Dog Days of Summer

It's 6:30 a.m. Granted, the sun is already angling in over the treetops in our yard off Main Street, but I wouldn't normally be up this early if it weren't for our brand new puppy. I'm wan­dering

around in the dewy light in boxers and a T-shirt, giving him a chance to do his business. It's been two weeks since Lucy, our beloved Airdale, passed away after an ac­cident. Last week, our older dog Snowy, a wire-haired Fox Terrier, succumbed to old age.

Two weeks ago, I de­scribed how we picked two new canine friends from the Blue Mountain Humane Society. I promised several of our readers that I would write a sequel about their ad­ventures at their new home. They're both really good dogs, but very different. And because there's such an age difference, they are adjusting to their new home in their own way. Wizard is about two years old. He's a small dog and, as far as we can tell, descended from a Jack Russell and perhaps some other kind of breed, perhaps a Rat Terrier. He has the high-strung terrier personality, but it's hard to see how anyone could have neglected him. He's a very loving dog and getting more relaxed with us every day. The story we heard from the shelter is that Wizard was kept in a kennel inside a barn with other dogs most of the time and enjoyed very little human contact.

He snaps and barks at big­ger dogs, particularly those he encounters in the street or the woods. But we recognize that as a Jack Russell trait. On a second encounter with the same dog, he seems a lot calmer. He had considerable abandonment anxiety when we first got him. On our weekend trip to Bainbridge Island recently, he made darn sure he was the first one in the car and he got nervous when one of us left the ve­hicle even for a few minutes. They say some of this is normal. Newly adopted ani­mals usually go through an adjustment period. We have a good friend in Seattle who picked a "teen­age" mutt from the pound. The dog seemed very shy and socially dysfunctional at first only to come out of his shell after a while and turn into the friendliest, most loyal companion you can imagine.

It's all about stability and nurturing.

Some of Wizard's rest­lessness will stay. That's the terrier in him. But he's gradually mellowed around the house since we got him.

He's otherwise well-man­nered. He knows how to sit and takes treats from your hand very delicately. He's trained, and he was very kind to Snowy before he died. Somehow he knew the older dog, which was suf­fering

from kidney failure and arthritis, needed some affection, and he would lick him gently. Dizzy, the other shelter dog we brought home, is a puppy. He's barely three months old and not quite trained - in any respect. He's a Labradoodle - a mix between a Standard Poodle and a Labrador, but we were told he may even have some Golden Retriever in him. Hard to believe since he black as coal.

He inherited more physi­cal characteristics from his poodle than his lab parent because he has a curly coat and is expected to shed very little. He's very calm and good-natured, licking the old dog and keeping an eye out during Snowy's last days - much like Wizard. Everyone who sees him and discovers he is a Lab­radoodle of sorts comments on the personality of his kind (he's not a recognized "breed"), which they say is super friendly and trainable. So far so good. I've made him sit for his meals and he learned the command quick­ly. Less than a week since we got him, he also knows how to come - well kind of. It works about half the time. We help the dogs develop their skills by using treats and lots of positive rein­forcement of good habits. Doing his business in the right place is a big cause for celebration. Following or­ders

wins him lots of praise and often a small nibble. Hopefully, the occasional firm"no" with a gently hand around his muzzle and a hard gaze in his eyes will discourage the bad behavior, but we stay away from any­thing

harsher. Punishment and isolation do not do much for a dog's confidence or an owner's bond with him.

It's great how our fam­ily has suddenly expanded overnight. It's an emotional time for all of us, colored by the wake of losing Lucy and Snowy but also the ad­venture of new relationships. With Dizzy, it's almost a bit like Lucy has re-entered our lives. He has quite a few of her traits. He's monoma­niacal about food, likes to scratch himself behind his ears, licks you profusely at every chance and pants like her when it's hot. He may even reach her size. During the day, at work, he's just as easygoing, park­ing himself nearby and being content just to hang out. He's now been introduced to all the big sounds of Waitsburg: the semis scissor­ing

through Main Street, the noon fire alarm and the kids heading for the pool on the sidewalk.

He fits right in. Now it's a matter of me adjusting to the youngster's schedule.

His enthusiastic greet­ings quickly wear down my resistance to take him out at dawn. If not, I only need re­mind myself how Lucy was at 13 weeks. Look how she turned out.