Our family grew from 2 humans and 3 dogs to 2 humans and 4 dogs (not counting my nephew that takes up residence most of the time). The boys now outnumber the girls 2 to 1, but the girls still rule the roast. A week back, my wife saw a dog tied out on a tree not very far from where we lived. He looked lot like the dog we lost 4th of July last year. Last Saturday, my wife could not take it anymore and went up to him to pet. He greeted her with a few barks, but wagging tail. My wife knocked on the door a couple times, but no one answered. So she proceeded to pet the dog, which the dog really enjoyed. After a few minutes, the resident of the house came out. My wife explained to him that we had a dog that looked just like him and we were so sorrowful to see him go - he was our baby. My wife could not keep her tears off. The owner of the house told us the dog belonged to his grandmother that passed away 3 months ago. They were to keep the dog temporarily, but became a permanent thing because of her passing. They do not know what to do with him because they are not a dog people. The dog is already 13 years old and they are just waiting for him to die. Although, he looked pretty healthy. He then offered my wife that if she wants, she can keep the dog. Ofcourse, my wife jumped on the opportunity and said YES ! She brought the dog home and I got a big surprise for Father's day ! She knocked on the back door for me to come out and I happen to let all the other three dogs out! For a moment we were scared how it will go, but it went very well. The dog is very mild mannered. He and the other two males got off on a good start. Our female, Lexi, who is the alpha let him know it is her way or the high way. He seemed to immediately take the cue and stay away from her. His name is Ozzy and he is already trained. He is very loving unlike Cooper, our oldest - well Ozzy will take that crown now - Cooper is only 7. Ozzy has the same whitish color and pink skin as Chaundon that died last year. His temperment is also the same. But his ears are not floppy like Chaundon was. Came to find out, Ozzy is actually a Westie instead of a Cairn. Our other dogs are Cairn. There is really not a difference between Westie and Cairn, except their coloring. The white cairns are called Westies or West Highland Terrier. Chaundon was an unusual cairn though as he had floppy ears instead of straight up ears as most cairns do.
Ozzy is getting a lot of love from us and is getting along very well with the other dogs - except with Lexi ofcourse - he stays away from her. But to our surprise, Lexi is very tolerant of him. Only one time did she got on him for getting to close to her food bowl. Other than that, she does not seemed to be bothered by him. This is very different than when we got our 3rd dog, Shep, who happened to be one of Lexi's own pup. For weeks we had to endure bloody fights until she prevailed, inspite of being the smaller of the two (who says tenacity does not pay!). And it was not like Shep was looking to pick a fight. She just was on him all the time - charging him just because he barked at something; jumping on him just because he got too close. Boy! that was an ordeal. I guess we were not quite prepared for that. Anyway, back to Ozzy, we are so happy to have him - he is such a delight. We know it may not be long before we have to say goodbye to him, but for the time he got left, he will have a good life. And I am sure his previous momma is watching out for our little Chaundon as we are watching out for him.
