state of the chihuahua address.

Let me tell you where I'm at with the little dog.

I keep telling everyone who asks that I am fostering her. I say that she was found by some friends of ours about 5 weeks ago, and that the wee little thing was running down the street dragging a leash behind her, but our friends couldn't figure out who her owner was. Since our friends seem to collect wayward dogs already (I think at present they have four..?), they couldn't manage another. We agreed to take her in for a bit, and whether she worked out here or we had to send her back, we were willing to pay for her to get to the vet, get her shots and get fixed. Teeny came for a visit a week earlier and it seemed to go okay, so we took her in Wednesday night.

Thursday I took her to the vet (how's that for a fine how-do-ya-do). She weighed in at 3 lbs 15 oz, and she was estimated to be about 18 months. She didn't have a microchip, had not been fixed, and when some of her adult teeth came in, they missed the baby teeth, so there are a few lingering teeth that should probably come out. She was also deemed to have luxating patellas (floating kneecaps). One is a Grade 2, the other is somewhere between a Grade 3 or 4, which explains the twist in her funky little walk (she's not in pain, and she has no difficulty walking, but she may as she gets older). Oh. And it was also determined that she had never had a litter, but that she had either just been in heat, or was just about to be in heat (Well, guess what. She's officially had a visit from Aunt Flo today). She had her first round of shots and will get the second round to finish the series in three weeks. The plan at that point is to also have her fixed and I am considering taking out the baby teeth while she's knocked out.

She seems to be fitting in just fine here. The cats aren't too upset by her presence, and the existing dog doesn't seem too jealous. She seems pretty smart and listens really well. I only had to tell her twice not to go near the cat food, and I haven't seen her make a single attempt since. She doesn't know any commands like "sit", but I'm going to see what I can do about that. She responds to her name, so I'm not about to change it. She walks well on the leash and doesn't have a problem with my wheelchair or crutches. My only big training issue is that she was paper trained. I'm not a big fan of that. I've been keeping a pee-pad thingy out, but she's been using it less and less and favoring the yard...in fact, she didn't use it today at all, now that I think of it.

She's super snuggly. She likes to hide under blankets, and at night she likes to sleep way under the covers. She seems pretty playful and interactive with Riley, but I think I'm going to need to reassess that once she is not longer in heat. She doesn't bark much (if at all) in the house, but is a bit more vocal when out of the house if she is feeling nervous.

I really think she's a sweetie, but if someone I trust fell in love with her and wanted to make her a nice home? I don't think I'd get in their way if they wanted to adopt her.

I aint sayin' I don't adore her. I'm just sayin' I think I am forcing myself to not get attached, is all.



Hope there aint' too many typos. I'm beat and I'm not even going to reread this LOL.
Off! To bed!! :-)