Tuesday, January 20, 2015

New Project, New Dog

Yesterday Mark finally had a day off, after working for seven days straight. I was planning on giving him a fishing day, even though I've been itching to get some projects done around the house.

But then we got a call from the park maintenance workers, saying they had just found a dog at the treatment plant, and asking if we wanted them to bring her to us.

"May as well, we thought."

Drop-offs in the park are all too common, sadly enough. Our dogs Lucy and Dioji were drop-offs, and we get a half-dozen each year, it seems. What's even more tragic, is that there is no animal shelter in our county, just a euthanasia clinic where you pay to have unwanted animals put to sleep. Other county shelters won't take them in.

Lucy, shortly after she was dropped off, nearly 8 years ago
Dioji showed up on Mark's doorstep back in the winter of 2006
 A few other past drop-offs...

Sometimes we can re-home them, if we can catch them. Every once in awhile a park visitor will take one. One little dog went to my sister. Another (the handsome dog in the last picture) actually ended up being trained as narcotics dog, I believe.

Then there's this little pup...

She was just too sweet to say "no" to. So, it looks like she's joining the family.

She's really not in bad condition, but her nails are really worn down, probably from running on the roads a lot.

She looks to be a mix of cur and dachshund, but you never can know for sure. She has a black tongue, which is characteristic of most curs.

So now we are playing the "naming game." It usually takes us awhile to decide, as we bounce names off of each other and usually have a hard time agreeing on one. Mark started calling her Sadie, but I thought we could surely come up with something more original than that, but even after skimming through thousands of names, nothing really stood out to me.

This afternoon I spent some time outside, observing her in a more relaxed, natural state. She really makes me think of some primitive, tribal hunting dog, kind of like the type you would see in some remote village, following her people through the forest.

So I began to read through Native American names, and narrowed it down to two: Ayasha (Cheyenne for "little one") and Mika (Sioux for "intelligent raccoon").

I'm strongly leaning towards Mika, at this point, but I need to discuss it with the hubby first.

She is very good with Ian, as well.

We'll be setting up a vet visit soon. I'm thinking she's probably between 6 and 12 months of age, but I'll be interested to see what the vet thinks. 

Needless to say, our Monday went a little differently than we expected. Sorry Mark, I still owe you a fishing trip.

We did make it into town so we could pick up a few needed supplies for my latest project.

I mentioned in my last post about modifying the old bird pen into a grow out pen for the rabbits.

It's already pretty secure, but I decided to add a row of chicken wire for added security, and to help keep rabbits from digging out.

I probably should have pulled the wire down further, but I had such a good start, I hated to go back and re-do it. It will probably be sufficient. This pen won't be housing rabbits any longer than a month or two at a time. I'm going to rake the ground back over it and tamp it down real well.

I wasn't  expecting to even get that far with it, really, so I was pleasantly surprised. 

Cable ties are fun! I think he threw them in every corner of the yard.
Progress is slow, with this kid in tow, but it is progress, nonetheless. 

It was great for him to have so much outside time today, even if I was chasing him half the time.

Hopefully we can get the grow outs moved in there this weekend. All I really lack after laying the chicken wire is weather proofing (tarps) and making a couple of shelters out of plastic storage bins.

It's amazing how warmer weather makes you more productive! This trend will continue for awhile, but I'm sure the bitter cold will visit us again, soon. It is January, after all.

I'll leave you with a short video from today. The new pup is right at home with us, just as Ian is right at home with the pack. 


  1. The first dog picture on your post broke my heart.....people just sort of suck sometimes don't' they? So sweet how the new pup jumped up to lick the camera! She's "smiling" as well. My sister had a Dalmation that used to do that!

    Glad you got your outside project started as well. It's been a beautiful past few days here in KY!

    1. Well it's not the first picture anymore lol! The one of the thin, old hound! The other pictures are too sweet!

    2. Lol, sorry! I meant to put some other pictures in there and forgot, so I went back and edited it. :)

      Yes, that guy was especially pitiful. I'm not sure what became of him. :(

  2. Oh my goodness- her little booty almost wiggled off in the video! Her and Ian are so adorable together! I love that you have taken these homeless pups in. We have an adopted mutt that we adore also and I don't plan to ever buy a dog- they just show up and become part of the family. Your other projects look great, too! I can't wait to have a rabbit pen like that. I put mine out in an unused dog crate or sometimes when I am out supervising them in the fenced-in yard, but I'd love to have a much larger "rabbit-proof" pen someday built just for them.

    1. I really like something that Cesar Milan (the Dog Whisperer) always says: "You don't get the dog you want, you get the dog you need." Given the choice I probably wouldn't have picked out these pooches, but they have taught me so much. :)