happy busy February!

Well now, that was an interesting January! And I thought it would be on the quiet side... My predictions have been worthless in recent months. 

Enter February. I know, without doubt that it will be a whopper. But today, once again, I take things slowly. Henry has been waking up earlier than before. He wants to be out by 6:30. That' okay with me. I have to get him out of the house pretty quickly all next week. An earlier wake up only gives us more time to get the day off to a good start. Now if only I would go to sleep earlier as well we would be set!

As I wait with him for the elevator this morning, I find myself wondering if humans pick up their dog's idiosyncrasies.  I know that an owner's temperament can rub off on a dog. I'd like to  believe that my quiet approach to each day has a calming effect on Henry. But is his elevator anxiety rubbing off on me? Am I getting anxious as the elevator door opens, peering to see if anyone is in there, ready to come out at us? Henry, what have you done to my equilibrium?! I should be like Ed. Wild Pancake (the most feral of the feral cats) has no effect on him. His patience is solid. Doesn't bat an eye. I'm positive the elevator would never be anything more than a source of transport for him.

It's cold again, but not Arctic blast cold. Just winter cold. 6F/-14C as we step out.

I have to smile at how different our walks are from those we took in Henry's first weeks here. These days we never even make it up to Squirrel Hill. Just back and forth in front of the apartment building where he knows he has to do his stuff. His exercise never comes from walks. Will that change once we move? I don't know.

Breakfast. With a hug. Before and after.

Henry's feeling more active this morning, so we play ball -- which means I spend a good bit of time crawling under the bed to retrieve his toy. Henry, isn't this supposed to be our quiet couch time?!

I'm now less than two weeks away from adding a new adopted dog to our pack. I text with the new dog's foster mom. I have some more questions (about size, etc). She sends me more pictures.

Perhaps this is the time for me to introduce this new dog here. (I wont send photos. You'll have to wait to see those.)

They named her Sadey, spelled in this unique way. I'm going to stick with it to honor the incredible foster mom who named her. (Sadey, or Sadie are diminutives of Sarah -- a noble woman, so I will have regal Henry and noble Sadey.) 

Sadey was found on the streets of Houston. In a new development where the foster mom lives with her own animals and perhaps partner, though I don't know the details there. It's an all female household -- an important fact to note because Sadey can be less outgoing initially with men. This seems to be a pattern with the Texas rescues. Animal abuse appears to be very gendered there. 

Sadey was living in a ditch with her litter of puppies. (We think this wasn't her first litter, judging by the size of her nipples, so, a practiced mom who is probably not quite two years old right now.) It was hard to see how she could nurse the pups -- she was all skin and bones herself. I've seen the photos. Flea-infested. Heartworm infested. And yet, she cared for those pups as best as she could.

The foster mom took her in and took a couple of the pups as well. I believe some disappeared. Others were taken in by another kind soul. Sadey received the much needed medical care. She stayed with the foster family from October until now. She looks to be fully recovered. 

What drew me to her was her personality. I think it's a good fit for my home. For me. For Henry. For the kids and Goose. For our lifestyle. Henry never had a chance at a foster home. He was shelter bound until I took him in. Sadey had more tumult in her life, but she benefited greatly from the gentle loving care of the foster mom. And importantly, I know a lot more about her than I knew about Henry, who was a bit of a mystery to us all. 

Will Henry and Sadey get along? I've had a lot of worried comments from friends who wonder about this. I'm confident that in the longer term they will be great. Initially? Different dogs react differently to the introduction of another canine. Most who are dog-friendly, get over the initial hesitation. My understanding of Henry is that he is not so much protective of his space, of me. Rather, he is anxious about the unknown. Dogs have never frightened him the way that humans have.  So I would put him in the camp of those who will adapt. But of course, I'll have to see how much help he will need in this. I am not worried about Sadey accepting Henry. I think that one will be easy. 

There is a transport of these Houston canines to Wisconsin coming up in less than two weeks. The exact date depends on the drive, the weather, and the stops along the way. The transport first goes to Nashville, then Louisville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Rockford and finally Portage Wisconsin. (They then continue to Minneapolis.) I have to pick her up in Portage, a little under an hour north of Madison. To me the journey sounds totally traumatic and horrible, but everyone tells me the pups do recover quickly once placed in their new homes. And I should note that this isn't a one time thing: the shelters and agencies looking after strays bring dogs from Houston in this way every two weeks. There are that many that need homes outside of Texas. (A separate shipment goes to the Northeast and another to the Northwest.)

So now I get ready and wait.

 

Henry is eager to go out. He has a very sweet way of standing absolutely still by the door when he wants an outing. Not necessarily to do his stuff. He'll stand there if he wants an adventure as well. A walk, a trip to the daycare. Play time! 

I take him to Prairie Morraine dog park. That park is just heaven on earth for him. 

The dogs, the run, the sniffing, the woods -- it's all fabulous. It takes us just under an hour to circumnavigate the entire park and I read that they are expanding it significantly! This is what being kind to animals looks like.

Today The Chase is in full swing. They chase him, but they can never catch him -- he does a splendid zigzag if they get too close, controlling the direction, claiming the lead. 

Henry is beautiful to watch when he is running. He'll take flying leaps over brush and stretch his body to great lengths to add speed.

 

 

And of course, when we get home, he takes two steps then plunks himself down on the carpet and falls asleep.

 

In the evening I take a dinner over to the young family. Seafood pasta. Out of the six of us, five really love the pasta, three will pick out the shrimp and scallops, and one will devour any scallop in her line of vision. 

Macarons for dessert.

 

 

 

Home again. I have two steady, unrelenting streams of thought: the first concerns Henry. In the dog parks, at the training -- I saw such progress in him! But at the Edge, he is horribly defiant when faced with the elevator situation. He barks his head off if he sees people anywhere near it and tugs to sniff, to back away, to sniff, to back away. Needless to say, I cannot let him approach anyone when he is so loud. They wait for us to go on without them. And of course, this makes him that much more convinced that he has warded off these awful humans. I cannot wait to be done with this! Ten more days. 

My second train of thought is that I'm doing precious little to physically prepare for the move. Too little. Yes, I can blame Henry for it, but am I asking for trouble? When I moved from the farmhouse to the Edge, it didn't really matter if I left some stuff behind. I would pick it up later. But now, I'm handing over the apartment on the day of the move-out. I could keep it longer, but I want to give it the best chance at being taken over by someone else. And, I need the time on the other end to arrange the new place and get ready for Sadey. There's not "leaving stuff behind" option. It all needs to go.

Nevertheless, I worry only in those wakeful moment in the middle of the night. Otherwise -- one day at a time!  And today, that first day of February was just lovely, Henry's elevator woofs notwithstanding! 

with so much love...