Adoption

"Back off, Butt Sniffer." Dixie bared a couple of teeth and snarled. She was white with black markings like a heeler, and had a face like a beagle. All 24 pounds of her was annoyed enough to cause Carl to back up, but only a step.

"Hey look, Mom put a shoe out for us!" Carl raced to the door, looked inside just in case Mom wanted to open it, then picked up the gardening shoe and took it back to Dixie. "Here, you get the other side and try to drag me." Dixie eyed Carl's 55 pounds and wished again that he'd go home. He had brown and white short hair, the strength of his pit bull momma, and the temperament of his lab daddy. His long bony tail wagged all the time. She wondered if he'd get sent away when the mangled shoe was discovered, and decided a good tug of war game with it would be a good idea.

Carl really was a good sport, pulling her across the deck, then making it just hard enough for her to pull him back, and they were having a good time when Dixie heard a noise at the door. She let go and backed a safe distance away, sitting to watch Carl turn to the opening with a shoe strap dangling from his mouth.

"Carl, no!!" Hearing Mom's voice, Carl dropped the shoe and ran to her, burying his face in her leg. Oh boy, now he'd have to go home. Wait, what? She was petting him.

"It's ok this time, Boy. I shouldn't have left them outside. That's one's ruined now, so I guess you may as well take the other one." The matching shoe sailed out across the deck into the yard, and Dixie watched in disgust as Carl bounded after it.

Dixie decided to play the door game with Mom while the big dog was occupied. She got there just in time to slip inside before the door closed. Turning three circles on the rug, she plopped and waited until Mom settled into the chair, signaling the start of the game. Then Dixie jumped up, raked a paw on the door, and sat. "Dixie do you really need to back out this quick?" Yay, Mom was playing! The door opened and Dixie stepped out and around the corner, turning immediately around and coming back to watch as Mom sat down. Then she scratched at the glass door. But instead of the door opening, she heard Mom say from the other side of the glass, "Garage!" Darn. Another game Carl had ruined.

When he first came to stay, Carl had great big accident, right there in the house. Dixie felt sorry for him when Mom loaded him up in the car and took him away. He'd disrupted her whole routine, but he wasn't a bad pup. When Carl came back with Mom, Dixie was less sympathetic, but she could tell he was pretty sick. Mom got different food for them, and even started cooking for them. The brown rice with scrambled eggs was her favorite, and since he wouldn't eat it Dixie got double treats. Whenever Carl came in, his belly made loud noises and he'd run back to the door to get out again. Finally, Mom had a new door put in just so he could get outside fast enough. It was pretty great going in and out whenever they wanted, but Dixie really missed the door game she used to play with Mom. Now when she knocked, Mom just said "garage" to remind her she could come in through the garage.

Snorting in disgust, Dixie went into the garage and found that Carl had emptied both his bowl and hers already, and the water looked disgusting again. What did he do, spit crumbs in it every time he took a drink? When he wasn't sick, he ate everything in sight. She trotted into the house and jumped up to put her paws on Mom. This got her some pets and coos, but she needed food! She dropped down and jumped up again a few times to get her point across. She'd heard there were smart people, but hers was always slow to understand even the simplest of commands. Finally, the words came, "Do I need to fill up your bowl again? Yuck! Here, let me wash this bowl and get you some new water."

Thirst quenched and hunger satisfied, Dixie hopped on her plush bed and turned around three times, tamping it down just the right amount to sleep the afternoon away. She was so tired. Dixie used to sleep with Mom but now Carl had her up barking all night. She sighed and closed her eyes.

"Switch with me. Please? I want your bed. Please? Please? Please?" Carl was sitting right next to her bed whining. She pretended not to hear him.

"I want in that bed. Come on, please? Please? Please?" His whines now sounded like a cross between a howl and a yawn as he inched closer.

"Get in the other bed." She snapped and dozed off again.

"I have to have this one. I just really need to be in that bed. Please?" Now he had Mom's attention too. She saw he wasn't in pain and laughed. "Carl, leave Dixie alone."

He outlasted her. Finally, Dixie got up, snarled at him, and took two steps forward to the identical plush bed next to hers. Carl happily curled up and was asleep before she could get her three circles turned and her new spot properly tamped down, growling, "Pups!"

Mom was coming down the hallway in shoes! She was wearing shoes, so she must be going for a w-a-l-k! With all that cold white stuff on the ground, it had been forever since Mom had taken them out of the yard. Dixie raced to greet her and stake a claim on being the first to go. Carl figured out what was happening and stood with his nose on the front door. Mom kept trying to get Carl to go out into the backyard so she could harness up Dixie, but he wouldn't budge. She tried next to send Dixie outside so Carl could walk first but Dixie knew better. They couldn't both go, somebody had to stay home, and it wasn't going to be her. With neither dog willing to let the other one go first, they were at a stalemate. Dixie knew that pretty soon Mom would give up trying to separate them and would leave both of them at home, so she had to get Carl out of the way.

Barking in the house would get her a "No!" but it had to be done for this w-a-l-k to happen. She alerted at the back door, letting out a deliberate growl/bark, then errupted into a frenzy to get out. "Squirrel! Bird! Deer! Coyote! Stray dog! CAT!" Jumping up and down, she barked until Carl got excited and Mom came to look. Mom opened the door and Dixie slow-raced outside, letting Carl overtake her and leap from the deck. Then she turned and made it back inside before Mom closed the door behind him and walked quietly to the front door. Mom laughed and put a harness on her. "One of these days he'll figure that trick out, you know". Dixie really hoped he wouldn't be staying long enough for that.

