Elmo

Sorry to keep you hanging. There just aren't enough hours in the day for someone with serious time management incompetence. I've had sick kids, a new dog, a depressed old lady, a presentation to give in another city (100 slides on a power point that I was totally unprepared to present), several "Chamois sightings" to follow up on and a leaky roof. My house is a pigsty and I don't think the leaves will get raked this fall. Fun, fun, fun :)

My Dad and I spent Saturday morning driving around the boonies (north of Debs, if you know the area) looking for 2 yellow labs that were reported to be running loose. We didn't find them, but it was a beautiful drive - very remote and the fall colors were spectacular. Obama signs were everywhere - we were deep in hippyville and it was grand :) We had another call on Tuesday that turned out not to be Chamois. Sadly, she is gone for good I'm afraid. Our pampered sweet girl better be in heaven or somewhere better. She at least deserves that much.

It rained cats and dogs here all weekend, but we still decided to have Elmo come for a trial run on Saturday. We picked her up and she was trembling in the car. She was very nervous once at our house - snapped at our other dog Abby, peed on the floor, panted and paced, tried to escape the fence, raided the dog food, stole food off the counter, etc. She lived in an outdoor kennel mostly, so we did keep her in our indoor/outdoor kennel for Saturday night (I've never kenneled a dog, this kennel came with the house). She did great overnight, but was unpredictable on Sunday. She snapped at Abby again and decided to cry, whine and yelp in the kennel the entire time we were gone for groceries (The Geet confirmed it!). I was really thinking that she was going to have to go back where she came from and I felt horrible about it. We asked her family if we could keep her again on Sunday night to give her more time to adjust. Sunday night I carried her upstairs to our bedroom - she wouldn't have anything to do with the kennel and she is scared of the stairs! She slept like a baby right next to the bed all night. Monday morning she refused the kennel again - yelped and jumped when we tried to drive away - so I took her in the car with me. I decided she was either going to have to go back to her home (kennel outdoors with no ability to run and play) or make enormous improvements. I had to leave the house two more times on Monday and decided to just leave her in the house with free reign - I had to see if she could be left alone without peeing, pooping and destroying the house. She passed with flying colors! She has been amazing ever since. I think she heard me talking to her family on the phone and telling them that she was being a stinker and might not be able to stay. She is friendly with everyone now - including Abby, loves to lay on the rug and watch the squirrels and horses outside, she paces but seems comfortable and she gives the best kisses :) She is a bit undisciplined in some ways but truly a sweetheart. It's wonderful to see her run and play and then sack out on the couch.