Dozer ...

Ok, let's clear a couple of things up here, k?

For a while now, Christine has been talking about getting another dog. Mostly, to benefit Jersey. He is a social dog, needs to be around people/other dogs all the time. He's settled down a bit, but still has a way to go. Everyone she's spoken to - e.g. vet, other dog owners, thinks that this would be a great idea. She's also been saying for quite some time that the next one will be a pound puppy, from the RSPCA. This isn't something that has been rushed into.

We've been out to the RSPCA a couple of times over the last couple of weeks or so. We found a gorgeous staffy x lab that we liked. His name was Alan, and he was a few years old, and a little bigger than Jersey. So, we did as the website suggests to do when you already have a dog at home - Christine took Jersey out to meet Alan. They didn't fight, but as Alan was bigger than Jersey, he dominated him when they played, which lead to Jersey lying down, going submissive. So, Alan was out.

We had a chat at home the other night, and figured that: a) we needed a dog roughly the same size as Jersey, or smaller, and b) we would probably need a dog either younger than Jersey, or roughly the same age. That way, he'd have someone with plenty of energy, just like him. Although we didn't really want to do the whole puppy thing again - housetraining, putting everything up so it doesn't get chewed on, etc., we figured that we survived Jersey being a pup, what's the worst that could happen?

Thursday, we went back to the RSPCA. The sad thing is, they get 15 - 20 new dogs every few days. Honestly, some people should be shot. I'm sure some give their dogs away as a last resort, but most seem to be dumped, or are strays that no one bothers collecting. I guess the only positive is that their are also people who are always willing to take in pound puppies.

So again, we went and had a look. And, two cages from the end, was this tiny bundle of fur. His name was Blaze, and he was a Rottie cross. One of the RSPCA volunteers said that they thought he was actually purebred, but they couldn't say for sure. He was a stray, with no tags and he wasn't microchipped. I put my fingers through the cage, and he started chewing away on them. He was gorgeous.

So, we turned around and went home again to get Jersey. On the way home, we discussed whether we really wanted a puppy or not - could we really handle all the responsibilities of having a little pup? And we decided that if Jersey and the pup got along, then yes, we could.

Jersey and Blaze got along beautifully when we let them have a run together. Jersey needs to be a little more gentle with the pup, but he wasn't bothered when Blaze would run and jump on his head, or lick his feet. So, we decided to go for it. We signed the paperwork, sorted out a day to pick up him up (after he's been microchipped and desexed) and sadly said goodbye to the little guy. On the way home, we discussed renaming him, as he doesn't know his name yet. Christine came up with Dozer, so Dozer it is.

So, anyway. We went out to the RSPCA today to hang with him for a little while. Jersey and Dozer had a run around for a while, which was good. I hope now that the people who left comments can see that this isn't something that we've rushed into. We didn't just pick out Dozer on a whim, because he was cute, without thinking things through. Neither Christine or I are like that. We know that he's going to pee (or "puddle", as one dog training book we got from the library yesterday called it ... How delicate!) in the house. He'll chew and destroy stuff that we like, and that's ok too. He and Jersey will, at some stage, fight. And we'll deal with it. We're ready for whatever those dogs want to throw our way ... :-)

And that, should be the end of that!