In an effort to move from the daily hum drum world of bad news and even worse, politicians; I am resurrecting this topic on dogs.
Today I want to talk about MrsMac and I bringing a dog into our house of two cats.
While living on our sailboat for eleven years we had Maxine the Maximum Manx. Great cat with a lot of stories that I will not bore you with. After we moved on to dry land Maxine passed away at 17 years old and a slue of new cats took up residence in and outside our cottage in Rhode Island.
Each time one of our inside cats passed away to the big cat nip field in the sky, I would say, "I want a dog!" MrsMac would always say, "What kind of dog do you want?" Well that is where the dilemma lay. I flitted from one breed to another. Hunting dog? Retrieving dog? Working dog? I couldn't make up my mind.
Now if you know anything about me, it is I never just jump in. I have to do research. My research is methodical which usually involves a flip chart, many books borrowed from the library and of course several excel spreadsheets.
The final choice was a Belgium Shepherd or more specifically a Malinois!
I tend to travel often in my forced retirement and I wanted a companion while here and likewise for MrsMac plus a protector for her in my absence. The
Malinois is smaller than a German Shepherd and tends to have less health problems like hip dyspepsia, due in part to not over breeding. So I started my search for an inexpensive Mali (That's what us Malinois aficionado's call them
).
The prices here in the states ran the gambit between $2K to $4K for a puppy, not trained - OUCH!
One day I was chatting with CJS on the phone about the size of his new gun
I mentioned that I was looking for a Mali but at the moment I could not afford one. Being a good friend that always likes to help me spend my money, he suggested I check out
Dutch Shepherds.
CJS told me that a training buddy had two and he called them "heat seeking missiles". He also shared with me the NADSR organization(
North American Dutch Shepherd Rescue) where I might be able to pick one up inexpensively. So I began my research AGAIN!
In short, the breed description fit well with our requirements so I contacted the NADSR organization which started our 10 month dance to get Dorothy our Dutchie (That's what us Dutch Shepherd aficionado's call them
).
The dance involved several interviews. A very specific list of wants on our end (No older than 2 years, needs to like/tolerate kids & cats and be a female, plus a few others). In short we were told our list meant we would be on the adoption list for up to two years. Oh well as MrsMac always says, "Anything worth having is worth waiting for."
Being the persistent person I am, I would check in with NADSR monthly. Well I do not know if my persistence paid off or God was helping out however I got a call at the beginning of July last year from the VP of the organization. He let me know that they may have a match for us. He gave me the contact information for the foster mom and warned me not to get too excited because the foster mom's nose was a bit out of joint as my adoption request was being put ahead of others who have been waiting longer.
I immediately called her and true to my warning I was met with a very cold greeting. So the next dance started. DAMN why can't things be easy?
Well she interviewed me not once but twice. Still she was not convinced that Dorothy was right for us. In subsequent phone calls I slowly helped her overcome her concerns. The last concern was loud noises.
She had ascertained during our many calls that I was a gun toting, conservative white man;
Consequently Dorothy would be exposed to GUNS and the loud noises that they produce.
Did I mention that I was persistent? I finally pushed for just a visit with her and Dorothy. I was granted an audience.
So MrsMac and I packed up the old F150 and drove from Rhode Island to my brothers for a night. Then the next day to Virginia for our audience. Remember it is July...In Virginia...Can you say hot and humid?
Well after a four hour visit and a $300- check made out to NADSR, we loaded up Dorothy and drove six hours north directly to the cabin.
Dorothy was a 1 1/2 years old. She is a female and to be quite frank - A sweetie. Our old Manx Max (Yes another Manx) had passed away in June. Shortly after his passing I located a Manx breeder in New Jersey and we decided on one of the Kittens. I only bring up this because we picked up Iain (AKA The Sarge) at the beginning of September. Well in short The Sarge and Dorothy hit it off. They are best buds and partners in four legged crime. I have lots of stories of their antics which I will save for a later writing.
Dorothy has met and exceeded our expectations. She is not a barker but will let out a woof when she hears someone drive in or walk across our yard from the road if the windows are open. If not the second a unknown person steps onto our porch the same woof is emitted and she runs to the door.
Dorothy trusts some strangers and some she does not. I had an employee of a client come to our house to chat. As we sat on the porch, she sat next to me and stared at him the whole time. She would not befriend him for some reason. This of course made our discussion short (Thank God) as he felt very uncomfortable and left.
Dorothy although a sweetie, she is not afraid to attack. I may have written about this but I am old and my memory is going.
About a month ago our substitute mailman opened our screen door and walked into the cabin. Dorothy hit him in the hip so hard he had to catch the door frame so he didn't go down. She had also taken a chunk out of his jeans during her one sortie. Then sat there staring at him.
After my screaming at the guy and close to pulling my EDC out of its holster, he kept waving our mail in the air and saying, "Mailman!...Mailman!" Then it dawned on me it was the substitute mailman who I may see once a month.
I took Dorothy to her bed and in a more sober tone began asking him what was he thinking... entering a house with a dog... uninvited?
Once everybody's blood pressure had dropped I asked the Mailman to go into the bathroom and pull down his pants to see Dorothy's damage. He declined and apologized profusely for walking into our house uninvited. As I walked him to his car, he kept apologizing and hoping I would not tell the Postmaster. I didn't. Don't want to screw with his rice bowl.
Dorothy goes pretty much everywhere with me and is quite often offered a treat. Funny thing is she takes the treat, then drops it at my feet and sits there. I pick it up and then give it to her
She is very gentle with toddlers and old people while will go Thunder-dome with children and other dogs.
Some issues she has and it may be the breed, she does not mind MrsMac or my brother well. MrsMac will give her a command and she will look at me to see if it is OK to execute said command. The same with my brother. My bro just shrugs while MrsMac gets annoyed. With that written, when I am not around MrsMac tells me she will not leave her side and minds her well.
Dorothy also has a tendency to herd our neighbors livestock whether it be ducks, cattle or sheep. I think it is hysterical but our neighbors do not.
So there you go. Our prepping, SHTF, TEOTWAWKI dog.
I am currently researching, making dog and cat food post the end of the world. So I have to go and set-up that Excel worksheet.
What is your SHTF dog story?
