Let the pictures begin!
A couple of weeks ago, we found out there were a few Chihuahua puppies in need of new homes. The puppy we had thought about adopting turned out to be quite shy and nervous, something he might very well overcome, but while he was adorable, there was no connection in my heart. Meanwhile someone else was tugging my pants, chewing on my shoe and making a general nuisance of himself.
That would be Roald.
After I picked him up, he passed out in my arms the entire time we were chatting and talking with the folks.
And put simply, that was that.
When I saw him today when we picked him up, I thought "he's even cuter than I remembered!" We were not really looking to add another dog to our pack, but we had been kind of tossing the idea around for a while. Like Douglas, Roald was named before we ever saw him. And so when we saw him, it was just like it was meant to be him. It was the same way when we saw Norman and also Douglas for the first time, you just know.
Obviously any puppy is absolutely adorable, and I'm a sucker for any animal, old, young, ugly, cute... but when I held Roald it just felt right. It must have felt right to Kevin too because he completely agreed about adding Roald to the pack.
We knew it would be an adjustment for Douglas and Norman... they love other dogs, as long as they are not "our" other dogs.
The initial reaction from Douglas and Norman was excitement... then the shock washed over their furry little faces and then the annoyance washed over Norman's. He's been through this before and has the same reaction - he gets very annoyed with us. When we brought Douglas home it took three months before Norman would even acknowledge that Douglas existed. Now they love each other, but it took way longer than we expected - we knew it would be difficult but not that difficult.
However Norman had been an only dog - aside from our big dogs, for three years. So he wasn't prepared for a small little Pug puppy invading his life...
Douglas is confused. He wants to play with Roald, but he's also very jealous and doesn't appreciate this new creature that pees in the house and makes a fuss all the time. Douglas likes his routine and he likes things to always be the same, so this upsets his balance. He reacts the same way to goat kids and other new creatures that come in the house.
Why did you do this? Can it go live in the barn?
Then I tried to get pictures of them starting to play... that was pretty much impossible, even my camera couldn't keep up. I got about 3 dozen blurry dog photos...
Then something happened that surprised me... Norman actually stopped to briefly play with Roald alone without Douglas, which is remarkable...
Douglas "is it sleeping?"
Crashed again...
Later Kevin came to visit and we snapped this picture - it's a complete fluke. Roald was passed out on me and Douglas came to lie between me and Kevin, but up against Kevin so he wasn't too close to the puppy... notice the one eye on the puppy in case it gets too close to him...
Douglas "you are going to go back to your home soon right? You are just visiting right?"
Douglas "I did not ask Santa for this... I think he got confused when I requested a new stuffed toy and sent me this instead."
Douglas "sigh... it's still here... it's not a dream..."
Oops, it's time for a nap again...
The dogs are all asleep now, peacefully. I'm tired. Roald is not paper trained, so the fun begins for me. I cooked bean soup for dinner tonight while holding a puppy - it's an adjustment from our quiet comfortable routines back to having a new baby who's in to things, peeing on things, cries when his mommy is not holding him...
But it's not a bad adjustment...and once I get him paper trained and he adjusts to the new house and surroundings things return to a quieter calmer pace again...
Just in time for the chaos of kidding season to begin!
Comments
I am in love with Douglas!
Hope they all learn to get along well together :)
N
And Douglas looks permanently appalled.
Congratulations!
He's precious.