Monday, April 1, 2013

New Addition

I haven't been blogging very much in the past couple of months, a fact which was recently pointed out to me by my better half.  With the changes at work and a recent addition to our little family, there has not been much time for reading books or writing about them.  A month ago we adopted a rescue dog and our change in lifestyle and her adaptation to our household took up a lot of spare time.  


For some time, I had been lobbying to get a dog, much to the chagrin of my significant other. I insisted that if we adopted a dog, I only wanted a dog from a local rescue organization. Onyx, our two year-old Staffordshire Terrier, came to live with us about a month ago on a trial basis. We don't really know all that much about her past, just that she was found as a stray in Los Angeles and picked up by animal control before being rescued by a California organization. Before we had chosen Onyx, I went through a number of websites for animal shelters in California, looking for the perfect pooch, and the amount of pitbulls and chihuahuas were staggering.  Onyx's foster mother said that one in every six pitbulls in California ends up in a shelter at some point in their lives, and chihuahuas have simply been overly bred.  

We were both happy with Onyx and decided to see if she would be a good fit for us as a couple.  Along the way, moments of frustration and tears transpired in a way that I was definitely not prepared for, as Onyx dealt with terrible separation anxiety and I felt guilty for putting her through it.  She also fears a particular type of dog and this stems from the fact that she has been attacked twice in the last few months.  We live in a city where people will often walk their dogs off-leash if given the opportunity and there are dog owners who should not be taking advantage of lax leash laws.  Due to her fear of dogs with that puppy-like bouncy energy, we are cautious and walk our dog with a mesh muzzle.  Though this is a preventative measure and Onyx is a sweetheart 99% of the time, you would not believe the wide berth that other dog owners give us when they see what to the naked eye appears like a small pitbull wearing a muzzle.  


Whatever the stigma is, I am happy to have her and will work on correcting some of her more troubling behaviours.  And I have to cut this blog entry short, because someone needs a belly rub! 

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