Introducing Zaphod

We would like to extent a warm welcome to Zaphod. After an intense interviewing process we have decided he is a suitable member for our pack.

Here is a little about him: He is a shepherd, between ages of 1-2.  He was found as a stray and picked up by the Plantagenet pound. He was seriously underweight suggesting he had been on his own for a while (he still has some weight to put on).  He was rescued by Catahoula Rescue (the same rescue that saved Haley from a certain death). After letting Gloria Baggs from the rescue know we were looking, she suggested Zaphod as he is cat friendly (a little interested in Nin today as Nin will not stop hissing and he clearly wants to be his friend) and a real calm soul. He had been with his foster mom Jenn for 2ish weeks.

Getting to know him, it is clear that he had been with people before. He sort of gets the house rules, he understands and listens to the word no (this has never happened in our house before) and he has better recall then Miss Bug (it is sad when the stray has better behaviour then my own dog that I have worked with for 2 years. Hailey says this is because she is a free spirit and not meant to be the subject to human control).

I will admit I never pictured myself owning a shepherd, but he is so calm and sweet and this is what I wanted over breed. This is a reminder that we should not judge a dog by its breed anymore than we should judge a person by their race or ethnicity. We should all be judged for our actions or inactions.

After a great play and run with Hailey, we had a quiet evening. After Jenn and Gloria left last night he just sat by the door. He would periodically come check to see what we were doing, but then would just sit by the door. After a while he did settle in to our bedroom with us. We are very happy to report that he seemed very happy to sleep on the floor (we really don't have room in our bed).

This morning he has been more active. He and Hailey have had a good wrestle and we had a great game of fetch in the dining room (it is 29 feet long so lots of room for fetch). He seems happy to be walking around exploring, while Hailey is happy to be napping on the couch.

He has marked in the house twice. Once just before Gloria and Jenn left (on our bed of course) and this morning in the garage where I had taken him to eat. I don't know what it is about this garage and peeing.

The big test today will be can I take both of them for a walk.

Our big decisions today: 1) do we change his name 2)  do we want to get a crate for him for when we are both out. If so, where do we put it?

So that is my crazy life for today. I am sure Lee and Big Zee will have many adventures together! (Things more exciting then they both pooped on leash when I had both of them together this morning).

Maybe

Yesterday we went for a play date with a possible new BFF. His name is Zaphod. He is a maybe 2 year old German Shepherd. He was found as a stray. He needs some obedience classes, but is a totally calm, sweet guy. He does well with cats.

He was interested in Hailey, and she was interested in exploring the new place. She was more indifferent to him, but not unfriendly or avoidant like she can be at times. It is possible that being in a strange place in the heat just put her off. We working on setting up a second play date at the new house  Sunday.

We will see how it goes and if he isn't the right match for us, well we will write a million good things about him here to help him find a forever home!

Do you remember me?

Yesterday was a BBQ for the rescue that saved Hailey Bug, Catahoula rescue (again, we don't think she is Catahoula, how she got to this rescue is a long story).

Exhausted pup on the way home!

Lee was not herself yesterday. She was more stressed in the car than usual. She got out of her harness in the car. When we got there the first person we saw was her foster mom and one of her foster brothers. She was thrilled to see the foster brother.  She clearly remembered him. She was very avoidant with her foster mom and the head of the rescue. We wonder if she did remember then but was scared that they may take her away. She was more interested in smelling the ground than the people or other dogs. She seemed stress overall.  She was completely exhausted after the adventure (which was great for us!). It could also be that she is not use to going to things like this solo.

At any rate the rescue people couldn't believe how great she looked and how she seemed calmer (which is relative, but for a understanding of how she is much calmer now, read early blog posts). They were also very happy that in spite of everything (again read the blog) we still loved our LeeLee Bug. (Apparently we are crazy!).

It was nice to see some of the wonderful people who helped bring our little devil into our life. They were the amazing people at the end of the rescue chain. Our heartfelt thanks to them, and the people at the beginning of the chain in Ohio who saved her, and all of the people in between who were involved with saving her.

Dog rescue folks are a special breed of people - members of the angel breed:)