HairyFace made a trash run today, so Blondie and I got to go along. I rode shotgun (of course). Hairy won’t roll the window down enough for me to stick my head out, but he turns the vents up on high so I can get a good sniff of what we’re driving through. There’s always so much to see.

Blondie rides behind the seats. She gets an open wing window on each side and she can watch out the front and back as well as the sides, so don’t go feeling sorry for her: she likes the ride too.

At the end of our nice long truck ride we will be at this place called a Convenience Center. Hairy says they call it that because it makes it easy for peoples to dispose of their trash. I don’t know why you don’t just eat it: I would.

Anyway, when we get there Hairy gets out and takes some of the trash from the back of the truck and puts in this container, and some in that container and still more of it in that thing over there. He calls it RECYCLING. I have no idea what that means, but he seems to think it’s important. He’s pretty smart, for a Peoples, so if he thinks it’s important, then I say you should think it’s important too.

There’s always lots going on here. And sometimes one of the other peoples here will come over and scratch our heads (Blondie and I, not Hairy … that would be weird) and tell us what fine looking dogs we are. That’s one of the things I like best about our Saturday morning truck rides. Another thing is that it smells so GOOD here!

One of our recent foster dogs: Kingsley, wrote “home” to tell us of his latest adventure.

HI all … It’s me Kingsley and I had such an exciting day … About a week ago NBC called FOWA Rescue to ask if I wanted to have a part in an episode of their new series “Unraveled” … so of course they said yes. So my foster mom Diane and my friend Shirley were there to watch me perform … Everyone said I was a natural … and everyone on the set was so nice to me …. Watch for when it premieres in the fall on the Investigation Discovery channel … I am not going to give the story away but this is me and the actors who played my family …It was a great day … lots of treats and attention … Not to shabby for a heartworm positive black dog from the south … Don’t worry Jen , Brandy and Doug I am still the same sweet dog you knew when you saved me… and I am forever grateful you fought so hard to keep me alive …
Love and Licks – Kingsley

We knew him when

Kingsley came to us as a heartworm positive rescue dog from the Dr. Carol Hood Memorial Animal Shelter in Newport Tennessee for treatment of his condition and some behavioral training: he was excitable and unruly. He quickly became a favorite here because of his abundance of personality.

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Most any social system will have a hierarchical order to things. Even in a small social system, someone is in charge – someone is the top dog. This is true of people, it is even more so of animals.

Dolly Dawg was a free range mountain dog since before we got here in December of 2001. Someone had tried to train her as a hunting dog, failed, and disposed of her by dumping her here on Piney Mountain. After we moved into our place we spotted her sitting in a clump of boulders sixty or seventy feet up the mountain slope from our home, watching us as we worked at getting settled. But she would not approach, and would slink off into the trees if we paid much attention to her.

So we began accidentally leaving a pie plate of kibbles out by the tree line. While our backs were turned we would hear ravenous crunching. With time, kibbles, and a great deal of patience we became friends. We christened her Dolly because of her eyes, she looked all made up and ready to go out: Dolled up: Dolly. Eventually she decided that we could stay and she would look after us.

We learned that Dolly was queen of the mountain, all other free range dogs deferred to her. Some came to play with her, to hunt with her, to lounge in the sun with her. She was a beneficent monarch.

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Hi, Cochise here.

HairyFace has been talking to Jen at the Newport Animal Shelter about a meet & greet between Buster and Melissa. We know this because Blondie sneaks into Hairy’s computer to look at his e-mail and Facebook when he goes out to garden.

We’re not sure what a meet & greet is but we’re pretty sure it involves a truck ride. We all like truck rides. All except Boomer. He doesn’t hate them, but he could do without them quite easily.

But Buster loves truck rides, so every morning this week when Hairy takes Buster out for a walk, Buster tows Hairy over to the truck and sits by the passenger door. “No, Buster. No truck ride today.” Even this morning – except it was different: “No, Buster. No truck ride yet. Later.”

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Kingsley and I took our last ride together this morning.

Kingsley has lived with us for the past 3 months. Almost 3 months: tomorrow would have been his anniversary with us. During that time we helped cure him of a heartworm infestation and taught him “civilized” behavior. He was pretty unruly when he came in.

During his exam the Vet Tech, Alicia, commented, “You are just a totally different dog from when you left here.” And he has come a long way. He is now ready to go live in a good home and enjoy a good life.

Kingsley passed his physical and is queued up for loading into the Rolling Rescue van this evening. I am at that postpartum depression point. I go through it with nearly all of them. I’ll get over it. It’s that look he gives me when I put him in his transport crate. It says, “Wait, wait, where are YOU going? Aren’t you taking me home? What did I *DO*? I’m SORRY!”

I tell him, “You’re starting a new chapter in your life, bud, and that chapter doesn’t include me. Things are going to be confusing for a few hours. Maybe a little scary. But once you are there, it will be worth it all. You’re starting a new chapter, and it will be wonderful. Even if it doesn’t seem so right now.”

Of course, he doesn’t understand any of that. But I hope the tone of my voice tells him that I’m not mad. He isn’t being punished.

I sometimes wonder if dogs retain memories of past experiences. I’m pretty sure they do: I’ve seen dogs that were traumatized by something and retain a fear of similar situations. It works for fear and self-preservation. What about good things? Will Kingsley remember Marie and I? Is it just vanity that I even wonder that? I don’t know. We did our part: we took him in, cared for him during his treatment and recovery and trained him in civilized behavior. Now he’s going to where he has a better opportunity to be adopted into a loving forever home. That’s a lot better than being put to death because no one wanted him. I’ll assauge my postpartum depression with that knowledge.

Besides, I still have Buster to get well enough to adopt. And Boomer is half-way through his recovery, I need to start campaigning to find him a home to go to. And Smokey: he’s in recovery and will be needing a home soon. Then there will be another. There is always another. There are so many good dogs who have been abandoned or snatched out of abusive situations, we will keep busy. But, should we find ourselves on furlough because all the dogs have good homes, it wouldn’t bother me a bit!

On cool days when the sun is shining, most of our dogs like to run. Our play yard is about 30 feet by 85 feet, so it makes a good space in which to run. There are also some obstacles in the way of lumber stacks that provide interest and challenge to the racing.

For as big and bulky as Blondie appears, she is quite agile and can make some amazing moves where she can dig in and get grip. She often initiates these racing sessions. She also knows that I prefer racing as a form of exercise over wrestling; wrestling often escalates into something beyond play.

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