Blondie and I are in our bedroom beds. HairyFace is sitting in bed reading. NiceLady is finishing up her end-of-day routine. Lulu is sitting in the master-bath watching Lady. Lady says, “Say good night to everyone, Lulu.” and Lulu trots out and sniffs at me, she walks around the bed and sniffs at Blondie. Blondie has a dog bed at the foot of the Peoples bed, but she often sleeps on the carpet next to Hairy’s side of the bed. Hairy says, “Good night Lulu.”

Lady asks, “Are you ready for bed now, Lulu?” hoping to direct Lulu to her crate.

Lulu’s eyes light up, “YES!” and she leaps up on the bed with Hairy. A dream come true!

Blondie bolts to her feet and stares at her wide-eyed, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? That’s not allowed!”

Hairy sets Lulu back on the floor, “No, Lulu, that is not allowed.”

Deflated, Lulu trods behind Lady to the crate. She whines a little bit, but settles in after a while.

Since Lulu has learned to scratch at the back door or whine at the Peoples when she wants to go outside, the Peoples are thinking about letting her sleep in a snuggle bed in the bedroom with us pretty soon. I think that would make her happy. Not as happy as sleeping on the People bed, but it’s as close as she will get in this house. There are rules in my house, after all. To be a good dog you must follow the rules.

Maybe Lulu’s forever home will not have a no-dogs-on-the-bed rule. Then that dream can be realized.

Lulu listened intently as Jasper and Blondie told her about the luxuriant life of a House Dog. In fact, Lulu knew what it was like to be a house dog, she herself had been one before. But it was a different life from what they were describing. She was having a hard time comprehending what they told her. Jasper talked about racing around the house chasing a ball or hoofie. Blondie talked about lounging around on an assortment of beds – some in every room – that were there just for the dogs. Eating delicious foods. Getting special treats. Having the undivided attention of a People almost any time she wanted it.

Lulu’s life had been much different. Almost always confined to a crate. Play times tended to be antagonistic, even cruel toward her. She became fearful and started fighting back by nipping and acting out. So she ended up being dumped off at a place with HUNDREDS of dogs, all barking and carrying on. It was so scary. Then HairyFace and NiceLady came and took her out. They took her to a place out on a mountain where it’s quiet.

That’s where I live, along with Blondie, and Jasper – and, of course, my Peoples: HairyFace and NiceLandy. Blondie is my adopted sister, Jasper is a foster: like Lulu.

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NiceLady has bought us a couple of Coolaroo’s to lounge on. They are cool and comfy in the summer heat. Lulu isn’t much interested in those. She walks across one now and again but does not stop to lie down. She does, however, wade into the big water dish as though she wished it were a pool.

Nicelady took the hint and bought her a small pool. This thought was further facilitated by Tractor Supply Company putting their doggie pools on sale this weekend.

Lulu is a Labrador Retriever mix so it should be in her blood to enjoy the water. It is unlikely that the rest of us will make any use of it. Although, if there are no Peoples standing there with a bottle of shampoo, Blondie might enjoy it too. She is part Yellow Lab and has gone splashing through local creeks when she’s gotten out and run off. That was before the Peoples built our Petitentiary (a.k.a. Play Yard) that does a good job of keeping us in. Most of us anyway. Jasper the Flying Dog could go over it any time he wanted, but he seems to have lost that desire.

I have NO interest in a pool. Jasper: maybe, but probably not: he’s not fond of being wet either.

Lulu’s Pool-a-roo

Hairyface found a sort-of level spot for the pool and put about 3 inches of water in it. He hoped shallow would be fun, not intimidating – and easier to dump out at the end of the day. Then they let Lulu out of her pen to see what she thought of it.

This was about as close to an honest tail-wag as we’ve gotten from this abused girl yet.

After many trips though the pool and sessions of lounging in the grass, Lulu decided she wanted to be a lap dog. A 60 pound lap dog, but hey … who could deny this sweetheart? She’s coming out of her shell nicely.

