A friend of mine at work wanted to get involved with Guide Dogs Of America but because he travels occasionally and his wife works, he wasn’t able to do so. Beloved, on the other hand, is at home most of the time, as am I, so we decided to get into something called co-raising.
With co-raising, two families are involved with one dog and we trade off. My work buddy wanted the dog more than I did, so he has the puppy more than we do. It works well.
Our little boy was progeny of the mama dog who stayed with us last year. She had such an amazing disposition that we figured a dog of hers would probably be OK.
And, boy, is he ever. He’s got a slight issue with barking (he’s not shy about requesting attention) and he’s spoiled as all get out by the fact his foster dad is home with him and they adore each other – so he likes and expects having someone paying attention to him.
Otherwise, damn, this dog is a dream.
He walks on a loose leash without encouragement – he just does it naturally.
He started training early and excelled at it.
He’s a cuddle hound and a total derp.
All in all, he’s a lovely boy.
Our only issue…
Their introduction started early…
MaeMae’s getting tolerant (mostly) of him, but is still seriously pissed off because he can’t completely control himself yet. He knows he’s not supposed to chase her, but there’s not many adolescent dogs (or heck, any dog for that matter) who can stop themselves from chasing a cat that runs away.
She bats at him, but unless he’s being seriously annoying, she’s got her claws in, so it’s more like a nose boop than a swat. She seems to understand he’s still a kid.
However, she’s not shy about communicating her fury with the situation. Granny broke her kneecap eight weeks ago then two weeks after that, as she was hobbling around in her exoskeleton MaeMae decided to express her displeasure.
Over she went (Granny, not the cat) and despite landing on carpet, fractured her wrist.
So he’s our latest work in progress other than traveling. I haven’t been writing about his adventures because honestly I’ve been too exhausted.
As a supervisor at a federal agency, my workload has nearly doubled since the downsizing. Keeping up is taking everything I’ve got but being on vacation this last week has helped.
Hopefully I can get a bit more in before we head home.
Examining Misadventures 