I wanted to share this with you guys before I shut down for the evening. It's a little long.
After a lot discussion my significant other and I decided to add a pup to the pack. We have a huge fenced back yard and with my Lhasa Apso at 15 years old and moving a little slow these days we wanted to get a playmate for our 7 year old Chihuahua Olive. Puppies were ruled out for various reasons and we decided to adopt and started looking for a shelter dog.
I was on vacation last week and out on the bike alone and decided to stop at the Harbor Humane Society shelter about 15 miles north of here. Long story short a little 4 yr old, 5 lb chihuahua named LaRaalte, after the street a police officer found him wandering on, adopted me. He was a stray with a collar and tags but the owners would't pick him up even after repeated calls by the shelter and promises from the owners. So,four months later he went up for adoption on the day I stopped in. It was fate.
His new name is Harley. We picked him up on Friday and he loved the ride home and was just as calm as could be. He met our dogs and was immediately accepted by them. About 20 minutes later after checking out the yard and lifting a leg a few times it was in the house and on his back for a 2 hour snooze. I guess shelter life wore him out. This little guy is about the smartest most well behaved dog I've ever been around. I think somewhere along the way someone either put in a lot time training this little guy or he was in obedience training.
So here's the exciting part. Today he an d Olive were sunning in the yard while I did some landscaping. I looked over at them and bout 60 seconds later Harley was gone and Olive was standing by a gate barking at the front yard. He was no where to be found and I assumed he slipped through a small gap in the fence where the gate is. After running around the neighborhood and not finding him I got on my bicycle and started looking, street by street and house by house in every direction. I asked everyone I saw to keep an eye out for him and gave them, a business card with my cell number on it. I was panicked and kept thinking about having to tell Terri I lost our new dog.
Anyway, after about an hour I finally gave up and started back home. I was about 50 yards from home and see our neighbors daughter backing out of the driveway and a small brown animal in the yard waiting for her to back up. As soon as she was in the street and it was safe to cross said small brown animal trotted across the driveway and back into my yard. Guess who? He not only came back home but he had a huge bone from what looked like a Lamb shank and I have no idea where he got it. It was too relieved and it was too funny for me to be mad at the little guy but I am having a fence company come and redo the chain link fence on both sides of my yard. So, here's Harley along with Exhibit A. So I guess has some street smarts from his time as as stray...lol
After a lot discussion my significant other and I decided to add a pup to the pack. We have a huge fenced back yard and with my Lhasa Apso at 15 years old and moving a little slow these days we wanted to get a playmate for our 7 year old Chihuahua Olive. Puppies were ruled out for various reasons and we decided to adopt and started looking for a shelter dog.
I was on vacation last week and out on the bike alone and decided to stop at the Harbor Humane Society shelter about 15 miles north of here. Long story short a little 4 yr old, 5 lb chihuahua named LaRaalte, after the street a police officer found him wandering on, adopted me. He was a stray with a collar and tags but the owners would't pick him up even after repeated calls by the shelter and promises from the owners. So,four months later he went up for adoption on the day I stopped in. It was fate.
His new name is Harley. We picked him up on Friday and he loved the ride home and was just as calm as could be. He met our dogs and was immediately accepted by them. About 20 minutes later after checking out the yard and lifting a leg a few times it was in the house and on his back for a 2 hour snooze. I guess shelter life wore him out. This little guy is about the smartest most well behaved dog I've ever been around. I think somewhere along the way someone either put in a lot time training this little guy or he was in obedience training.
So here's the exciting part. Today he an d Olive were sunning in the yard while I did some landscaping. I looked over at them and bout 60 seconds later Harley was gone and Olive was standing by a gate barking at the front yard. He was no where to be found and I assumed he slipped through a small gap in the fence where the gate is. After running around the neighborhood and not finding him I got on my bicycle and started looking, street by street and house by house in every direction. I asked everyone I saw to keep an eye out for him and gave them, a business card with my cell number on it. I was panicked and kept thinking about having to tell Terri I lost our new dog.
Anyway, after about an hour I finally gave up and started back home. I was about 50 yards from home and see our neighbors daughter backing out of the driveway and a small brown animal in the yard waiting for her to back up. As soon as she was in the street and it was safe to cross said small brown animal trotted across the driveway and back into my yard. Guess who? He not only came back home but he had a huge bone from what looked like a Lamb shank and I have no idea where he got it. It was too relieved and it was too funny for me to be mad at the little guy but I am having a fence company come and redo the chain link fence on both sides of my yard. So, here's Harley along with Exhibit A. So I guess has some street smarts from his time as as stray...lol
