Me on a Monday & Secondhand Dog

So bare with me a smidge here. This post will be happy, then sad, and then happy again. And by sad, I mean I have already been sad enough for all of us and thought the whole thing through every single which way to Sunday...so maybe you can try not to be sad too. I don't mean to do it, but honestly have been keeping most of it in for better part of a month plus so let's rip the band aide off and get to it...

So, the last month has been rough. Rough from the stand point we started a new big project and have a pile of boards yet to go. I was out there today on the back side of the garage pulling nails and digging out the old metal so THE MAN could put up new boards. I also pulled out the old gross insulation and tried to not think too much about bugs, mouse turds, or how much it smelled. However, the sun was shining and I had a nice glass of ice tea. And progress! Things are looking pretty.

But that isn't the worst of it. I am starting to think of the whole thing partly as therapy. See four or five Mondays ago, our dog Patti started puking. By the next morning she was at the vets getting an IV to get her hydrated & some meds for nausea. The following morning when she still had not eaten, back down to the Vets she went. I let them take her away for another IV and to get her feeling better.

By that night they called us and told us that she was not going to make it. In a span of three days, we lost a beautiful young dog to liver failure & still have more questions than answers. The very fact I can write this means I have come a very long way. She left a huge paw print on our hearts and things haven't been quite right since.

But here is the happy part.

Her passing left us room in our heart and house for another pound puppy. Duncan P. Donut (his kennel name) wasn't our first choice when we visited the SPCA. He actually wasn't even a choice as his profile said he wasn't good with cats. We were there to see another dog. As the dog we were there to see was taken out of the kennel to visit with us, Duncan threw a shit fit complete with pawing the cage.

The lady helping us said Duncan had lived with cats, but they had recently tested him and he reacted to chipmunks so they felt it best to list him that way. We took him out second. He had a really awesome wiggle waggle to his butt and celebrated our presence by licking us quite a lot.

Turns out he was in jail for eating a floor. Having had a dog eat a couch, wall, orbital sander, office chair, too many socks and shoes to count, and open a plastic & metal kennel like a can opener, we weren't scared. Shortly there after, we welcomed Duncan to our house.

He is looking ashamed up there in the photo as he flunked sandbox. I took him down the road to a local doggy daycare that takes your pup when you are away and they play in a play yard. He was "too high energy" and will have to do some obedience training. THE MAN was less than impressed. We always get dogs that have a personality, he snorted.

As much as we thought Duncan was very similar to Patti with our first impressions, we were dead wrong. He reminds us much more of a boxer we had once and we think he's part boxer/lab with those big paws. He is also a lover. After his first vet visit, he had to say good bye to everyone in the office. Took me a half an hour to get out him out of there!

He already knows sit, stay, lay down, is potty trained, knows to leave the cat be, and loves tennis balls. He has also healed us a bit. I think our Patti sent us a 75 pound dog of pure gold. She also picked out a dog to keep the chipmunks in line. They were starting to get quite fresh. Wish us luck with our second hand dog, Dunk as they call him 'round here in these parts.