New dog

Oscar. I adopted him Monday, March 1st from the Montgomery County Animal Shelter in Conroe, TX.

He's about 20lbs, and needs about 2-3 more to be at a solid, healthy weight. He's probably about a year to two years, and is definitely a terrier. His face is very JRT like, and as he fills out, we will see if his body gets that look. But right now he's pretty narrow, with a deep chest and lanky, whereas most JRT tend to be rounder and more muscular.

Some thoughts on his confirmation:

His head is flat and the back of his head is kind of pointy, his back is slightly longer than he is tall, and his wire haired coat gets curly and stands straight up when wet (hilarious). His tail is long and muscular and when he walks he hold it straight with a slight curl upward. He has a strange gait, where his hips seem fairly wide-set and has a good wiggle when he trots.

Personality:

He gets along really well with other dogs, and LOVES to play chase. He growls a LOT in play and loves to play-bite. When he's just with me he loves to roll over on his back and wiggle around and play bite. Still learning about toys.

So far he's figuring out "sit" and "down." He definitely gets "no" and seems to fairly well understand "come." Generally if I can get his attention he will come running. This worked exceptionally well when he got loose the other night, as soon as he saw me get out of my car he stopped and looked at me. I bent down and called him and he came bounding over. He also did it several times at the dog park, where I called, knelt down and he came running.

I'm planning on crate training him, but as of yet he hasn't needed it. I still want it to be available for when maintenance comes, or other scenarios but as of yet he's been a model apartment dog. Minus the chewing up my camera cord and ironing cord, both of which happened while I was home.

I'm adjusting to having a dog again, and I feel it has been 100 times easier as a sole resident in the household. I get to be the leader, trainer, and there isn't anyone else trying to work with him. I got a head collar for him and I'll be working on walking better on the leash as soon as he gets better with wearing it. I'm just having him wear it for about 5 minutes every now and then, will probably start using it to walk him as soon as the weather gets a tiny bit better.

Side note

I decided this week I need a dog. I feel like I'm in a better groove at work. I'm financially settled enough to take on the responsibility, and I could use the companionship. So I've been browsing petfinder and I will be making a trip this week to the pound. I've emailed a few people about dogs I've seen on petfinder but I'll likely snatch one up at the montgomery county animal shelter this week. They tend to be the dogs in the greatest need, but I'm NOT going to just grab the first dog I see. I love Mae to DEATH but if I get another dog like her I will stab my eye out. I want a calmer, more obedient dog.

I'm also going friday to look at a horse to lease. He's an eighteen year old thoroughbred who needs a bit more exercise than he's currently getting. I'm under the impression he is mostly retired. The lady seems nice and he's at a dressage barn. His owner seemed very down to earth and sweet, so I'm hopeful it's going to be a laid back, fun dressage barn, not an uppity dressage queen castle.

I also removed several people from my life recently. A few more directly, but mostly from my facebook. This weekend was really hard. It finally hit me that Katie was dead. And next month is my sister's birthday, and my dad won't be here for that.

And I realized that girls I've known for 8, 10, 12 years haven't even checked in on me. One person specifically I am so incredibly disappointed in. I completely understand we all get busy and sometimes in life we lose touch (I am the worst at calling people), but I can't imagine someone I've been close with for A DECADE losing their father and their horse (or dog, or whatever), knowing that friend was very close to BOTH and doing nothing. I can't imagine not at least calling or sending a card, or flowers, or ANYTHING.

I've been fairly happy, all things considered, but I need to bring happiness into my life. I can't sit around waiting for my so-called "friends" to be there for me. Clearly, that is not going to happen.

So I'm going to make some room to go out and FIND friends that will. I've been very lucky to have some amazing friends (MaryAshley and Ellen, you two are amazing and I love you to pieces) but in order to bring happiness into my life I'm going to go out and find it. And if you can't be there for me through the tough times, you surely don't deserve to be there for the good ones!