After Dixie's walk, Mom harnessed up Carl and took him to the park. As they were coming back down the street Dixie saw the squirrel tease him, then she could hear Mom saying "No, Carl. Leave it! Heel! Don't pull! Walk beside me. No!" Carl finally gave up on the squirrel and Dixie saw him pick up something from the ground before he settled back in next to Mom.

When Mom dropped the harness Carl went straight out the back to the deck with the chew toy he'd found. It smelled like another shoe! Dixie tried to grab it but he had almost the whole thing in his mouth and took off running. Then Dixie saw Mom coming and barked at him to hide it. Ever since they'd come back from the vet talking about "digestive issues", Mom wouldn't let Carl eat anything she didn't cook. Dixie tried to take the toy and hide it for him, but he ran right up to Mom and dropped it on her foot.

"What's this?" Mom picked up the brown chew toy with two fingers. It had black stuff from the road mixed with Carl drool dripping from teeth marks in it. Dixie barked and tried to take it back. "Let me have it!" But as usual, Mom didn't understand the command and just said "Down."

Dixie watched her open up the chew toy and look inside, then start talking to that phone thing. "Yes, I'm calling to report a found wallet. It's got money in it, but no identification. Yes, I can wait here."

Dixie went back to plotting ways to get rid of Carl, and was startled when a car pulled into the driveway. Carl ran to the door barking that high-pitched puppy bark and she growled in disbelief. How could he look like a pit bull and sound like a chihuahua? It was up to her to protect. Mom had to be warned! "Someone is at the door! Company! Burglar! Intruder! Treats? Someone is -" the dog whistle cut through the noise.

Mom opened the door to a policeman, and both dogs charged him! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Carl's long tail swung back and forth, hitting everything in reach, including Dixie. The man just reached down to pet Carl while he talked to Mom. "I'll take it to the station and we'll try to find the owner. After a period of time, if no one claims it, somebody will call you to claim it." He pulled out a little black notebook and a pen. "Can you spell your name for me, Ma'am, and give me your phone number?"

Mom seemed pretty excited to get her name in that little black book, but Dixie was getting bored and went back to working on getting Carl out of there. She waited until he went out the back door and started a play fight. "Come on, just try to get me you big idiot!" She nipped and backed away and came back for more, watching for Mom to get out of sight. Then she started barking and screaming, "Stop! Get back! I'm dying, you're killing me, don't eat me!" Carl backed off and watched her warily as she continued to cry and wail and growl and bark at him until Mom came racing out to save her.

"No, Carl! No No! Dixie, are you okay? You poor thing, you're so scared. It's okay, come inside and get a treat." Finally! Dixie was sure it wouldn't take long to get Carl kicked out now. He hung his head and she aimed a satisfied yip at him as Mom carried her into the house. She basked in the glow of success until a neighbor popped in and told Mom, "You know, I was outside while ago and saw the dog fight. It wasn't much of a fight, they were at least ten feet apart the whole time Dixie was crying." Mom thought it was funny and didn't get mad, but that trick never worked again.

Dixie didn't give up, but it wasn't her plotting that sent Carl away. A cat got too close to their boundary, and Carl took off after him. There was a yelp of pain as he blew over the underground fence and kept going all the way to the cat's house. Mom found him and brought him home, but the next day the cat was back, and the chase was on again. Carl ended up in doggie jail that time. When Mom picked him up again he had to stay next door in the chain link fence, but he figured out how to escape when the cat came back to tease him. He went back to doggie jail and Dixie was okay with that, until it started looking like he might not come out. Mom was trying to find him a new person. Dixie heard her talking on the phone: "They won't let me have him back unless I can guarantee he'll be confined"..."Since he's gotten complaints, they'll put him down if they pick him up again"... "You live in the country, can you take him? Yes, I understand"... "He's already gotten out the fence next door, it would take a taller one and they're so expensive"..."

Carl's prospects were looking pretty grim, when Mom got a call with good news. They were getting their chew toy back! Mom seemed a little too excited about it, and Dixie hoped she'd remember it was a dog toy and give it back. Dixie wasn't sure what that had to do with Carl, but Mom went and got him back too. Pretty soon men showed up and built a fence around the whole back yard. It looked like the one next door only a lot taller.

Once the fence was done and the men were gone, Mom sat on the deck steps and took off their boundary collars, massaging all over their necks. Carl was chewing on his wallet and Dixie thought about taking it from him, but Mom was still rubbing her and it felt too good to move away. Dixie sneezed and resigned herself to keeping him. He was still annoying, but at least they got extra bedtime treats when he was there. Dixie had noticed Carl's had little pink lumps. Mom called them benedryl treats and said it was for his allergies. Dixie heard her tell the phone it also kept him from staying out and barking all night.

Mom leaned against a post petting both of them while he chewed on his wallet. "Well, Carl, you've been a huge expense since you arrived, but you sure made up for it finding that wallet. I guess bringing me twenty thousand dollars ought to earn you a nice fenced yard where you can live out your days."