posted 03-12-2004 06:05 PM         

I ended up with Bonnie Blue. I had a bad feeling about Lucky. He was gorgeous and all, but he reminded me too much of Blanco. I'm sure he would have been fine, but he is a little bigger and more dominant and I just felt nervous.

Bonnie Blue is a little thing, skinny as a post, poor thing. She is shy, but warms up fairly quickly. She is loving as all get-out. I think she may have been abused because she shys away if you move too fast, but she is not a fear biter. She's silent, except when Lucky pushed her too far she did growl at him and warn him off - so she is shy and submissive for the most part but she is not a pushover.

She wouldn't touch her kibble or even yummy training treats (they said she doesn't know anything but she does know sit after all), but as an experiment I handed her a tiny piece of cooked hamburger that I was eating and she gobbled it down. So I quickly thawed some chicken wings and she went crunch crunch crunch. So a chicken leg quarter is thawing while Nala is outside eating her pork feet. I am keeping them separate while they eat.

Nala pesters her to play, but she ignores her if she doesn't want to. When they do play, it's mostly chasing games, which I like MUCH better than wrestling games. And she can keep up with Nala! She even headed her off once. Good thing we don't have good grass in the backyard because they were kicking up divets the size of Texas as they cornered. I will try to get video tomorrow when it is light out!

How am I going to bring this dog back....

posted 03-12-2004 09:17 PM         

Nala seems to enjoy her, but she is also confused. I bought them new bones - two identical ones. And then I was worried about them sharing them, so I put them away. I just got them out again, and Bonnie "buried" hers (in a blanket). Nala watched her very intently. Now she is wandering around with HER bone looking worried. She's not used to putting a bone down and having it get eaten while she is gone...

Should I do something about it? Let them work it out? Put all the bones away?

So far, one cat has seen her. She hissed at Bonnie. Bonnie is pretty much ignoring her, and I am encouraging that. I haven't seen the other cat yet. He is probably too disgusted with me to come out.

posted 03-14-2004 08:15 AM         

http://home.everestkc.net/tnewman/videos/dogs-with-stick.WMV

Jamiya

posted 03-14-2004 11:04 AM         

I am going to see if I can keep her for a week and see how she does while we are at work. Or at least, that's the story I'm sticking to.

We did leave them alone together last night and went out for dinner. They were fine when we got back. I'm worried about leaving them alone together for too long - if they start wrestling in the house they could get destructive.

So far, Bonnie ignores the cats. Who knows if that would change once she is more comfortable here.

She likes to snuggle, but Nala gets jealous and they both try to be closer to me than the other one - even though Nala prefers to lie NEAR you and not ON you. Eventually they settle down, though.

They are passed out now. I'd better eat lunch while I can.

posted 03-14-2004 05:55 PM         

I bet they would just lie around with no one home. The kids are on spring break this week, so I guess we will see how it goes. I told the shelter I would keep her for a while longer.

The biggest issue right now is the competing for my attention. Bonnie comes up and sits her head on my lap. Nala comes up and shoves in front of her. I put one on each side and pet them both. Nala dances away and tries to get in front of Bonnie. Nala barks at Bonnie and tries to get her to wrestle. I finally stare into space and ignore both dogs. Bonnie goes to lie on her bed and Nala flops on the floor. Silly dogs.