The Fourth Dog
When Kathryn and I met in 2012, she had just one dog, Margo. Margo was shy of me at first, but gradually trust built, and she would come when I called and walk with me, with or without a leash. We played Margoball, a game in which Kathryn and I would stand at some distance in a park and take turns calling Margo. Margo ran to each of us in turn, revealing speed you would not have guessed she had from her normal behavior. Margo was the ball in Margoball.
At first, when I played guitar and sang, Margo would leave the room. I think it was more fear than musical criticism, because eventually she overcame it and stayed. Normally a silent dog, Margo learned to sing along to “Home on the Range.”
Incidentally, I looked up the original lyrics to Home on the Range for a music night. I looked on a lyrics site, and found three verses. I see on the link to Wikipedia above that they were neither original nor complete. It seems as if between 1873 and 1910, verses were added, and lyrics changed, as happens with popular songs. I see now the original was not innocent to modern sensibilities, but long ago the song became a virtual anthem of white male supremacy. Now we teach it in elementary school, but only the first, unoffensive verse.
After Kathryn and I moved into a house together, she found another dog who needed a home. We thought it would be temporary, but Sheep fell in love with Margo. He came with that awkward name, but soon grew out of wild puppy-hood into a well-behaved and mostly quiet dog. He only barks to tell us someone is at the front door, and when the phone rings and we didn’t answer it. Our pattern of male dogs that seem feminine and female dogs that seem masculine is established.
Sadly, Margo died young at age 11. Kathryn started keeping an eye out for a companion for Sheep. She soon came across an online offer of a litter of puppies. Rather than just taking one, she found out that it was the second litter of a young, small breed mother dog. She offered to help place all the puppies under the condition that she be allowed to help get the mother spayed. She placed four puppies, and made sure that they all got their shots and were neutered. We ended up with a third dog, Megan. Megan has all the bounce of a puppy, but she and Sheep get along very well. As she approaches two years of age, she is calming down a bit. She is the only one of our dogs who likes to play fetch. She likes her bone shaped pillow toys for this game.
During the Covid-19 lock-downs, the animal shelters emptied out. People took in dogs and cats for companionship. Unfortunately, as regular activity restarted, many people returned those pets to the shelters. Kathryn decided we could take on a third dog, but wanted no more puppies. She liked the idea of adopting a dog that was so old she would be hard to place. And that is how we got a third dog, Paisley, so named by the shelter, since she was a stray. Paisley is nine years old, our smallest dog, and a real sweetheart.
We were just fine with three dogs. There was no need or desire to add another, especially not a male. However, the online pleas for help struck again. A citizen nearby asked if someone could take a dog to save it from going to the shelter. We want to help, but we don’t want to end up with four dogs long term. He is roughly one to two years old and is housebroken. We will see to getting him fixed and chipped, and check out anyone who wants to adopt him. He is very sweet and gets along well with the other dogs. He needs to learn not to bother the cat.
Kathryn tried a bunch of names on him, and he seemed to accept “Francis”, but Kim thought that would make him hard to adopt. Becky suggested “Harpo”, so I’m going with that for now.
We really don’t want to keep four dogs. Being so badly outnumbered makes walking them more challenging, and then there’s the cat issue. Looking to find the new guy a good home.
