Dog Trouble

I have a little dog, Abby, who I wrote about when I sent her for her summer buzz-cut in June. She weighed 9.5 pounds at her last vet visit, which is a concern for me, since she's always been 10 - 11 pounds up to now. But that's not a problem yet.

Meanwhile, my daughter's friend (DF) has been staying with us for quite a while, and then a couple months ago my daughter asked if another friend (AF) could spend the night a couple nights a week, so she could take the bus to her morning class at the community college. The place where AF lived was a couple miles from the nearest bus stop. I said OK, but then AF never seemed to go home on any night, and then her clothes came to my house, and then I got used to the idea.

Last weekend (a week and a half ago), I took AF to the Humane Society to look at dogs, because she was ready to get one. Abby gets along fine with other dogs, because she's basically an "omega" dog, and most other dogs think they're the "alpha" dog, so it works. AF picked out a scruffy terrier mix, and the Humane Society had me bring Abby to see how the two would be together, and they were content to ignore each other. So AF bought Hollywood (no refunds, exchanges only within the first two weeks) , and we brought the dogs home.

But Hollywood (who is about 3 or 4 times Abby's size) had kennel cough, which is treatable, but when she started getting better, she also started getting more energetic and territorial. When I gave Abby her medication (pills shoved into a small slice of string cheese), Hollywood thought she should get it, and she lunged for it, right into Abby's face and bit at Abby's neck and left some doggy slobber there. Abby started shaking so badly her teeth chattered, and even after she calmed down, if she saw Hollywood, she'd shake all over again. It was so sad.

But that wasn't a huge problem, because DF got a job last week as a nanny--with a place to stay--and AF went with her. They moved out Wednesday night. Dog problem solved.

Except that all three girls went away on a retreat over this past weekend, and there was nowhere else to leave Hollywood on short notice but at my house. So I spent most of the weekend stressed out over the dogs, doing my best to keep them apart. I spent most of Saturday on my bed in my jammies, with Abby sleeping next to me and Hollywood sleeping on the floor by my bed, while I tried to fix up my Poland pictures (that's another story) enough so I could copy them to CDs for my friends who went to Poland with me--in time for dinner with them Saturday.

When I left for dinner (not in my jammies), I blocked Abby in my bathroom with a box across the doorway and blocked Hollywood in the kitchen with what I hoped were high enough barriers. Upon my return, both dogs were in the living room and there were two wet pee spots and some dog poop in the family room.

I kept taking Hollywood out, but she wouldn't do any business outside. And whenever she heard Abby's license clink against her dog dish (because of course the very same dog food tastes better in the other dog's dish), Hollywood would make a bee-line for Abby, who would start shaking all over again. So I had to listen for the clinking and try to catch Hollywood by the collar before she could frighten Abby. And then late Saturday night, Hollywood took all the poop she'd been saving up and dumped it all on the dining room carpet, and I know she did that on purpose, the little snot.

I was so stressed out, that when I got to church Sunday (Abby trapped with a better box in the bathroom, Hollywood trapped with higher barriers in the kitchen), I started to cry. And when they welcomed a few of our Marines back home from Iraq, I cried. And when we sang a couple of the praise songs, I cried.

The girls got home from their retreat shortly before I got home from church, but DF and AF didn't go back home right away, but AF took care of Hollywood after that, and Hollywood behaved better, and Abby only got scared a couple times.

Monday night AF stayed at my house for the bus stop in the morning (DF's new nanny job is also far from the bus), and yesterday morning I drove AF to the Transit Center. On the way, Laura Ingraham had Brian Kilcommons, a co-author of the new book My Smart Puppy, on her radio show. It was exactly what we needed to hear, that there's hope for Abby and Hollywood.

And now AF and DF aren't getting along very well, so yesterday afternoon AF asked if she could move in with us officially and pay some rent. Hollywood, of course, would want to come too. I said we'd talk after I got home.

On my way home, I stopped and bought the puppy book. I showed it to AF and let her start reading it (she has more time on her hands than I do), and told her that if Hollywood hasn't settled down by the end of the month, she (Hollywood) couldn't stay. I can't have Abby being afraid in her own house.

I want my peace back. We'll have to wait and see if that includes Hollywood in the house.