Time Will Tell

 The week is coming to a close. I have mastered the feeding schedules of the grand dogs. Each one has individual needs and supplements. Max, the old guy is easy. Just put his food and water in his bowls and he will take care of it. The Frenchies? Well, Bowie is a fast eater and just as fast about taking care of his elimination needs. As soon as he is out the door and off the stoop, he pees. The grass is very dead there.

As soon as Bowie eats and does his business, he goes back into the kennel while Bruno eats. Bruno likes to take his time, often stepping away from his bowl to walk about and sniff various things. To keep him on task, all I have to do is walk toward his food and he runs back over. Max has to be sequestered in the master bedroom while all this is happening. All three are food aggressive. (My dogs all eat from the same bowl and drink the same water, if they fight, they get in trouble with me. They have learned to co-exist).

Bruno and Max get along and can be out together. Bruno will try to play with Max. If Max is feeling good, he will play, if not he will simply ignore Bruno's attempts. On the other hand, Bowie is just plain aggressive. He will attack Max and Bruno, unprovoked. He is the youngest, so who knows what he must be remembering from another life? Of course that would not fly at my house. Bowie would be punished a lot! I say that, but my Oscar was a little demon, and I loved him so much.

Yesterday, I was ready to feed Bowie and asked the man holding Max to remove Max from the room. In his infinite wisdom, he decided to simply hold Max. Bowie is smart and knew he could take an old man down. He jumped onto the couch where Max was calmly sitting in his Papa's lap and tried to get to Max. Who knew I could move so fast? I was in the kitchen and flew to the back of the couch and tried to hold onto Bowie by his hind legs and yelled at my husband to STAND UP and take Max to safety.

The man did not hurry, ignoring the urgency in my voice. Bowie bit his arm. He did finally get Max to the bedroom, then we had to tend to his arm. He takes a blood thinner, so he bleeds impressively. I was worried about the white sofa and the light-colored rug on the floor. I could tell it was not emergent. I was probably hurting worse from wrestling that strong and willful dog.

So, it happened and I handled it. But Adrienne saw it on the Ring camera, so she calls and asks me why I would let Bowie out when she told me how aggressive he was. I didn't even have to put her on speaker to yell at her dad! She called today and asked if maybe her dad would listen to me when I told him to put Max in the other room. I said exactly what I was thinking "time will tell".

When Gavin moves out, Bruno is his dog and will be going with him. His mom suggested that he take Max, as well. He refused, so now she wants ME to take Max home with me. I love Max. He is the tiny puppy I rescued from a box of puppies headed to the shelter. He was solid white, like Wall-E, Gavin's first dog that we took because they couldn't have him in the apartment. So, I got Max for Gavin, then Gavin's mom fell in love with Max. There will never be another dog like Wall-E.

As much as I love Max, I have to consider my 3 dogs. They would have to accept Max before I would even consider it. Not only that, all my dogs are black and Max is white. I am not racist, but Max sheds as much as Tony Louise and my wardrobe is suitable for black dogs shedding!

I hate to think of sweet Max all alone in a bedroom all day while Bowie gets to have all the interaction with the humans. Not only that, but Max is also a senior citizen of the canine variety. At 14, he will eventually need that special last trip to the vet. That will break my heart. Oh, it will break my heart when it happens, no matter where the dog lives.

Tomorrow Max will have a meet and greet with my dogs. Time will tell .......