Update on the 4 legged children

My poor Sadie girl has always been our angel. She is always so well behaved and with the exception of once when she was in heat (before she was spayed) and when she's been sick she's never had accidents in the house. Recently that all changed. Both of our dogs were having issues and this week it got really bad. Yesterday, I cleaned up no fewer than 3 puddles of pee, 2 of which I witnessed personally. That was my breaking point. Poor Sadie hasn't been able to hold it very long all week and I decided since I was off we were going to the vet to find out what was going on. It turns out that she is diabetic. We'll know more when we get the results of the blood work tomorrow. Diabetes is treatable and I'm glad that she has a legitimate reason for peeing on the carpet and that its not something she's just decided to do because she's mad or unhappy. Morey on the other hand seems to be peeing in the spots where Sadie already peed. Hopefully if she stops peeing in the house he will too.

Update

Morey is adjusting very well to life here. I think he's figured out that when he moved in, along with 2 crazy munchkins who keep trying to pet him, he got a soft bed to sleep on, plenty of food to eat and a family that loves him. He doesn't seem to be trying to dart out the door every time it opens anymore, although we don't take any chances with that. He does spend at least part of the night sleeping in Collin's room, probably because we put a dog bed in there for him, so Collin is very happy about that. Morey still has not had any accidents in the house and Tim gave him a bath tonight because he still smelled like the kennel and now he smells SO much better. Sadie has adjusted very well and seems to really like having a friend around to keep her company. Tim and I are learning how to take 2 dogs out to go to the bathroom at the same time. I finally figured out its easier to hold both leashes in one hand than to try to hold one in each hand. I kept getting tangled up in their leashes as they were heading in different directions at the same time. I'm sure I was pretty comical as I was trying not to land on my arse as I stepped over one leash and unwound myself from the other. Its kind of like having kids, having the first one is a huge adjustment. Adding the second is a bit of an adjustment but mostly just double the fun.

Meet Morey

A couple of weeks ago Collin started asking for Sadie to sleep with him. We tried putting her in his room and she was fine for a few minutes but then she would bark because she wanted out. As soon as she got out he would cry because he wanted her back in. Tim's been talking about getting a second dog and I've been poo-pooing him because that means twice the poop to clean up and twice the vet bills. It also means twice the joys of having a dog. So when Collin started asking for Sadie to sleep with him and she wanted nothing to do with that I mentioned that maybe we should get a second dog. That was all Tim needed to hear. We were at the animal rescue the next day. The first dog we really liked was a puggle (pug/beagle) named Nicholas but he already had an application in on him so we didn't get him. We also looked at a husky and a husky mix named Max and Bella but they were way to high energy for our household. So a couple of weeks came and went and we hadn't found the right dog. This past Tuesday we went again. I'm pleased to report that almost none of the dogs that we saw there the first time we went were still there, they'd all been adopted and there really weren't a whole lot of new dogs either. We looked at a really cute hound dog but she'd clearly been abused and we thought she was too timid to live with Sadie. We also looked at a cute little puppy who jumped all over Nick and caused him to cry. Cute, but way too much energy and it was clear Nick hated her. Finally we played with "William". We knew right away that he was perfect for our family. He was playful but not jumpy and the kids seemed to really like him. The next day I took Sadie to meet him. I don't know what was wrong with her that day but it didn't go as well as I had hoped. Perhaps its because before we owned her, she got out of the house and was picked up by animal control and did some time before her owners claimed her. Perhaps it was because she could sense I was nervous about being there by myself with the two kids while the dogs met. Whatever it was, she was not herself. She peed all over the floor and was completely uninterested in "William". Every time he came near her, she growled and walked away. This is not how our dog behaves so Tim took her back to try again the next day. Everything went just fine so Friday "William" was neutered and we brought him home. So far, so good. He seems to be house broken and is getting along very well with everyone in the family. The only one I'm not sure about is Jackson who has been relegated to his cage until I'm sure he won't be eaten.

When Tim picked the dog up he was told that "William" is not his real name so we decided to change it to Baltimore and call him Morey for short. He's learning to respond to his name. We start obedience classes in November so we'll be learning lots of stuff in the near future. Something else we learned tonight is that he was at the animal shelter because he ran away. How do we know this? Well, we'd had him less than 24 hours and he'd run away twice! We brought him to my parents so they could meet him and put him in the back yard (which is fenced) because he still stinks and we can't bathe him until tomorrow. The first thing he did was get out through the back gate and go into my neighbors yard. Then Tim blocked the back gate and he somehow got out while we were inside and Tim had to take the car clear around to the other side of the neighborhood to find him. Finally, as Tim was watching him, he squeezed through the slats in the gate and went running across the street. I've never seen Tim run so fast! He caught up to him and brought him back. After that, we went immediately to Pet Smart to get a tag so if he gets out again, at least someone will have our number to call. He's about 2 years old so he's still pretty energetic when he wants to be. When he's inside, he's very chilled out and relaxed. I keep finding him lounging on the couch. As long as we keep him on a leash and keep the disappearing acts to a minimum, things are going to work out just great. The kids love him and Sadie really seems to enjoy having a friend around to play with.