Just One More Dog

Archive for the ‘New Addition’ Category

Well it has been a very busy week in Chez Morgan and I owe a post to update y’all.

Denny:

Denny went on a day visit last Sunday. Funny enough, it was with a family where I went to junior high with the Dad. The day visit went really well – okay, except for an incident in the truck on the way there – but other than that he seemed to really take to them. They decided to adopt him. It was great on Monday when the family came to pick him up and he was so happy to see them. It was like he knew what was going on. His last night with me, he cuddled me all night long. I know that he has adopted a great new family.

Luna:

Luna went for a day visit also. She met her new families family and the day went exceedingly well. The visit went so well that when she came home she was even more out of her shell than normal. It was great. She has been adopted by a family that is so excited to see her every day. I am so happy for her.

And of course, when one dog is adopted, there is room for another one in my house. So it is with great pleasure that I indroduce you all to Dexter (initially known as Glen).

When Dexter first came to ARF he was a bit of a wild child. With the help of a lot of dedicated volunteers – both human and canine – this boy is going from wild child to chillin’ dude. He has been going to daycare to be socialized and to wear him out. However, starting this week I am going to cut back the amount of time that he goes. On Thursday when I picked him up he was pretty excited and hyper. The meeting with Whitley and with Cameron went well. So, when we got home, I decided that this time, I was going to actually set rules and boundaries in my house.

First off, I decided that he would not come up on the couch without permission. So I found an old blanket and have it beside me on the floor. I gave him his bone and told him that was his “bed”. He is such a smart little guy. He got it right away. Not only did he lay there and chew bones, he did it over and over willingly. He has come up on the couch once, and that was late last night when he was quiet beside me on the floor. So I let him up on my lap where he promptly fell asleep.

Secondly, we are doing a lot of training. Starting with “sit” and moving forward to “down”, “leave it” and “take it”. He follows me around everywhere and is often right beside me as I walk around the house. He is crate trained and sleeps very well in his crate at night. And he is learning to mellow out. Since Thursday, I have already noticed a difference. The first night he was here he had the zoomies around the house. Now, he will run around but its not insane. Its laid back.

Anyways, this lil’ dude is really sweet. There will be more to come on this guy as days go by. I will take more pictures soon.

Meet Luna:

This girl is pretty sweet. She is approximately a year old and hasn’t spent much time around people. She is shy at first and will keep her distance from you. But, once she gets comfortable she comes closer and closer. Her tail constantly wags, sometimes just a little bit and other times so fast it is going in circles.

Luna has been with me a week yesterday. I picked her up at the vet after she had been fixed and checked over. After the car ride to my house, she slowly crept out of her crate to check out the garage. Once outside I introduced her to Whitley, Boo Boo and Denny. She pretty much kept her distance from me, watching everything that was going on around the house. However, she never gave off the air of the fear/shyness that would lead other dogs to bite. Rather, when she felt it was required, she would lay down on the floor and basically shut down. Then, Luna discovered my bed. Oh, and the couch.

We really started to bond once she realized that me laying on the bed meant that I was at her level. She slithered like a snake up onto the bed head first, her tail thwapping against the bed and wall and anything else it came into contact with. Once she was on the bed she got so excited. She pushed her nose into my face and gave me kisses and I scratched her ears. I think for her that was heaven. She closed her eyes and got this look of bliss on her face. And then we had a nap together.

She is very good with Cameron and the other dogs. I feed her each meal from my hand and that has really built the trust up between us. She also now comes to me when I get home to say hi. Before, she would stay back halfway across the room and whine because she wanted to be close and say hi but just couldn’t do it. Amazing how much can change in just a week. I can’t wait to watch her grow that much more, trust more and blossom as a loved part of our foster family.

Denny is a 5 month old prairie dog. He is an absolute doll. Initially he was reserved about meeting humans but seems to have gotten over that quite quickly. At PetSmart on Saturday he really came out of his shell. I am very proud of him. He loves to curl up with me and be close. At the same time, he loves to play with the other dogs and is really good with my son. He is crate trained and we are working on him slowing down how quickly he eats. He needs to understand that the food is not in short supply!!

He looks bigger in these pictures than he is. He is quite a dainty boy for 5 months compared to the bear pups that were here.

It has been a busy weekend here at Chez Morgan. 6 new puppies were at Petsmart on Saturday. Cameron was with me and we decided that we would take one of them home with us. So, the new member of the Chez Morgan pack is ….

2 month old muttilicious male puppy. He is fitting it quite well with the pack at the moment. He holds his own when they are all playing together and has inserted himself into the puppypile:

A very cute picture of puppypile bliss.

We also had a visitor for a Saturday night sleepover.

Baloo was over for the night. She came running up to the house when her Dad dropped her off and the pups played like crazy the whole day. It was awesome to see. In the week that she has been in her new home she has become quite a bit more independent which was wonderful to see. When her mom picked her up today she was just as happy to see her too! Wagging her tail at her family. I loved it.

Am I crazy? Some would say so, but I like to think that I am just “special”. (okay I have a weird sense of humor too).

This weekend when Hazel and I were at PetSmart on Saturday I mentioned that I could take more puppies since Hazel will hopefully be going to her forever home soon. Finding out that there are four pups that were getting fixed who needed a place to go. Of course I couldn’t say no!! ((come on, seriously! puppy kisses, puppy breath and puppy snuggles – not much is better than that – well maybe chocolate))

So, let me introduce you to the following fosters at Chez Morgan …

THE BOYS

THE GIRLS

Boo-Boo’s photo is from the ARF site because she was busy exploring or playing during picture time. At one point, I did try to get a picture but she came over along with the other three and I was attacked by the licking terrier mixes!

The pups definitely have personalities. It will be interesting to see how they develop over the next couple of days as they get more comfortable here.