The Little Pack

When I first got Jack, he had a little rat tail. He was six months old, and I figured, that must be the way his tail would be. However, it wasn’t too long after I had Jack that I noticed the short little fur on his tail began sticking straight off his tail like tiny little feathers. He had begun to carry it up high. Over the weeks and months the fur on his tail grew until it was the longest, bushiest, border collie tail I’ve ever seen. Proof that a dog’s tail exists to express his emotions. He just needed some love and then he and his tail grew. This lesson came back to me when we adopted Cheyenne. She was a year old and she should have been mostly grown but that was not the case. Once she had a little structure and began to trust us, little feathers grew on her butt and tail. Now Dixie is proving this again—her little tail is finally starting to grow and curl again, proving that she is finally happy–and we hope healthy–again.

Dixie went to the vet tonight for follow up x-rays. She is presently stone free! We got the results from her last surgery and the stones were the same type as before, calcium oxalate stones. We have switched her to the wet food option and we are hoping that this will help. The wet food insures that she will take in more water than she would normally. This means her urine is more diluted which hopefully discourages the oxalates from sticking together. So fingers crossed, this trend continues. We made an appointment for 6 weeks out this time, and we will see. Beginning about 24 hours after the re-suturing surgery, Dixie has like been a brand new dog. She seems to feel better than she has in a long, long time and we are thrilled.

Sometimes I am convinced that Cheyenne lives solely to torture me. Tonight was one such evening. She smashed the cat out of boredom, pawed at me obsessively and actively failed to listen to me. She seems to have worn herself out and is now curled up in the smallest ball, head on a pillow, feet and legs tangled together, snoozing away. I’m betting that when it is time to go bed, she will pretend she doesn’t hear me. She will then roll over when I walk up to her as if it is some sort of punishment to sprawl out on a pillow-topped king sized bed with her own afghan. She tries this almost daily. As if we would ever give her free range of the house all night long. I can only imagine the trouble she would get herself into. So I will have 2 options: 1. Put her on a leash, yes, inside the house, and literally walk her to the bedroom, or, 2. Pick her up and carry her. Oh, the games that Shoo Shys play.

In the last week or so, the snow has melted from the yard. I am hoping it stays this way until next winter. However, I love this picture of Cheyenne racing through the snow, tongue out, all four feet off the ground, using her tail as a rudder. This is classic Cheyenne.

By now, I think we’ve established that Cheyenne is unique. One of the most surprising things about Cheyenne is that she loves, and I mean, absolutely adores, kids. If she were a lab, or easy going in the least, this would seem par for the course, but it really does not seem to fit with her high strung, stubborn, zany personality. She is not exactly a nurturer (someday I will write about her track record with small rodents) but she is a very loving dog, and her love for children must come from this side of her. She really becomes a different dog when children are around. This goofy look comes over her face and she follows them around. After the initial excitement ends, she stops leaping (and accidentally knocking them over) and gets really calm, and just follows them wherever they go. You can tell that is what she thinks she was put her on earth to do–take care of children. It is beyond sweet to watch this interaction.

Sometimes the 2 little girls across the street come to visit and play with the dogs. One day the littlest girl brought over a box that had barrettes in it. She was really excited to share this with the dogs, who were very confused as to why this would be interesting, all except for Cheyenne who innately understands the magic of little treasures. She sat there patiently, wagging her tail and was truly interested in everything this little girl had to say. This warmed my heart to say the least.

Baby Titten and sweet IO take an afternoon nap together.