The Arrival of Fantastic Fred
Today marks the arrival of Fantastic Fred, the newest member of our family! He’s about five months old, and is a mix (we like the mutts) of shelty, and who knows what. He’s a great little guy — very sweet. He’s got lots of puppy energy, but unlike most puppies, he doesn’t seem to ever use those sharp puppy teeth, other than working them out on a good bone. He’s also not a big face-licker, instead going for a kind of a nuzzling thing that just feels like a nice doggy hug.
To get started in the adoption, we visited the web site of Forgotten Friends (www.mixbreedrescue.com). This is an Austin-area rescue, and they are top-notch. The care and love they give their animals is so obvious and genuine. Every animal we met was a winner, and we’re hopeful that they’ll all find good loving homes. If you’re considering an animal adoption, we highly recommend them!
While looking for a good dog to adopt, we met several we really liked. Annie was a beautiful little orange and white girl. Godiva was a brown sad-eyed dog who looked a little like a muppet (but cuter).
And then we met Fred and Archie, who are brothers from the same litter. We had introduced our dog, Sapica to all of these dogs, and the girls (Annie and Godiva), seemed to annoy her a little more than the boys. They seemed a little more ‘nippy’ whereas the boys (Archie and Fred) just wanted to hang out and play. She seemed to fit right in with both of them.
But which one? Fred is slightly thicker, and does the nuzzling thing. But Archie is a little quieter, and very affectionate. He comes right up and just climbs right in your lap for a big doggy hug. To be honest, I connected with Archie immediately. But Pica seemed to favor Fred. It wasn’t a big difference, but they just seemed to be a little more together than she and Archie. We really had a hard time deciding and even debated trying to take them both. In the end, one was a good choice, as any new animal takes some adjusting and work to make sure they’re happy and loved.
In the end, we chose Fred, mostly because of a slightly better initial interaction with Pica. I’ll probably always wonder about Archie.
Fred came to our house and Pica immediately brought him into the fold, leading him all around, and showing him how the dog door worked. The cats all showed some initial, um… ‘hesitation’ — but they seem to be slowly coming around. He is interested in them, but is constantly wagging his tail when around them, so we think it will work out fine.
Fred was naturally a big hit with the neighborhood kids, and he got lots of love from everybody who met him.
The first night was hard, as we tried to keep Fred in his crate with the door shut. Our intent was to give the cats a little Fred-free time, while he slept, but Fred was not happy in his crate, particularly with Pica right there — not in a crate. Eventually we let him out, and he and Pica went right to sleep on the floor in our room.
