Dog Days of August

We have been talking about getting a second dog for some time, partly because we are slightly nutty about dog company, and partly because there are always so many dogs out there that need adoption. We were so pleased with the organization that we adopted Sami from - Prairie Dog Canine Rescue - that we continued to watch their blog to see what others might come up.

While still in BC, we noticed a sheepdog up for adoption - his owner had been transferred to Vancouver and couldn't bring Orie along. Since the economic reality is that selling a small house in Lethbridge would scarcely get you an apartment in Vancouver, this seemed a likely reason for giving the poor fellow up. Tim called the PDCR people right away, and the day after we got back from Langley, we picked up Orie.

Orie made himself right at home. You could tell that he was still shy and a bit disoriented, but he settled in quickly, exploring all the nooks and crannies of the house and staking out his favorite places. He followed Tim around in particular - you could tell he was owned by a guy who left the toilet seat up (becase he loves drinking out of it) and let him up on the bed, because he keeps trying to jump up and lie down next to me.

Although he's great on the leash - slack line and everything - he is not exactly amazing at recall when off-leash. On the other hand, he tends to follow Sami's cue, so if Sami's being good, he might be too. Sometime. Maybe. 

Actually he's getting better at recall all the time, and is sometimes better than Sami, who at the moment is going nuts trying to flush out birds. He's really loving the dog run, because it gives him more dogs to run around and wrestle with.

Sami will wrestle too - she's getting more used to it now, and both dogs will stare at me intently and make Frankenstein noises untill I let them out to play. 

Orie's been with us for three weeks now, and while Sami wasn't sure at first what was going on and what this meant, the two are now starting to act like a pair rather than two dogs who happen to be occupying the same space. At first, Orie kind of acted like he expected us to take him home any moment "you people have been very nice, but can I go back to my dad now?" but now he is acting more and more like part of the family, and has become more outgoing and affectionate all the time.