Introducing Charlie

This is Charlie, our new mini-Australian shepherd. He's a year old and we got him from a rescue group in Molalla, Oregon. He was said to love other animals, be crate trained, house trained, intelligent, and friendly. He's all of those things, except I think he wants to kill all our other animals! He's still very puppyish and is quite dominant in his behavior with Aidan our Cairn terrier. They get along very well as long as they are walking and as long as they are outside. Inside I think they're going to kill one another. Cats are another story. They're all hiding in fear upstairs right now.

I really thought we were going to have to take Charlie back last night, but we started Aidan's training today and the teacher gave us some excellent advice in working out the dominance behaviors. We are to ignore Charlie for the next few days and to a certain extent we're to ignore Aidan. We are to walk them together as much as possible, because dogs bond when they walk together, or let them play outside as much as we can allow them to. Inside if they fight we're to make a very loud EH sound and clap and then leave the room. We essentially have to let them work it out. If these measures don't work in a day or two, the teacher is willing to come to the house to help us out. I feel better about everything today. She even gave us instructions on introducing the cats to Charlie.

So, hopefully I can tell you all how I really feel about Charlie in a few days. I love him to death! He is just beautiful and he moves like a rubber band. Very fast and limber. He jumped from the floor, across my legs, and to the couch today and I think he's going to be trained in agility. He definitely needs a job! Classes for Charlie may start as soon as Tuesday.

Today is my last day of a week-long vacation. We spent it looking for a dog, going to Guide Dog classes, and doing household things. Lyn finished the cork flooring (not bamboo - my mistake) and it looks beautiful. We looked at a house we liked that is closer to town, but I don't know if we can swing 2 mortgages. Oh, Lyn was stung by 2 yellow jackets on Monday evening while working in the yard. We spent 4 hours in the ER and fortunately he didn't have a serious reaction this time. We think it was because he had been taking antihistamines for about a week prior to the stings. Lyn killed the nest (that was against medical advice - don't do this!) and I think we're yellow jacket free now.

Here's another Charlie picture.