Hey, thanks again, everybody ... I really appreciate the hugs and backpats. While we miss her, sure, we know she was a happy (though yappy) pup. It was just such a shock ... so sudden, so unlike her even to be near the road.
Last year was sorta rough on us critterwise - one of The Ponies, Miss Mouse, passed away after a brief illness in the spring, another pup, Katydog (one of our Katrina refugees) succumbed to cancer after a valiant battle - no surprise, we knew it was coming and it was very peaceful, and another pup, my bestest buddy Big Sam, was diagnosed with cancer earlier this winter, but came through a serious operation, gaining at least a few months of quality life.
Big Sam's doing pretty well, rp (back up to about 160-170 pounds), and thanks very much for asking. He and Mrs Timber were down in Madison for the weekend, visiting Mrs T's son, pregnant wife, and their pup Max - they'll be home this afternoon. Mrs T said he enjoyed the ride (no surprise there - he loves rides, as long as he gets the front passenger seat), and when they arrived he set right to work securing the neighborhood from squirrels. He also gathered up and emphatically took possession of all of Max's yard toys, which Max didn't appreciate very much.
Again, thanks all, for reminding me how lucky I am to have the fortune to know the critters that come my way, and thanks to all the critters for all the wonderful memories. For those who don't know, we take in "Problem Pups", pups local shelters deem unadoptable, and work to rehabilitate and socialize the waifs to the point they're able to adopt humans of their own. Usually, there are at least one or two of those in the pack. We belong to Wolf Resue, too, fostering wolves and wolf hybrids as well; they integrate with the pack pretty readilly, but they pretty much don't "move on" very often, since they're very "high maintenance" critters, and there really aren't a lotta folks actually capable of being adopted by them. Our feeling is there are far more bad dog owners than bad dogs.
Oh, and another pup has joined the pack; Roddy, a gangly, all legs, tail, and tongue black lab/something-with-big-floppy-ears mix about a year and a half old. He came to us from a local shelter very malnourished and way timid/spooky/unpredictable (a nervous biter/fighter with neither pup nor people skills). Over the past couple months he's put on a lot of weight, filling out into a pretty respectable dog, and has gained a whole buncha confidence, dignity, and socialization. He was a little tough on furniture at first, but that chair needed re-upholstering anyway and I was always gonna re-finish that coffee table
... He'll have no problem adopting humans of his own in a few months.
