<p>OK. A little bit of an update.</p>
<p>Before anything else… We no longer have fleas, we no longer have worms, we no longer have kennel cough and puppy has already been to the vet and has received all manner of necessary treatment and checkup. We’re the kind of people who take in stray animals and readily surrender our wallets to emergency vet clinics for strangers’ pets–there is no way that an animal in our custody would want for health care. Chloe is now a happy young pup in the pink of health, thank heavens.</p>
<p>I’d forwarded this thread to my husband yesterday, and after reading it, he had some thoughtful input to pass along to me; I’ve taken it and added my own thoughts and in this post, along with a general update of how we’re all getting along. </p>
<p>First, let me say that my husband is the consummate Dog Guy. He loves dogs, any dog, and whenever he comes across a dog in a friend’s house, he makes it his unspoken mission to become the dog’s pack leader. The dog, in a matter of minutes, takes to my husband like a fish to water. They looooove my husband. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard friends say, “Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen our dog [sit/stay/heel/fetch/behave] on command before…” If anybody has the initiative and temperament to train a dog, it’s my husband.</p>
<p>Secondly, since he’s an adjunct professor who teaches mostly in the evenings, my husband’s home most of the day. The first day we got the dog was, of course, one of the days when he was teaching half the day and wasn’t able to play with her, go figure. Our schedules are pretty staggered, so we’re able to be home and supervise/play with the pup pretty well. There’s not a lot of time that she has to spend in her crate. We’re not really a low-energy couple (we rented a 4WD and plowed off into the wild unknown of Costa Rica for our honeymoon), so it’s possible that if we got a low-energy dog, we’d exhaust the poor thing. I don’t know. It’s hard to evaluate what energy level you are… even more difficult to consider what energy level you OUGHT to be. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that we are, in fact, high-energy enough to absolutely love having a high-energy dog.</p>
<p>Third, and most importantly… my husband and I have a wonderful sense of ‘team,’ I’m blessed to be able to say. Though we’re young, we’ve been together ten years, and it’s been ten years of intensive relationship-building time. We’ve been able to strike a good balance of doing what’s good for each of us as individuals, but also being graceful enough to know when we need to do what’s best for our nascent family. I have full trust in my husband’s and my ability to arrive at a conclusion that will be the healthiest, best conclusion that we can arrange for all involved. Though he showed a rare moment of visible emotion while haltingly saying so, he admitted yesterday evening that he’d come to terms with the fact that it might be best to give up the dog. He said that all he wants is a dog that I love and trust, and that what he wants is a dog, any dog, that I approve of. Let me pause a moment right now and reiterate-- I love this man. Have I said I love this man? I do.</p>
<p>Yesterday my husband took Chloe for a run and completely wore her out. She snoozed for a good part of the afternoon, and then was a loveable sweetheart the rest of the evening, calmly padding from room to room, sticking closely to my heels. There was some skittering of cats when they were taken by surprise, but no hissing and no chasing.</p>
<p>Of the two cats, I’ve mentioned that one is standoffish and a bit of a manipulative twit. We love her dearly, but she’s the kind of princess who, given the opportunity, would not hesitate to give up her kibble for caviar. She’s used to getting her way, and my husband’s glad to indulge her, even though she greets his kindnesses with a prominent show of hissing and prissy yowling. I’ve never seen twelve pounds of fluff boss a full-grown man around like this cat bosses my husband around… it’s really a sight to behold. “I <em>have</em> to sit here and pet her while she eats,” my DH once said, rooted to the floor of the kitchen, “…she gets mad at me every time I get up to leave,” right before we all decided that it was best not to give in to the cat’s every whim.</p>
<p>The other cat is an affable tabby. He’s large, a little bit dumb, and sweethearted. He’s a 21-pound lap cat, three feet tip-to-tail, purebred Chicago Street Cat. He has an affinity for hoarding Q-tips, playing with closet doors, and giving great hugs wherein he wraps his arms around your neck and just snuggles. Houseguests adore him. He’s the perfect cat. He’s always friendly and generally imperturbable. He’s the alpha of the two cats, the adventurous one, and he’s just happy to have a sun spot to lay in. He’s also incredibly trainable, oddly enough for a cat-- he’s both physically and temperamentally malleable.</p>
<p>If I’d had to place a bet about this, I would have lost all my money. Never in a million years would I have thought that the tabby would be the one to have a problem with the dog, and that the princess would be brave enough to go up to the dog and sniff it while it was sleeping on the floor outside the crate. I kind of feel like if our Miss Priss of a cat can handle the newcomer, then with a little cajoling, our big guy can come around, too. It feels a little less insurmountable now that I’m seeing our problem cat warm to this canine intruder.</p>
<p>We’ve decided that we’re going to be cautious, but that we’ll give it a try… It’s only been a week. We’ll give it a month before we decide upon anything. We’re going to do a little confrontation of the rescue group, first and foremost to get the dog’s available medical and intake history, but secondly to tactfully explain what condition we received the dog in, and to then evaluate what action needs to be taken subsequent to the conversation. We’re going to start things in motion to have her spayed so that we can take her to the bark park and so she can socialize with other dogs, either in a puppy play-date setting, or in an obedience class, or for a couple of days a week at doggie daycare, or all of the above. Meanwhile, we’re widening the no-fly-zone between cat territory and dog territory, and we’ll continue to be careful to project the idea that the humans are top of the pack, then the cats, then the dog. We’re going to keep having supervised visits between the cats and the dog, and we’ll see if everybody starts to chillax.</p>
<p>Cross your fingers for us. It’s a mess, and we’ve careened into something that we didn’t particularly intend to careen into, but it’s very possible that our oil and vinegar will blend into a lovely vinaigrette soon enough. Here’s hoping.</p>
<p>Thank you all, as always, for your thoughtful and well-reasoned advice. It’s a comfort to know that this community is here.</p>
