Last week I finished a book called A Dog Year by Jon Katz. It was an incredibly touching and laugh out loud at the same time book. Even if you aren't a dog person you'll relate to Katz's story. But if you are a dog person you'll surely relate to all the funny and some might say stupid things he did with and around his dogs. His story starts with his steadfast Labrador companions Stanley and Julius. They are the dogs every dog owner dreams of obedient and loyal. While Katz's story would have been great with just Stanly and Julius' story it was made funnier and upsetting with Katz's addition of a little Border Collie named Devon. I learned and took several lessons from the story, first I am not equipped to handle a Border Collie, patience and giving yourself unconditionally creates an unbreakable bond and every dog has a purpose and job to do in its life.
My last year with my dogs was similar to what Katz wrote about and perhaps that's why I related to the story. Yucca and Chester were my Stanley and Julius. First I lost my Golden Retriever, Yucca in July 2004 to cancer, she was my constant companion for 11 years and saved my life twice. Then in October of the same year I came across a mixed breed that caught my heart a Golden Retriever crossed with a Poodle. In early November I brought home Wyatt Earp at seven weeks old and my adventures in raising a puppy began. I still had Chester and my only real worry was if Chester would accept Wyatt. They accepted each other and bonded while Chester showed him the ropes. Wyatt gave me a crash course in patience. I thought having children would prepare me for the coming weeks but I was wrong. A puppy is more work than an infant. As Wyatt grew so did my awareness of how unprepared I was for raising a puppy. To say it was all puppy licks and wags would be a lie, it was more like hell on earth with glimpses of heaven in the distance. I did everything the books said and he still persisted in attacking our hands, feet and clothes. My winter coat that I don daily is a constant reminder that my persistence and patience paid off. My once nicknamed Hell Dog has become merely Wild Wyatt.
By the time he was six months old we had completed some obedience work and our relationship began to click but the relationship that was deteriorating was Wyatt and Chester's. Wyatt was just too much for him and his 15 years so the search began to find Wyatt a playmate. There was energy that no matter how many games of fetch I played or how often I worked him mentally it wouldn't dissipate. I did everything I could think of even walking him three to four times a day but that energy was still present. Wyatt was close to eight months old when we found a cute Beagle/Basset Hound mix at our local SPCA. This too cute five-month old puppy turned into Josie the now nicknamed pest. The SPCA volunteer told me she was calm for her age and I've learned to take all information like that with the proverbial grain of salt.
Josie came to us in April 05 at the age of five months old. I saw her picture on the SPCA's web site and fell in love. I sent an email to my husband with a link to her description and photo, to my amazement he liked what he saw and we agreed to submit an application. A few days later we received a call that we could come down to the SPCA and meet her and her sibling. We actually met her sister first and while she was cute she wasn't the least bit interested in interacting with me or my family and then they brought Josie out and she leapt up on the bench my kids were sitting on and began licking them. After she introduced herself to them she greeted my husband and me and I knew she was the one. The one who would be able to harness that wild energy of Wyatt's I couldn't tame.
Chester and Wyatt met Josie at the SPCA and at first Josie was timid, overwhelmed with two large dogs. She tucked her tail; I thought I imagined the playful glint in her eyes. She hung back and looked too frightened of my two large dogs to make it as a member of our pack. But Chester our big beautiful Retriever mix approached quietly and sniffed her. Without lying down he made himself smaller and Josie began to approach and returned the greeting with sniffing of her own. Chester was my constant, he was loyal, calm and loving from the day we brought him home. If any dog could win Josie over it was he. The more Josie interacted with Chester the more Wyatt wanted to meet Josie. True to Wyatt's puppy nature, he was wild and pushy, that untamed energy was bubbling to the surface, but as Wyatt and Josie approached each other it was clear she was ready to play and Wyatt approved.
Our first days were heaven, but I believe that was a cover to assure that I fell completely in love before the pest emerged. With in days of her arrival she turned into Hell puppy number two. Showing me yet again how unprepared I was for raising a puppy, not to mention by adding her I created a pack and had a huge learning curve to cope with.
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