Meet Domino!

It's been about a year and a half since our dog Chipper died. It's hard to lose a pet. It's also hard to want to replace it too soon, but we were finally ready, and I'd like to introduce our new little dog: Domino!

She's some sort of Chihuahua mix, about a year old. She loves everyone. She's unsure about other dogs.

The main thing I was hoping for in a new dog was one that could come with me to the violin shop. Chipper didn't like new people, and howled at violin playing, which made him not a good shop dog. So far Domino is doing really well. On nice days we walk to work, she wants about half an hour of time to play fetch when we get there, and she's pretty active before noon checking everything out and needing additional walks. But in the afternoon, she seems content to hang out in her dog bed at the end of my bench. She likes to sleep in the sun when she can. She greets new people and then lies back in her bed when they stop paying attention to her. After the first few days she decided she'd rather nap under my bench by the sandpaper closer to where I sit, which is very dear, so I moved her bed there.

Aden was feeling left out of the whole process, worried that the new family member would only think of her as a visitor since she's away at college. But that's sort of the new reality. Aden may be back for a few months at a time here and there, but as much as this will always be her home, it's not where she makes her life now. To help ease those feelings a bit, we took Domino up to campus for a night to give Aden a chance to get to know our new dog. Chipper was definitely her dog. Domino is definitely mine.

I've been wanting a new dog for a while now, but my husband understandably didn't want to be tied down like that right away. Having a dog means less freedom in a day to day schedule, and makes lots of travel plans complicated. I was willing to wait for a time when he was agreeable to adjusting our lives like that again, but apparently all it took was for our youngest daughter to say wistfully, "I want a dog." How do you deny the heartfelt request of a child as sweet as Quinn who generally asks for nothing? You don't. Ian agreed we could get a dog, so I started my online search.

My first concern was about allergies. Most members of our household are allergic to cats, and we made the assumption when we got our last dog (who didn't shed) that such a problem would be true with dogs as well. But both Quinn and Ian thought that a dog that sheds might not be an issue, so I widened my search from non-shedding dogs to simply dogs that looked friendly and weren't too big. 

I've always felt it was important to get rescue dogs when looking to adopt. There are so many dogs that need homes, many of whom will die if they don't find one. One of the things I learned during my dog search was that kill-shelters are the norm down South, so lots of dogs get rescued and driven to the Midwest to foster homes. One of the first dogs I was interested in was up here in Wisconsin, but the adoption paperwork was all through a shelter in Mississippi.

The hoops to jump through for shelter dogs is no joke! Pages of paperwork wanting detailed information about past pets, current occupants, and a few that wanted to know the "height, length, and weight" of our fence. I'm assuming they were interested in the material that our fence is made of, but "weight" was an odd question. We had to send one shelter photos of our house inside and out, along with pictures of all the people and the general neighborhood. We had to grant permission to our vet to answer questions about our last dog. We needed non-family references with phone numbers and email addresses. We needed to explain our plans for the dog if we died. All of this before we would be granted the opportunity to even meet the dog we were interested in! On one hand I appreciated the care people were taking, but it also seemed like a bit much.

This meant that the shelter with the fewest hoops was the first place we were able to get into to meet a dog. It was part of an animal hospital in Wheeling IL, and they didn't have any requirements to simply go down and meet Domino. So after school one day, Quinn and I drove down together and spent a little time with the dog.

 

SO CUTE. You already know that from the pictures, but this dog was so cute! And she greeted us like she'd missed us forever and was glad we were back. We played with her in the yard out back. She had an injury to her back right leg, but they said it was likely a sprain and would heal, and they were giving her anti-inflammatory pills for it. She'd been in the shelter for a few months, and said she liked everyone.

Domino is small (only about 11 pounds) and still kind of a puppy. I never expected to get an even smaller dog than our last one, and not a pup with so much energy, but as Quinn and I were driving home, we both felt that we'd left "our dog" behind. However, I struggled with the idea of adopting the first dog we met. We needed to make a choice that was a better fit for our family as a whole than we did the last time, and to do that it seemed prudent to meet more dogs. The other dog we'd been working on getting an appointment to see was a dog with a deformed front paw named Teddy. I asked Quinn if we should still be trying to meet Teddy, or should we tell the animal hospital we wanted Domino? Quinn simply said, "If you've met perfection, why would you keep looking?"

