A day’s work

If you missed Friday’s post, we found a little pug/Boston terrier that we dubbed “Little Gremlin.”

I spent the day after we found Little Gremlin calling tons of vets offices and shelters to report the found dog.  There was one clinic nearby, but the rest were pretty much in a giant circle 8-10 miles away in four different counties.  Oh, the perks of finding a dog in a rural area near county lines!  The shelter nearest to us is over a county line and actually could not permit me to file a found report since the dog was not found there.  I had contacted our rescue for advice on which shelter to take him if needed, and was told it was probably the one in the county where he was found – if they’re able to take an animal we find, they typically let us know.  They’ve currently been dealing with some sick puppies and trying to pull litters of kittens from the shelter.

A scan at the vet found no microchip, but resulted in lots of cooing over Little Gremlin by everyone who worked there.  One of the employees (who are all Gambit’s favorite person ever) put me in contact with another client who runs a rescue.  She knew the rescue coordinator at the shelter where we’d need to take Little Gremlin.  The rescue coordinator swore up and down that he’d been adopted out through them but we couldn’t find a microchip or tattoo, so things had to be done the long way by digging through records.  Apparently, besides migrating, microchips occasionally fall out through the insertion site.  Gambit is definitely getting his scanned the next time we’re at the vet to make sure it’s still in place.

Unfortunately, by the end of the business day, Little Gremlin was still in our apartment.  We continued to work with Eddie with the strategy of kibble falling from the sky for behaving appropriately.  We also did a few short walks that started with the dogs across the street from each other and kibble continuing to fall from the sky for Eddie.  Then we’d move them closer together slowly as we monitored Edwin’s comfort level until they were about 6-8 feet apart.  They also walked one in front of the other.

Once we got back to our front yard, we’d hang out for a few minutes with them at a short but comfortable distance.  The dogs ignored each other, but both had relaxed, happy body language and expressions.  An A++ for Edwin, who we’ve reconfirmed can do well with gradual introductions with both dogs on leashes.

Indoors, we realized Eddie wasn’t ready to be in the same room as Little Gremlin with both of them being loose.  He was immediately fine with Gambit and Rusty when we brought him home, but he also had time to get used to them while on crate rest for his worms.  He’d occasionally forget that he was on tolerant terms with Little Gremlin and start making some noise.  Fortunately, as soon as we started our next walk, he’d remember that the little guy wasn’t so scary after all.

The point where it began to get difficult was in the evening.  At this point, Eddie hadn’t had free run of the apartment for a day and had been crated or leashed for the vast majority of that day.  He was so very bored and started barking out of boredom.  At least we can recognize his reactive vs. bored noises, right?

Edwin was pretty intent on not being distracted or diverted from his boredom.  Despite the frigid temperatures most of this spring and early summer, it was one of the days that was too warm to close the bedroom off from the air conditioning so he could have free reign of the room.  Oh, and he was also convinced that we were trying to starve him since the majority of his food was coming out of his treat bag throughout the day and only a tiny bit was going in his BFF Big Yellow Ball or Squirrel Dude.  Sorry, bud, you can’t eat 3 cups of kibble and 3 cups of treats in one day.

With no solid leads on Little Gremlin’s owner and our inability to keep the little guy for his entire stray holding period, we needed to figure things out quickly.

Advertisement