That little charmer, Brandi, was adopted this past weekend. She went to a family with two young girls, no other dogs. I told the Mom - "Brandi is a player, she will keep those two girls entertained." As I watched them walk out of the store, the Mom stopped and held a sweater up to see how it would look on Brandi. I thought to myself "Brandi, your life has just taken a definite turn for the better". ...and then I thought about how jealous Geni would have been if she could have seen that sweater.

Geni is such a delicate little "girly girl". I swear, if they made lip gloss for dogs, Geni would not leave the house without having her gloss on and her hair done. I told JoAnne - no kids for Geni. Geni is hand shy. I'm not sure why, but when you reach down for her, she backs up and goes the other way. You can snap a leash on her and lead her but you can't reach down and pick her up. To scoop her up, you need to come at her from the side instead of leaning over her. She is such a cuddler and claims my feet each night on the bed. Geni would like a sweater -- I don't think Brandi could care less about having a sweater but Geni would want to try on the whole selection to see which one looks the best on her.

Geni is doing OK at my house. Geni came from a home where she had been the only (doted on) dog since she was six weeks old - Geni is now eight years old. Coming to a house with two other dogs, two cats and a lot of activity has been a definate adjustment for Geni ...and this new pup is a complete trial for her.

The pup is about 5-6 months old, 56 lbs., male and full of energy but he isn't very coordinated yet. When he and Bradi would run down the hall, sweet little Geni would be right in their way and while Brandi swerved around Geni, that pup either jumped over her (still at a dead run) or slammed into Geni which sent her flying about three feet. Either way, Geni would get back on her feet with all her little feathers ruffled and growl and mutter at him -- she is part Husky and she is very vocal and talks/sings under her breath a lot. Anyway, that pup would fling a look back over his shoulder like "Huh? Well, get out of my way!!!" and not even be sorry. Geni (17 lbs.) only tried to discipline him once but he flattened her pretty quick and she squealed - which brought Luna running and Luna flattened the pup who then turned on Luna to defend himself and the next thing you know, I had a free-for-all in the house. Fortunately, it has only happened once. I sat everyone down and gave them a firm talking too and so far, the peace has held.

I did take the pup walking in an area close to me that dogs can run off leash but I didn't release him because I'm not sure he would come back to me just yet. However, there was a man there with his dog, Jack, and he asked if the pups could play so I let the pup off leash because I was pretty sure he would stay with Jack. Sure enough, they ran and played like crazy. The gentleman watched that pup play with Jack. The pup doesn't really run, he bounds like a deer. The gentleman turned to me, gave me a big grin and said "BOXER--what a beautiful dog!!" I don't have much experience with Boxers but I took another look at the pup. He has long legs and a deep chest, narrow hips and folded ears. His coat has short hair and is brindle colored. His nose is too long and slender for a Boxer, but he certainly bounds instead of running. I asked JoAnne what she thought and she said she could see Boxer but from the side, his profile looks more like a hound. From full on, his face looks like a Pit. His gums have black spots like a Dalmation. He is clearly a mix of many :-). He is good natured and calm. When he and Brandi would play chase, he would roll over and lay on his back and wave his paws lazily in the air while Brandi wailed on him. She would grab his cheek/jowl and tug with all her 20 lb might. The pup would lay there. She would leave the cheek/jowl and grab some loose under-arm skin and tug on that. The pup would lay there. Then, when he was ready to run again, he would turn his head, put it under Brandi's tummy and casually toss her about two feet - then he would leap up, and whoosh, they were off and running again.

Unfortunately, the pup has discovered my cat. He has a very strong prey drive and will chase ANYTHING - squirrels, cats, leaves etc. He is a very alert, athletic, muscular young dog. He will need someone with an active lifestyle or someone with another young dog so the two of them can tire each other out. Geni is ready for him to leave.

It is just a fact that stray dogs that are turned into a shelter are on a three day hold before something is done - either they are adopted or sent to a different shelter. Rescue organizations, however, if they accept a stray, must keep the dog on a 30 day hold to give the owner time to find the animal. I have listed the pup as many places as I can think of but ... we will probably put him up for adoption right after Christmas.

Luna has done amazingly well with all the activity. I took her out for a walk on Saturday -just the two of us - umm, it was a great walk and she really loved it. Luna likes the pup and has started playing with him - not too much yet but I think they will get there eventually.