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Copyright © 2002-4 Celine the Rambling Queen. All rights reserved.
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She came to me two weeks ago, with liquid brown eyes, gleaming black hair (tipped with brown), and a style all her own. She laid claim to me, and hasn't let go. I am hers, and she is mine. The fates have led us to each other.
It was destiny.
Did I mention she has a tongue that won't stop?
:D
Yes, friends, I have a new dog. A 4-year-old 85 lb. rottweiler named Shasta. Got her through a rescue. She wasn't exactly what I was looking for. I was thinking something a bit smaller, really. I'm obviously an idiot. When Shasta walked in the door, I knew she was exactly what was meant to be. And, of course, I took a picture:
http://www.specialweb.com/pets/shasta.jpg
I wasn't even sure I wanted a new dog after my cocker spaniel, Kira, had to be put down last month, and the doberman, Coco, was put down last fall. We still have a chow named Tai, four cats from a foreign planet, and an infernal guinea pig who was supposed to go home to my nephews a year ago but is still here and will be for the next century or more, so the house wasn't exactly empty.
But Tai, bless his little heart and absent mind, is the type who basically just lays around leaving large deposits of hair in random locations and has the uncanny ability to lay exactly where he shouldn't, and isn't the most interactive of dogs. I needed a new buddy.
Well, I got one. Shasta took one look at me, saw that mark on my forehead, which is visible only to non-humans, which says "Grade A Sucker!" and decided to fuse herself to my side. I spend my days with her staring at me or laying on her back waiting to be petted, and my nights with her sleeping next to my bed (my bed's on a tall frame, so she can't quite jump up onto it -- yet), periodically waking me up by putting her head on the bed and whimpering, just to make sure I still love her enough to pet her.
When I leave the house, she whines and whimpers until I return. I should mention my mother has stayed with her each time, so it's not like has been left all alone. I should also mention she was a loved dog at her previous home, but alas those folks couldn't spend enough time with her, so I guess she's making up for 4 years of not having constant attention paid upon her. She even follows me into the bathroom and lays at my feet.
You may be wondering how Tango the Wonder Kitty has taken to having a new dog in the house. Not well, I'm afraid. Shasta hadn't previously been around cats, so she thought it big fun to chase them... and she chased Tango right up on top of my dresser, where he ended up knocking off a couple of tape drawers which went crashing to the ground, and Tango ended up hiding in my closet for several hours. Ever since, he's been in hiding under a chair, except at night when I am in bed with the dog safely behind my closed bedroom door. Only then does he journey out into the rest of the house. The other cats did their bit with the hiding thing, too, but I think that was mainly out of principle and not any sort of fear-based isolation.
But it's getting better. The other three cats have slowly adjusted to the dog, and don't seem to mind her too much anymore, and Shasta has learned, for the most part, not to chase them. Tango still has a ways to go, but he did peek his head out this evening and watched two of the other cats walk right past Shasta with any chasing, so maybe he'll get the idea and come on back out and get back with his usual routine of knocking things over, rearranging cupboards, and causing general disarray like he did before.
Or maybe not. Did I mention I'll be getting another dog through another rescue? This one, though, will be an old cocker spaniel whose owner died and needs a home, and since Tango adored my last cocker, maybe he'll take to this one, too. We'll see. The new dog arrives on Sunday to live out her days at Casa de Sucker.
Random other things:
- Thanks to all who wrote after my last ramble the other week or month or whenever it was. I think I wrote back to everyone, but if not, I apologize.
- I bought a car air freshener today, despite not actually having a car, because it's in the shape of an absolutely adorable smiley face with a backwards facing black baseball hat. I'm going to see if I can find a place on my scooter from which to hang it.
- Speaking of my scooter, the Purple Plaything, I noticed today I have put over 3,200 miles in its bad little self. I figure most of those miles are because of having to buy pet food on entirely too frequent occasions. I am also happy to report the "Girls kick ass" bumper sticker is still firmly in place on the front of the scooter.