"Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" [or Pooh!]

He isn't really named Boo, he doesn't yet have a settled name. He's a wee dog who husband's elder son found wandering, a few weeks ago, one freezing morning, in the snow. In ensuing days and weeks he and his wife tried every possible way to locate his owner: enquiring of all the vets in town, the shelter, the boarding kennels, neighbours, adverts. Nothing! The local dog shelter advised a wait of 10 days before deciding whether son-in-law wished to keep the dog. They had, just before Christmas, lost a long-beloved pet Jack Russell, aged into her teens. They had declared, "Never again!" And then, just weeks later.....

We can only surmise that the wee dog had escaped from, or was abandoned by someone driving through town. He has, indeed, proved to be something of a 'runner', if ever he sees a chance of escape. He has a strange combination of traits: he's ultra clingy and affectionate, wants to be with us, around us all the time even though we haven't known him for very long, but still, he'd bolt and run given the chance. He has tried it, both from here and from his new home with son-in-law and family. He's a hybrid, definitely one part Chihuahua, his head is unmistakably that; the other half could be either Corgi or Mini-Pinscher.


Anyway...long story short: son-in-law and wife have gone skiing in New Mexico for 5 days, and we are dog-sitting - though in our own home rather than in theirs; our homes are just a short distance apart.

I'm calling the dog "Pooh" for now - Pooh Dog, after A.A. Milne's Pooh Bear. Guess why? Yep, probably due to anxiety and nerves, not long after his new "humans" had driven off, he pooped in husband's office/den. It happened again later on, and again this morning - in the living room this time. We take him out in the back yard often - it's a nice big open grassy space with a pasture behind - but he's not into pooping there, as yet. He did try an escape though. He had woofed to "ask" to go out, yesterday morning, so I let him out into the backyard without realising that we had a visitor there : the pest control guy, who had had opened the back gate. Pooh had heard something going on, woofed to go out and - quel horreur! Pooh flew! Panic central! The nice young pest control guy realised what had happened, ran to his truck and followed the direction in which we'd seen Pooh disappearing. He was soon back with the little rascal, who had covered quite a bit of ground in the streets around ours. He has a peculiar gait when running - more akin to leaps and bounds, possibly due to his disproportionately long body. Pooh is so generally sweet natured and friendly that he went straight to the young pest control guy, came back with him quite happily.

This is going to be an adventure and a half!