A New Baby For Our Family :)

We have a new member of our family. He has black and silver-grey hair, he's about 3 1/2 feet tall, walks on all fours, and wags his tail. Yes, we got a puppy. Ryan paid for the dog on his 17th birthday in July. He's an Animal Rescue League (or shelter) dog. They claim he is half black Lab, and half Blue Heeler (Australian Shepherd), but we just think he is cute.

His name is Buddy. When we got Buddy, he was all skin and bones and big paws. They barely fed him- just enough to keep him alive. With a little lovin' and a lot of food, he has grown into a handsome young doggie. Actually, he is big as a horse and never stops eating - or chewing! He has eaten enough rawhide and doggie jerky to make several full length leather coats, shoes - you name it.

Buddy has some major strength. He has broken about 7 collars, and 3 of those were choker collar chains! He just runs and nothing stops him! We had to tie him to a tree- he hasn't pulled the tree out yet! Then I got him a snare (safe) collar that was super strong, hunter orange,  etc. He ate through that collar in less than 2 weeks. Ugh!

I like Buddy's shiny black and silver - grey coat. It doesn't shed terribly and looks great without a lot of grooming. His winter coat is getting a little wavy, which adds to its beauty. His legs have a rustic brown tint to his fur, which makes him a unique three-colored dog.

Ryan and Danny just adore their new puppy. And they are pretty good about taking care of their new charge. They walk Buddy, feed and water him, and sometimes clean up after him in the yard. Ryan loves to wrestle him and they get into many take downs.

The cats. Not so much. The living room usually starts growling whenever Buddy walks into it. Bark (the cat) is slowly getting used to Buddy, but not really loving it yet. Greybey will have nothing to do with the dog and feels betrayed most of the time because he was the Alpha Male until Buddy showed up. But we are working on anger management and controlling Buddy's boisterous nature with the cats.

There is another aspect that is new to our house since Buddy moved in. His farts could clear a bus!! OMG! He emits a green cloud and then runs for cover to protect himself and breathe the clean air, leaving the rest of us to fend off the lethal fumes and to fight for our last breaths. I have never in my life smelled such horrible smells come from an animal! Then he "bombs" us individually by dropping the fart bomb while sitting next to one of us and then running for cover. By the time you wonder why he's running, the fumes take over all available oxygen, and your eyes burn and sting. And the fart hang time is world record breaking! Fans don't touch these toxic fumes.

So I figured it must be his food. I changed his food to the next more expensive food chain, rather than the second to last dog food I was using. It improved the farting situation and frequency somewhat dramatically after a short period of time. You can hear Buddy fart, and it scares him! Believe me, the noise scares us as well. At least we get a little warning when the bomb is audible.

Next, Buddy quit eating his 'new' food. We had a small bag of his 'old' food around, so I gave him some mixed with his 'new' food. As soon as he was done eating, it was like someone filled the room with stink bombs and  rotten eggs! Phew!  We are still working on a new formula that we can all live with.

All in all, though, I really enjoy Buddy. He keeps me company and makes me feel safe. He is fiercely protective of his family, including the cats. Buddy is very smart and is working on expanding his repertoire of tricks and commands. He is mostly quiet (except when he farts) and he is my biggest fan when I cook :)
The boys love their doggie, especially when he greets them at the door with tail wagging and slobber drooling.

I think we'll keep him :0)