Rosa

Austin has been pretty lonely during the day since Katie died. He doesn’t really do much, so Katie’s constant barking at the postman or whoever else is walking by was a big source of activity for him. Plus I like the idea of having two dogs anyway. Since Eric had worked at the animal shelter nearby, I figured he would be a good resource to pick out a new friend for Austin. He gave me a list of names and I took it over there yesterday. They had the head dog guy talk to me and I said I probably was leaning away from a puppy since Austin is 10 years old and doesn’t want to play that much. I showed him my list, but instead he brought me Rosa, an older female mutt with a tan coat (they said she is a labrador retriever mix, but she’s probably more pit bull terrier than anything), a little smaller than Austin. I didn’t bring Austin on this trip, but brought him by a little later and the two of them seemed to do pretty well on a walk. Rosa was used to being around another male, having arrived at the shelter with her son, then paired up later with another male. Rosa herself had been at the shelter for almost five years and is now about 10 years old. She and her son were given up when their owners’ house was foreclosed on in 2009. Her medical records say she had heartworms then too. They said she is very scared of thunder, and she has a chipped tooth and some damage to one of her ears. She won’t win any beauty contests, but she is still pretty cute. The shelter brought her by yesterday so they could also do a home inspection, which I think is good.

She has a very sweet disposition. They said I should set up a crate for her to sleep in since that is what she is used to. She did go in it some and even layed down one time, but last night she ended up on the bed right at my feet. She seems pretty well house trained, but she will have to adjust to a new schedule where she has to stay inside all day instead of being out during the day. She really likes the backyard, but most of her time she spends sniffing around in the house and yard. She met the neighbor’s dog and did pretty well and she did better than Austin meeting a couple of dogs down at the park this morning on our walk. She is used to getting up early, so we were up at 7 AM this morning.

Austin likes her, but still likes me more. And Rosa likes Eric and wanders into his room more than Austin does. Rosa doesn’t know that Eric hasn’t always been here. Plus when Eric was walking dogs at the shelter he walked Rosa a few times, but she was not in the group of dogs that Eric worked with when he was working there. She likes to play, but doesn’t know quite how to do it. She will get real exicited and chase after a stuffed animal, but then go off with it and growl if you try to get it back. Not much of a game. I have 2 weeks to test her out and can take her back if necessary, but other than needing some house manners and staying out of the garbage, she is doing pretty well.