Friday, June 18, 2010

Dogs and Circuses

I thought we had pandemonium here before, but just add a 7th dog to the mix and look what happens. I wish I had thought to get the video camera before I let Basil out of the crate he came in.

ItsBasil.jpg (63813 bytes)

Basil is a 6 week old lab-pit mix (I've had chihuahua mixes for so long, I'd forgotten what those pit mixes were like!) Ashley got a plea from the animal shelter asking if she could take him. She asked me if she couldn't find a better solution, could I take him. Knowing we were leaving and whatever dogs were left in the house after Saturday morning would be Ashley's problem, since she will be living here, I said sure.

I didn't hear anything about him all day yesterday, so I assumed a better solution had been found, but then he showed up today. It was hilarious when I brought the carrying crate out to patio. There was a swarm of dogs all over it. All six of them. Sniffing and sniffing. I could hear growling from inside the crate. I finally opened it up and one by one the dogs stuck their heads inside, except for Lizzie who tried to get inside the crate with him.

Eventually he came out, this little black spitfire growling at everybody. This is a pugnacious little guy who isn't going to take any guff from anybody. He was playing with them all within minutes, but always with the growl when someone did something he didn't like.

Continuing my habit of naming dogs after something significant in my life, whether a TV program I was watching at the time, a play I was about to review, or a thought flitting through my head, I named him Basil (the "ba" as in a sheep's "baaaa," not the "bay" sound of the herb) for St. Basil's Church in Moscow, which we will be seeing soon. It seemed a nice solid name for such a solid dog.

It took Walt awhile after he got home to realize we had a seventh dog. There's no denying he's a cute little guy, but absolutely uninterested in human affection, at least at the moment.

BasilWalt.jpg (59074 bytes)

He got along best with Emmy, who is always the mother figure, and Itsy, who is the gentlest of the two puppies.

ItsBasilEmmy.jpg (61318 bytes)

I could see Polly didn't like him at all and was afraid she might attack him, but it was he who did the growling and snapping at her and she ran and hid from him. When he got too close to Sheila's food and Sheila did her "big scary Sheila" bit that terrifies all the puppies, Basil didn't even blink.

I'm sure he won't be around when we get home. Ashley hopes to move most of the fosters to new homes while we're gone, especially Emmy (it will be such a relief not to have her here. I love her dearly, but she just can't get past her hatred of Walt). I will be surprised if Itsy and Bitsy aren't adopted when they go to Petco on Saturday, they're so darn cute, but we will be long gone before they go and I won't know for awhile.

Basil won't be in the house with me long enough for me to bond with him, but he is a cute little guy. I also told Ashley that based on what I've seen of him thus far, I envision him as an adult with a spiked collar and a sneer, walking around town with some leather clad guy named Butch.

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