Having Three Dogs

Having Three Dogs: A lot of elderly people have pets, and that's both a good thing and (potentially) a not-so-good thing. Having a pet can greatly reduce the loneliness that often comes with aging. A dog (or other pet) provides something (someone) to care for and about, automatically creates activities and tasks that must get done, and adds a whole lot of depth and meaning to life. And, of course, problems arise when the elderly pet owner dies, or no longer can care for her pet. One of the cats in my household arrived here because her owner went into a nursing home, leaving 4 or 5 cats homeless. I found Jezebel at a pet store, at one of those displays of pets needing adoption. Here she is:

I hope her mother and siblings found great homes, too. Jezebel is pretty happy here.

Now that my mother is (at least, for now) in a nursing home, we had to deal with the fact that she lived at her house with her dog. My first thought, when she went into the hospital, was to put him in a boarding kennel. For one thing, I was overwhelmingly busy with my mother and other stuff. For another, this dog had a habit of urinating in my mother's house, and I was sure he would do the same at my house. My mother had never really done any training with him, and she had not neutered him, either... So it seemed likely that he would come into my house and run all over the place, marking his territory and attacking the cats.

But, instead of taking him to a kennel, I brought him home, and kept him penned up where I could keep an eye on him. Bought him a crate, kept him on a leash beside me when he wasn't in the crate, made him go outside frequently with the other dogs. Pretty much like raising a puppy, except this one is 8 years old. And, miracle of miracles: he has not once urinated in my house. On one single occasion I saw him start to lift his leg, and I yelled NO!! and he put his foot back down. That was it. And, equally important (and most peculiar, for a Wire-Hair Fox Terrier), he seems to actually like the cats.

So now this household includes two cats and three dogs... Perhaps this new fellow has some surgical alteration in his future, perhaps not. He has already been bathed and groomed a couple of times, and he has new outfits (collars, leashes, tags, etc.), and a small swimming pool beside the back deck, which he loves. He lies on his side in the pool, immersing his whole body, including his face, and spins around in the water. A lot of fun for him, and a lot of fun to watch. (The other dogs ignore the pool, and this whole swimming thing he does.)

Meantime, my mother has now decided that she never really liked him, and that he never really liked her. Maybe so. She is saying she wants to "give" him to me... We'll see. So far, he's loving it here. Here's how he looks, these days (not a show dog, for sure, but a good dog):

The "original" dogs (also known as the "big dogs," Ruby and Scarlet) are not thrilled, but they are getting used to him. They are doing their best to remind him that being the only male dog does NOT necessarily mean anything, in terms of his place in the canine hierarchy. So far, he is most definitely the lowest in rank.