This evening we engaged in some casual dining and watched an old Science Fiction Theater episode (1950’s stuff). Mostly, this is a human thing, but the furkids like it too because they get to eat in the living room with us and they get a special treat after dinner. They generally sleep through the program, though.

At bed time Marie and I sit in bed and read for a while. Sometimes we use book lights and turn off the lamps. But tonight my batteries were low. Blondie Bear is saying, “Would you PLEASE turn off the lights and go to sleep … I’m TIRED.”

Cochise could not hide under the bed without risking getting stepped on, so he made do with what was available.

Eventually Marie and I got sleepy too, turned off the lights, and went to sleep. Then the furkids could take up normal sleeping positions and get some proper rest. The poor dears! (wink)

A padawan dog’s first visit inside the house is often short. They get to come in and tour the food eating room and living room (which are essentially one large space), everything else is closed off. When they’ve got the lay of the land, so to speak, they go into their crate, get a nice chewie to amuse themselves with and we see if they can be calm.

Jasper is known for his high excitement acrobatics.

While he has calmed down A LOT since he first arrived here, we were expecting that he would not enjoy being crated and his first visit would be short.

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Last night we had a party with special treats and we all talked about what a good boy Volt is. Blondie and I knew what was going on, we’ve seen this several dozen times now. Often it’s no big deal, at least not to me. I’m stoic. But once in a while saying “good-bye” is hard … even for me.

Volt, of course had no clue. He was just happy to get special treats and have so much attention paid to him. I explained it to him after everyone went to bed.

When we got up this morning, Volt went into the den for some morning lovies from HairyFace. Nothing unusual about that. But when Volt reached way up and licked Hairy’s face and neck, that was unusual: Volt’s not a real kissy-guy. Hairy thought he was saying good-bye, but I knew he was saying, “Don’t send me away; this is my home. I like it here.” So I had another chat with him.

It’s harder for him to understand because he’s been here so long. He’s gotten settled.

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Volt is on The Bus and rolling toward Pennsylvania and the Fur Friends in Need rescue that will help him find a loving forever home.

Blondie and I have been kind of sad about his departure, so we’ve stayed close to one another all day long. Jasper would like to join in on our “togetherness”.

While HairyFace sanitized Volts crate, Jasper watched closely, “Volt’s gone, so that’s going to be for me, right?” Every time Hairy headed for the house, Jasper got all excited and started running vertical laps. He hasn’t done much of that for a while. He’s really eager to take Volt’s place as House Dog Apprentice.

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I took Blondie back to the Animal Hospital this morning. When we returned, she was sans cone. She, Volt and Cochise immediately ran to the low, shady corner of the yard and she gave them a full report.

Her sutures are removed (except one, I’ll get to that in a minute). The vet tech removed the sutures in Blondie’s shoulder, but wanted the doctor to look at her eye before they took those out.

Blondie and I waited for just over 1/2 hour for Dr. O’Connor to see us, most of that time a Cockatoo was shrieking and screaming in the back area and that sent Blondie into a frenzy. Didn’t do much for me either. I didn’t know what they were doing to it, but it was not happy.

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Thursday, June 23rd, 2016 was our final evening to spend with our buddy Volt. He’s been with us since January, and has become a regular member of the family. And it’s been a pleasure to get to know him: he is a true Southern Gentleman … err, dog. In the morning HairyFace will take him to The Shelter for his physical and preparations to ride the Rolling Rescue van.

He’s headed for Fur Friends in Need, a rescue in Pennsylvania. Or Staten Island, or both … I’m still a little confused by all that. But it is our understanding that he will go directly into another foster home situation while they find him a forever home. That’s good: it would just crush Volt to be put back into a kennel.

But for this evening, NiceLady bought is a package of toasted beef trachea. They were crunchy, all natural, and quite tasty. Everyone got to join in, too. In their own way.