The last puppy left tonight, but the next transport is tomorrow! You’d think after four weeks of puppy poop, I’d be ready for a break. I am, but I owe Gracie.
Remember Gracie, my personal dog? You may have noted that not a word has been written about her during the entire puppy odyssey.
That’s because Gracie hated the puppies. This is how she greeted them. I know she only looks disgusted, but I promise she was growling all manner of meanness at them.
And it didn’t get any better. Whenever she passed the puppy room (a space she avoided whenever possible), she snarled for good measure. On the occasion when she actually ventured into the puppy room, she let loose with a full attack sound. Which would be worrisome except Gracie has always been all bark and no bite. Whenever we are running and pass a fenced dog or a stray cat, she flips to the kill setting in her vocal options, but if we come upon a loose dog or something larger than a cat, say a deer or on one occasion a skunk, she runs for the hills with her tail between her legs. She’s a total poser.
I have no doubt had I ever let the puppies loose to meet Gracie, she would have been overwhelmed and cowered under the coffee table.
We kept Homegirl mostly in the kitchen this past week, separated from Fang, I mean Gracie, by a sadly sagging baby gate supported by Addie’s mellophone case. (We originally propped up a board to keep Gracie from seeing the puppies, but it was scratching the wall, so we resorted back to the pathetic broken baby gate.) Either dog could easily take down that gate, but instead, Homegirl, sat sweetly on one side whining to see Gracie, who occasionally popped up on the other side of the gate to threaten her with every kind of bodily harm. Homegirl, either because she is a puppy or doesn’t speak Gracie’s language, only got more excited to see Gracie, ostensibly saying, “I’m so HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY to meet you too! I wish this gate didn’t keep us apart!”
At any rate, Homegirl took off for her forever home tonight so Gracie can finally relax. We will all miss having a puppy around. Nick will miss the puppy blanket. Ian will miss his most loyal fan. And I will miss Homegirl’s unending happy mood and how much she wiggles just at the site of me. She’s going to a home that she seems destined for, to a mommy who can’t wait to spoil her rotten.
Back to Gracie. One of the reasons we started fostering was to help socialize Gracie. She loved Galina, put up with Wheat Penny, played hard with Stitch, and tolerated Carla. We thought she was improving her doggy social skills, until the puppies. We have every intention of taking in another brood of puppies if one become available, but meanwhile, I thought maybe we should choose a Gracie-friend from the transport.
I combed the list and chose first a boy dog, since Gracie hasn’t gotten to hang with a dog of the other gender yet (she did have a weekend with Hitchcock and really liked him). I also chose a dog of similar size, in the hopes that she won’t be intimidated. This dog is young, but not a puppy and is reported to be very good with other dogs. Plus he’s incredibly interesting. He’s a breed I’ve never heard of (Catahoula Leopard Dog – see you haven’t heard of it either!) and he has clear blue eyes. (That probably doesn’t matter to Gracie, but you never know.)
His name is Frank, which alone, makes him even more interesting. You do recall the dog on Men in Black (one of my most favorite movies)? He was the big boss and actually a most powerful alien in dog form. We actually got to the real Frank at Universal Studios. He’s a pug, which this dog is decidedly not, but still.
We’re honored and excited to meet Frank, as I hope Gracie will be too. And more than that, I’m hoping Frank will help Gracie erase the memories of four weeks of puppies torturing her with their very presence on a daily basis.
Another Good Dog™ 