and was a Catahoula mixed breed. Everyone loved her. I am thankful for low cost veterinary services in our city. Seriously crazy cheap here! Plus, the rescue where we got Mack has offered their discounts when it comes time to have the pup spayed. What a gift!
My neighbor kept checking in daily with no luck of finding the pup's original home. No owner was found and we decided that as long as it worked for us, we would keep her. Plus, later in July our guinea pig Russell died and my boys were devastated (despite the pig being skin and bones for over a year now and we'd been prepping them for the inevitable). So, we decided to keep the pup.
Again, I never claimed to be sane.
She's really cute. She loves the boys and men in general. She's pretty aloof around me and other women but she's really coming around. She's a man's dog for sure. She's her calmest when snuggling with Jay. She loves to play and wrestle with Mack and he loves it just as much.
We are working on crate training first. Given a blanket or towel in the crate, she will wet on it. Remove the towel and she can go all night without wetting in her crate. We're starting on a "Housebreak Your Dog in 7 Days" program with hopes that she'll learn quickly so she isn't crate-bound all the time. I can't wait until she gets a little bigger so that I can let her out back freely, but right now I'm afraid she'd get out the gaps in my fence. Fences are expensive to replace (I've been getting quotes).
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| A shot of her full body. Anyone guess what she's mixed with? Catahoula Hound and……. ?????? |
The boys are really doing all the work and they complain very little. Truthfully, Super C is my complainer. Super E never, ever complains when asked to do something. He's such a servant. I, of course, have threatened that the minute they complain about having to walk or feed the puppy, that she is out the door to another family who won't complain about her.
We'll see how she grows up. At this point, I wouldn't call her "low energy" like Juneau or Mack, but it could just be that puppy energy too. We'll see. She's starting to sit with me nicely when Mack isn't around to play. Catahoulas are hunting dogs and would therefore have high energy. Who knows how this will fit.
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| Those ears! They are ENORMOUS! Could there be shepherd in her? |
And the name? Well, Jay named her after Reese [Witherspoon] since she is from Louisiana and the Catahoula is the state dog of Louisiana.
She's pretty darn cute.
Welcome, Reese!
And so long to any ounce of sanity I once had!
