My family has four wonderful dogs — three large and one small, whom you’ve already met if you’ve been reading this blog. That’s Tucker, the Chiweenie, a 2-1/2-yr.-old Chihuahua/Dachscund mix I rescued from the Humane Society on September 10, 2008. Tucker is the hit of the century, the cat’s meow, the clown of the household, and keeps us all in stitches and a loving good mood just about 24/7. Before the shelter he was a stray on the streets for several weeks, unneutered, and pitiful. After three weeks at the shelter, what with surgery and innoculations, well . . . he wasn’t in much better shape than when they picked him up. You could see all his bones sticking out, and they said he never uttered one single bark the entire time he was there (sob). I couldn’t resist him then, and certainly can’t now, and he has blossomed in our family. He’s gained half again what his prior weight was and does his part daily in guarding the house, complete with ferocious barking, whether from the birds at the bird feeder, Copper grazing outside the window, or a real threat, such as an unknown visitor. Though lost and confused, Tucker was clearly never abused, and it didn’t take long for his ebulliant spirit to shine through. Toys are his specialty, and he’ll throw them for himself to fetch if there is nobody else handy to play with him.
So what does all this have to do with Monica? Well . . . Monica is one of 5 Chihuahua puppies a neighbor’s dog just had, and she is free to me for the taking if I want her. She is one of two females, both being long-haired like their grandmother. Their brothers are short-haired, but I would never bring in another male, as none could compare with Mr. Tucker. Yes, she would make 5 dogs, but I’ve had up to 6 at one time before. My main question is will Tucker still feel he has all he needs and deserves. After his unfortunate experiences, he is attention-crazy and is in my lap every time I light somewhere, and sometimes even when I don’t. So I don’t want him to feel deprived or jealous. Thus the dilemma.
So, after my second visit to see Monica today, who is a grand 6 weeks old at this point, I sat down to have a chat with Tucker about it. He seemed quite interested in her smell on me, but I knew this wasn’t enough to validate her actual presence in our home.
“Tucker, what would you think of a little girl Chihuahua coming to live with us? She would be your puppy, your playmate, a small dog like you to curl up with on the bed at night. You know how Rose and Sabrina and Charlie have each other as big dogs their own size? Well now you would have a playmate your very own size, even though I know you love to play with the others too. (I show him a mental picture of Monica.) We could change her name too, to just about anything you want. What do you think?”
“Just a minute, mom. I can’t think right now. Lily is doing her thing to me and it puts me to sleep.”
So there goes that conversation, tabled for another day. Lily, our lovely tabby, frequently grooms and licks Tucker all over his head, and when she does he goes into la-la land. So, guess we’ll wait a bit on getting that answer. Then again, maybe Tucker was ignoring me and just doesn’t feel like talking about it yet. Hmmmm.
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