Lizzie has had an unexpected joy this last week. My sister who lives a long fly ball from Lake Shasta had a problem. The Carr fire was uncontrolled, and wreaking havoc in Redding and the area, and while she wasn’t threatened, we all know how quickly that can change.
So, on her day off last week, she humped her hounds and kitty to our house. That would be Grizz, her aged Aussie Cattle dog, Sugar, the 1 year old bassett/beagle mix, and Ted (a.k.a. Teddy Bear) the 1.5 year old border collie/shepherd mix.
At first Lizzie was a bit nervous, and while not shy, she was reserved. So much so that she had her first accidents in the house in almost 2 months (the Bissell SpotCleaner got a serious workout). But that passed, and much playing roughhousing, and typical young dog chaos was happening.
They all hit it off. First, so much playing that they are exhausted. Of course, they are all youngish, and high energy (except for Grizz). While Barb was a bit leering of the intensity, it really was just your usual dog wrestling, with lots of talking, mouthing, mounting (and humping), climbing all over each other, chasing, playing tug-o-war with their toys. Teddy loves to chase and retrieve tennis balls, so he got plenty of that action in.
Over the past few weeks, our neighbor has had some serious landscaping in her backyard. Like the cat tractor, dogging, remval of concrete, pouring new concrete, and lately a lot of paving stone work. Lizzie was terrified of the noise and activity, spending 100% of her time indoors during the day.
Until her cousins came to visit. Suddenly her “fear” was forgotten – There are puppies to play with, dammit!
This video they are doing what they do best, and you can hear the saw cutting the paving stones. Wait, is that Lizzie? She is not giving even one damn.
Alas, it hasn’t been perfect. The first night after my sister went back I was sleeping with the pups in the spare bedroom (her dogs are used to sleeping on the bed with their pack), and I mis-read Ted’s nervousness as wanting to get on the bed. Wrong, he needed to go out, so at 12:30 AM, I was digging out the Bissell and cleaning up a messy poop off the carpet (note: we will need to replace the carpets before too long).
But after that “Oops” there haven’t been any mistakes in the house. This is noteworthy because my sister has struggled to get Sugar to not pee in the house. I think she is mostly housebroken now, going out at will through our doggie door.
Lizzie and her Cousins from Geoffrey Anderson on Vimeo.
All good things must come to an end. The fire is mostly under control, my sister’s place looks to be safe, and she will be coming back down to pick up her “pack” on Monday. Lizzie will be sad, but we have redoubled our belief that Lizzie needs a buddy. Not a greyhound (as Lizzie is a bit rough in playing), but a hound mix like Ted, or a Lab mix will likely fit the bill to be Lizzie the bruiser’s best buddy.
The search is on.