So there was that. Our application was approved the next day. We didn't hear back that weekend from the shelter that had Teddy. We went out Sunday to pick up a collar and a tag and a dog bed, etc., and then drove down as a family on Monday after school to pick up Domino.

It was a rocky first couple of days in terms of house training, but she's now sleeping through the night and giving us clear signals about when she needs to go out. Her leg is still a concern since our vet thinks she might need surgery, but we can deal with that. She gets around fine, we just don't want her to be limited because of any pain.

It's nice having a dog again.

One of the things I missed about having a dog was being forced to take walks every day. I like walking, but I don't like doing things with little purpose. I need a reason to walk. I think it's good to be out in all kinds of weather, but I won't choose to walk in the rain if I don't have to, even though it's not bad. Work is only a mile and a half away, but driving gets me there faster, so I budget my time differently if I can do that. Walking the dog to work, however, has a dual function, so I'm happy to do it. Plus at this time of year in particular, the walks are beautiful.

Walking the dog also makes me feel more connected to our neighborhood. I notice small changes to houses and gardens when I see them every day. Not to mention having a better connection to people. When you walk a dog you tend to come across the same people over and over who are walking theirs, or people on your route who wave from their porches. Everyone smiles when they see Domino. I'm reminded a bit of when I used to take walks with my babies. The world loves you when you have a baby, and everyone loves a cute dog.

The other thing I didn't realize I needed so much was how a dog fills in certain gaps. Dogs are in the moment, so when you stop to pet one, so are you. She forces me to take breaks, mentally and physically. It's very easy for me to work too much, because there is always more to do. But if I'm at the shop and Domino needs a walk, I have to take her out. And it's good. I'll get to the work in a timely manner, but I shouldn't just press forward relentlessly the way I'm prone to do. And in those breaks with the dog, I'm distracted from a lot of the worries of the world that otherwise weigh me down. I think she's good for my blood pressure because she makes me feel it's fine to just be. Plus it's hard to look at her and not be happy.

We've also reached a point where my children don't need me very often. That's a good thing, and it means I did my job well enough, but other than an occasional ride to school when the bus doesn't show, Quinn doesn't ask for much. She does her own laundry and a lot of the cooking and sometimes she wants to accompany me on errands and sometimes she doesn't. The oldest child is away at college and the middle kid is busy with projects of her own. I apparently missed having someone to care for, because I don't mind the work of being the person in charge of the dog. Plus I selfishly enjoy that she loves being around me. There's an old Erma Bombeck quote about how you need a dog when your kids become teenagers because you need someone to be happy when you come home. I feel that! The dog is just pleased I'm around, and I miss that about little children. And it doesn't hurt that I can scoop Domino up. I miss being able to lift my kids into my arms. A baby-sized dog fills that need just fine.

As I type this, Domino is nestled under the covers and pressed against my hip. She loves diving into a nice warm bed. She's really funny during her high energy moments when she wants to play, but I most love snuggle-puppy mode. She's fun to curl up with on the couch, and even though I lose track of her at night somewhere at the foot of the bed, I like knowing she's there.

Domino's a good dog. I love her.

Want to See Our New Dog? (Babble)

The kids (particularly Aden–well, almost exclusively Aden) have been begging for a dog for a while.  We’ve been putting it off until certain milestones were met because there’s a limit to how many small mammals we really want to care for in the house, but we recently reached a point where a dog seemed doable.  If we found the right dog.

Ian has allergies, primarily to cats, but sometimes to dogs.  We had rabbits for years.  I didn’t realize just how many years until I was filling out an application for adoption at a local animal control center and I had to list all former pets.  Our first bunny we had for about six years.  Her name was Cujo and she taught us a great deal about learning not to become too attached to possessions.  Rabbits chew EVERYTHING and you can’t yell at a bunny, so eventually you acquire a zen sort of attitude of “they are just things….”  Cujo was killed by a cat in our backyard not long after we bought our first house.  We had to go out and buy a shovel specifically for burying her which was awful.

About six months later we adopted a bonded pair of bunny sisters from the humane society, and we wanted to name them Polka and Dot, but Polka turned out to be more of a Scout.  They were supposedly a couple of years old when we got them and they lived another six years or so.  Dot died of bladder cancer, but we think Scout died a couple of months later from grief.  They really didn’t know what to do apart from one another.

