It's funny because I'd planned to blog today about my dog, Harley. Then I discovered that it was National Dog's Day so I figured I'd better blog about all my boys. I figured I'd tell you how they came to be my dogs.
First there's Max. I like to joke that he came with the house but the truth of the matter is that he was born roughly a week before I moved in and it was a few weeks before I even met him.
He came from a big litter of puppies, all of which would crawl under the fence into my back yard (oh yeah, his "birth owner" lives behind me). All but one of them would climb on me and scratch me, with one sitting back looking at me as if to say "I'm good. I'll still be here when you get a minute. No rush." All but one would wiggle and squirm when I'd pick them up and snuggle them up on my shoulder. The one would rest calmly on my shoulder as if to say "this is the nicest place I've ever been." This went on for weeks.
Of course "the one" is Max. Well, one day the dogs were all in my back yard and I'd actually brought Max into the house with me then noticed that his "birth owner" was at the back fence looking for the last dog that hadn't come home when he got there. I went out with Max and was apologizing for having his dog and asked if I could buy him from him. He gave him to me. And I never looked back. :)
First there's Max. I like to joke that he came with the house but the truth of the matter is that he was born roughly a week before I moved in and it was a few weeks before I even met him.
He came from a big litter of puppies, all of which would crawl under the fence into my back yard (oh yeah, his "birth owner" lives behind me). All but one of them would climb on me and scratch me, with one sitting back looking at me as if to say "I'm good. I'll still be here when you get a minute. No rush." All but one would wiggle and squirm when I'd pick them up and snuggle them up on my shoulder. The one would rest calmly on my shoulder as if to say "this is the nicest place I've ever been." This went on for weeks.
Of course "the one" is Max. Well, one day the dogs were all in my back yard and I'd actually brought Max into the house with me then noticed that his "birth owner" was at the back fence looking for the last dog that hadn't come home when he got there. I went out with Max and was apologizing for having his dog and asked if I could buy him from him. He gave him to me. And I never looked back. :)
Next came Brewsky. When I moved into my house I had a doberman, Cleo. Max adored Cleo so when she died in 2004, he took it pretty hard. Cleo's death also coincided with a job change (that included longer hours) so Max's life changed dramatically in a very short time. I quickly realized that I needed to change things and pick up the slack and become the "other dog" in Max's life. I started walking him in the morning before work, coming home at lunch and playing with him and then walking him two or three times in the evening just so he was getting exercise. But even with all that, he wasn't handling things well. Then one day this adorable little dog followed us home from a walk. I let him in the front door (okay I had to force him through the first time, after that he knew it was okay) and he played with Max for a while. This became kind of routine that this dog would follow us home several times a week. When he didn't meet up with us Max was visibly sad about it. Over time I kind of figured out who the owner was so I approached them to see what we could do about coordinating play dates with the dogs (yes, play dates!). Long story short, they were looking to get rid of him because he kept getting loose and they ended up giving him to me. I wasn't looking to get another dog at the time but he was what Max needed at the time and now I can't imagine my life without him.
That leaves us with Harley. For several days before I met him I'd come home and the house smelled like wet dog to me. I have a doggy door and at the time I had a kiddie pool for the dogs in the back yard but I couldn't smell the wet dog smell on them so I wasn't sure what was going on. Plus, Max seemed really tired for several days - to the extent I was thinking of taking him to the vet to see what was wrong with him.
Anyway, I always talk to my dogs when I'm leaving the house, even if it's just to say (like I did this morning when I left to go to the grocery store) "I'll be back shortly." Well, on the day I first met Harley, I had a massage scheduled for after work so I told Max and Brewsky that I'd be late that night because I had a massage after work but I wouldn't be too late. Then I got to work and had a voicemail message that the massage needed to be rescheduled. So I came home at my regular time. When I came into the house I was greeted by Max, Brewsky . . . and Harley. He was IN my house! Turns out there was a fence post down and he'd wiggled his way through it and followed the other dogs into the house through the doggy door. (I apparently took them by surprise because they thought I'd be home later and I've since amended my "discussions" with them to include "no friends can come in the house!" hehehe)
For a while he'd camp out on my front porch and follow me in the house to play with Max and Brewsky for a while and then I'd put him back out again. Once I saw him follow two girls with a dog down a cul de sac street so when he wasn't on my porch one day, I went down that street to talk to his owner. I was concerned that he was always loose but I wanted to have play dates with my other dogs. Long story short, this family was feeding Harley but didn't consider him their dog. She said that his real owner had thrown him out and they were considering calling animal control on him. I told her if she did that, they'd destroy him and I said I'd see what I could do about finding him a home because I already had two dogs and that's the limit in the subdivision.
He's been my dog since I walked away from their house with him. I worried for months that it'd be found out that I had more dogs than allowed but it's been almost five years ago so I think I'm okay. :)
Happy National Dog's Day!
