Our First Evening Together

January 1st. 2011, New Years Day, I picked up Rowdy from my folks this afternoon.  It's the first time I've owned a dog since I was a kid.  I've always lived in apartments or homes without a fenced yard or had been going somewhere all the time, so I never really could take on the responsibility of a dog, though I've longed to have one.  I've usually enjoyed other peoples dogs or my folk's dogs on the farm and had let that fill my dog needs.

Now I've got a new companion!  He's kind of an ugly mutt, a stray that showed up at the farm, but he's got a personality that endures everyone to him, including me.  We think he's close to a year old, but still has a lot of puppy in him.  I had been considering taking him for a couple of months and now since I've had this home with a fenced yard in town the last three years, I could take on a dog, so today I did.  I got a feeling that I will have some interesting and funny stories about him in the coming months, especially with his personality.  I had suggested they name him Rowdy, but they had named him Short-stop instead, because of his short legs and long body and I think he's part Dachshund.  He might possibly be part Pointer as I've seen him take set with his paw raised and his tail straight behind him, but he's definitely all mutt.  I've renamed him Rowdy though, as I believe that fits his personality much better!

So tonight we spent our first afternoon and evening together.  It started with locking him in the back yard while Sarah (my girlfriend) and I went to the store to get some basic supplies; dog food, flea and tick dog shampoo, a leash, some chew toys and some rawhide bones and snacks.  I had a collar and went to my shop and fashioned a dog tag with his name and my phone number on it, in case he gets away or lost.

Soon as we got back, we brought him in the house for a while.  We followed him around and watched him investigate his new surroundings and of course in the bedroom he thought he should mark his territory.  He lifted his leg by the doorway and I hollered "NO!"  He immediately cowed down and did not pee either, whew, disaster avoided this time!  My mother had trained him to respond to the 'no' command and he obeyed, so we rushed him back outside and let him go out there a couple of times before bringing him back in.

Then Sarah gave him his first bath and I expected him to go ape, but he took it quite well.  From running around on the farm, he was quite dirty and turned the water in the tub brown.  He enjoyed the rubdown while drying him off and he was his happy-go-lucky self again!  As we interacted with him for the next hour, we noticed some more fleas on him.  We had also forgot to get some pee pads from the store, so while Sarah went back to the store to get them, I gave him another bath with the flea and tick shampoo.  Still noticed some fleas later, but I think we will get him something to kill them instead of another bath the next few days, which may also give the shampoo time to work a little more.

Sarah also bought me a pet carrier cage, so I can put him in over night and won't have to worry about him crapping and whizzing all over the house.  He had a snack bone and jerky treat, but turned his nose up at the dog food.  I hope he will eat tomorrow after he gets used to his new surroundings.  Sarah had to go home early because she had to work tomorrow, so Rowdy sacked out all evening while I watched TV and wrote this post.  He was plum tuckered out over the fear and excitement of a new place!