New Buddy!

Meet Bixby, newest family member!

I had been going back and forth on whether to add a dog to my household. Rocky is old and failing. He is my guy, and I love him. But I wanted a more portable and vigorous dog, to come with me on my adventures. A dog that could hike and sail and maybe even kayak. But one that would fit with Rocky, not replace him.

All three of my dogs in my adult life have been from shelters and rescues. Rosie, sweet and sad, from Chicago Humane Society. Abbey, fierce and funny, from Washington Animal Rescue League. And Rocky, The Very Hungry Labrador, from Lab Rescue. I seriously considered going to a breeder this time, because each of these dogs had issues and I wanted an easy dog. One who could come with me places, that didn't require reorganizing my house and worrying about visitors. But late night browsing on Pet Finder (perhaps inspired a bit by friends and family members who have recently acquired cats) made me want to go ahead now.

I heard about a local small rescue that brings up a half-dozen or so dogs a month from Puerto Rico. I browsed their website, and they seemed to have mostly smaller dogs that would fit my criteria. While they had interesting dogs on their website, I went ahead and filled out a general application and paid the $15 fee. The very next morning I got a reply, and had a conversation with Moira, the one-woman show. She got what I was looking for. Just a few days later, she suggested this tiny but beautiful dog, two years old, an owner surrender instead of a street dog. She brought him by the next afternoon (we met in my fenced yard, masked up) and I decided to go for it. She had a spare crate in the car (I didn't buy anything in advance, wanted the right sizes) and just left him with me! Suddenly, I had a new member of the family, just like that!

So three days in, we're settling down. He is not fully house-trained yet, so I have to be hyper-vigilant about taking him outside. And it's been cold, and he is really not used to it (and smaller dogs have a worse time in the cold anyway). He's great on the leash, but even with a coat he starts shivering after a block. It'll warm up some this week, and I hope to venture further. 

Rocky ignores him, but is asking for extra pets, and of course he is hyper-aware of treats going in another direction. Later today we're going to introduce Bixby to Sadie, my girl's fierce little dog. They are roughly the same size, and Sadie and Rocky ignore each other. I'm hoping Sadie and Bixby will be friends, because they both could use a place to work off some energy. 

So the adventure continues!