Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Adoption Pending!

Well, we are very close to having a dog. I went to Crawfordsville and met Georgina today who might soon be Karenin if she comes to live with us. Martin was having a hard time deciding between this dog and the Bluetick Coonhound he fell in love with, but after he emailed the coonhound people he found that "Major" was no longer available, and evidently he had kennel cough. Martin was glad that the decision was made for him. And now he's going to call the vet and see if we can take Karenin straight there from Crawfordsville, have her checked out and cleaned up and then bring her home.

She is a very sweet dog, and a very good looking dog. She's got the nicest coat--a perfect black lab coat, except for that pesky Rhodesian ridge! She has a sweet face and is very puppyish without being psychotic. She didn't jump on us at all, didn't even seem to have an interest in doing that. She was just playful and nice. And she smelled like puppy pee, but that's a fixable problem. She shares a cage with two other dogs so she should be used to animals. The only dog she'll have to get along with is Baxter and he's pretty easy going so I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm not too worried about Theodore... he's hardly considered "small prey"... in fact, he might be just as big as the puppy. And besides that, he can fend for himself. He's a pretty ferocious cat. In fact, here's a picture to prove it:

Those five spots on my thigh (which is not really so white as in the picture) were caused by my one and only lovey boy in a sneak attack on my leg. I think he was hungry. Anyway. He's surely no match for a puppy. That damage was caused through blue jeans!


So anyway, we might have a dog tomorrow and the thought of that excites me. And this will be a durable dog. We can take him to Mammoth Cave with us and not have to be so careful with him as we were with Baxter. This is a better first dog for us than a Newfie would be because Newfies are relatively lazy and need to be kept cool. They aren't the dog for summer trips to Mammoth Cave. But Ridgebacks are good in all kinds of weather and have great endurance. Definitely the first dog for us. And I've been checking the weather around here lately... it seems after this weekend that we might be in steady 50's which would be fabulous. I don't mind taking Anja out in that. And if I walk Karenin around the library block and it starts to rain, it's never very far to shelter. I just run back to the front of the library and under the walkway and wait it out. Not a problem!

The other thing I did today was finally purchase that highchair from the antique store!! The lady even took it down to $35 for me. And whenever Martino and I were at Target last, we looked at the highchairs there--they are SO expensive!!!!! They ranged from $70-$120!!! Holy smokes! I'm happy to have the one I got today. It's really cute and nice, and it looks nice in the dining room by the windows.
Now I'm at my parents' house for dinner while Martin keeps plugging away at work (making up for our fun night yesterday) and I'll go down to pick him up around 8:30 or so tonight. It's been an exciting day!

5 comments:

Anne said...

Fun for you guys! How do you pronouce that name? I want a dog someday...but not now since we're moving into Chicago. I would not want to have to deal with a dog and a baby in Chicago. I think grocery shopping will be challenging enough as it is.

I sure hope I at least catch a glimpse of you and your precious baby this weekend!

Clare said...

I hope you get your dog!! That would be most exciting! I love R.Ridgebacks!!! They are such handsome and gentle dogs!! How big is she?

Annie Hatke Schap said...

Anne-
it's pronounced like it looks: KAR-eh-nin. It's the name of the dog in one of Martin's favorite books. I hope to catch more than just a glimpse of you! Also, I was looking at the parish directory the other day, and in the picture of you guys in there, you look SO pretty!

Clare-
I'm glad you have posted that they are gentle dogs! My dad is concerned that they are aggressive. She's 4 days younger than Anja (so she's about four and a half months old) and not so big yet... she's about the size of our 2-year-old nephew. She's definitely still a puppy. The best part about her right now is her tail--it is soooooo long! And it just whips around... forget aggression, she'll cause enough damage just with her tail!

Clare said...

Yeah, they were almost always very sweet, like gentle giants when they would come in to the animal hospital I worked at. I am afraid they may be a little clumsy... especially with lab mixed in. :) Any dog can be aggressive if not properly trained... getting a book on training is always a good idea. But I think they are great dogs overall. I knew someone with 4 ridgebacks! I can't imagine how much they spent in dog food!!

Annie Hatke Schap said...

FOUR!?!? Holy smokes!! I can't imagine. She's still pretty small right now, but we're hoping she gets pretty big... and it's funny that she is absolutely black, no other color anywhere on her, but she has such a huge, defined ridge. We are very excited!