We’ve lived long enough without pets that I had stopped thinking of us as pet people.  (Although I toyed with the idea during a brief period a year ago when we weren’t sure if we owned a cat.)  Ian told me he’s always thought of us as pet people, just pet people on a hiatus.


So last week our neighbor (who takes in foster dogs) forwarded us a picture of a little Lhasa Apso/Miniature Poodle mix that had just come into the rescue shelter that she thought might be a good fit for us.

He’s two years old and very sweet.  We wanted to find a dog through a rescue shelter if we could, but it had to be one that didn’t make my husband sneeze. We set up a meet and greet on Friday.  I couldn’t decide if it made more sense for us to go alone and check out Ian’s reaction to the dog, or if the kids should come too.  We decided since it was so important to see how the dog was with the kids that it was worth risking it not working out, so we surprised them with the trip to the shelter.

The poor dog was so traumatized by the shelter experience that he was pretty skittish and nervous, and he barked at Aden at first.  But eventually he climbed happily into my lap and let everyone pet him and he warmed up rather quickly.  We all fell in love with the dog.

But Ian seemed to be having some kind of reaction after we left, which gave us concern.  The dog wasn’t officially available for adoption until he’d seen a vet on Sunday, so we went about our weekend and on Sunday afternoon Ian went out by himself to spend some time with the dog.  I told him if he had any kind of allergic reaction to leave the dog there and bring home ice cream instead to soften the blow.  But if he was sure the dog wouldn’t be a problem to bring him home.  There was a possibility that the cats at the shelter were what caused Ian’s reaction before, but it was hard to know.  The kids and I spent a tense couple of hours while we waited and wondered what would happen.

Then, in the middle of dinner we heard Ian come in the back door.  At first I braced for disappointment because all I heard was Ian (not that Ian’s arrival is ever disappointing, don’t get me wrong), but then there was the little clicking sound of dog nails on the kitchen floor and I realized we now owned a dog.

The kids were beyond thrilled.  Aden immediately abandoned her dinner in order to walk the dog.  She and Ian and Mona all took the dog out.  The sweet thing was when it was time to head home the dog ran to our front door as if he’d done that a million times before.  Within a couple of hours it felt as if we’d always had this dog.  It’s weird.  I know there will be lots of adjustments as we all get used to each other and figure things out, but honestly the dog already looks settled in and this feels very natural.

Aden and I walked to Target to pick up a dog dish and some food and a collar.  It was fun taking the dog out for one last evening walk tonight, and the girls are excited about taking him for a walk in the morning before breakfast.  Quinn still seems slightly uncertain about the whole thing, but I think was won over by an unexpectedly hilarious game of fetch with a rubber ball before bed.  Currently the dog likes me, probably because I gave him a bit of leftover chicken from dinner, and he LOVES Ian, probably because he is the pack leader and the hero who saved him from the shelter.  This is Ian’s first dog, so I’m glad he’s getting so much of that sweet puppy adoration.

We’re still not completely settled on a name, but at the moment we seem to be going with Chipper for a first name and Biscuit for the middle one.

Whatever we call him, the dog is darned cute:

And he’s ours!

Suspense! (Babble)

So, today we may or may not be getting a dog.

We went to visit a stray at the rescue center on Friday night that looked like he might be a good match for our family.  Our next door neighbor takes in foster dogs, and she’s been keeping an eye out for one for us, and sent us a picture of a cute little guy who needs a home.

The tricky part is Ian has allergies.  Mostly to cats, but to a lot of dogs as well.  This particular dog is a poodle mix, and from what I’ve been able learn about different dog breeds, those tend to be a bit more allergy friendly.  So we did a meet and greet with the dog at the shelter, and the dog is adorable and warmed up to us quickly, but afterward when we went out for pizza Ian said his eye felt itchy.  Then his face didn’t feel good where he’d touched it with his hands.

The dog wasn’t officially available for adoption until today, so the plan is for Ian to go back to the shelter, spend an hour alone playing with the dog, and if he feels confident that the dog won’t make him sick he’ll bring it home.  If it does, he’ll have to leave the dog there and bring home ice cream instead.


So we’re all on pins and needles here.  The kids and I really want the dog.  But if it’s not the right one for us we’ll keep looking.  The dog is adorable and I have complete faith that someone else will adopt him quickly if it can’t be us, so that’s something.  Because it was so sad to see how unsettled the dog was at the shelter, and how desperately it needed love.  I hope we’re able to be the ones to provide it.

We’ll find out soon.