Our Family is Complete...

History: My son has a pet sitting business. Two weeks ago he had a gig over the 3-day weekend to care for a Chihuahua/Besinji mix. "Scooter" (as we call him...his human hadn't really had him long enough to name him before she had to travel for work) was kept in a basement bathroom. He had everything a bored dog needs...tile to pee/poop on, carpet to poop on and tear up, and some rawhides and chew toys plus two small bowls for fresh water. I felt sorry for him being all alone for such a long stretch of time. We'd go over twice a day and take him out to take care of business and walk him (about a mile), then feed/water, and one more quick walk to the end of the street.

Current: Human has to go away, so she calls on DS to care for Scooter. I had the brilliant idea of inviting him to come here. Getting up at 0:Dark-thirty to care for him and get DS off to school wasn't gonna work, and I felt sad for him being left alone. So, we brought our big dog kennel in and put Scooter's pillow in it and took him on for the week. How hard could it be?

Scooter isn't totally potty trained. He can hold it for a long time, and doesn't piddle while you're putting the leash on him, but he doesn't go to the door when he needs to go out. Poop has been picked up from two places, the bathroom rug has been washed twice, the laundry room rug once, he peed - right in front of me - in the office, and has "horked" (coughed up some yellow crud) in two places on the carpet and about three on the hardwood (that was easy to get). The "horking" is cuz he gets all excited and snorts and coughs and, well, horks.

Scooter doesn't know his name. Scooter doesn't come when called. After he's run past you out the open front door. This fucking dog made me believe he was part giselle the other day! His feet hit the ground MAYBE every 4-6 feet as he leaped down the street! All I could think was, "please don't someone run him over." He barked at a neighbor that helped me corral him in another neighbor's garage/driveway as I moved in for the pick up. Thankfully he had on his harness or I think he'd still be running. I'm not in shape to keep up with him (well, I'm not in shape, but that's another blog).

I hate little dogs. I hate barking dogs. Guess what? Scooter has two strikes against him. The only thing that saves him is that he is VERY sweet and cute and loveable. I thought that maybe we could adopt him if this week went well. The week hasn't been bad (though I'm counting down 'til Tuesday) and I know that if he had steady attention to the bathrooming issue and the barking thing he'd be a great dog. But for someone else. Our house really is full with two cats and a 70lb chocolate lab. I can at least tell his human that on his ad in search of a new home that he's great with kids, other dogs, and cats.

We'll leave off that he's part giselle.