Got 4 More Just Like Her Back Home!

   
   

     To say the least, Roz is a show stopper...
     Take a big white dog sporting a bright pink vest down any hallway and in no time she's holding court, working to both protect total strangers (who don't know they're being herded) while learning to allow them to mussy-up her face in her "Pet Me I'm A Therapy Dog" career move...

     But the funniest (and most consistent) response is when we pull out the phone to start bragging on the others...

     Number 1 question asked:
     "What kind of dog IS she?"
    (Answer: Great Pyrenees)
     Second question: "How much does she weigh?" (Answer: 75 pounds as of her last vet visit; she's gained at least 5 since we've been here...)

     But the eyes really pop open when I say "But she's just a puppy...Just 8 months old...she's FAR from full grown~"

     And in our never-ending efforts to educate the world on matters of Pyrenees dogs with goat-herding talents while introducing one that leapt off the farm to start her own career as a therapy dog, we can't help but laugh
                                                     ..........at Hix's big head!

(Seen here the day I left...Don't you KNOW these Shepherd people are grateful I didn't tote him in for training!)

     Nope. Some things are best left alone...
     Like Hix...back on the farm with the kids ...
     (After all, somebody's gotta watch out for those wiley coyotes!)

Hilarious or Pathetic--You Decide

     Lest this blog become all wheelchairs/all the time, I thought you might like an update on the world back at home as I remember it, because in truth, I could not be here were it not for the friends and neighbors who moved in like a swat team so that I could be here with my brother as he goes through rehab for his spinal cord injury...
     Never was a point more driven home than last night when I received this picture on my phone just about the time I was taking Roz for her last evening stroll...

     <----In case you can't tell, it's Hix (brother of Rosebud, uncle of Roz)...sitting high atop a couple of nailed-together worker staircases, once used by builders completing my barn loft, (and later removed and reassembled as a goat playground...thanks to Builder Eric who spotted: "Hey, I bet the kids'll love this!" (thus hammering two ratty-tatty sets of worker steps together as a climbing euphoria for my 18 pygmy kids) Leave it do Digital Dave to snap the pic end of week as Hix surveys his kingdom. (Clearly Hix ain't sharing his thrown with no stinkin' goats.)

     [For the record, people stop to pet Roz non-stop throughout the day here in Atlanta, whether we're in dog parks, restaurants or hospital corridors. Those very same people marvel when I tell them  a) she's only a puppy (7 months old),  hence half the size she's gonna be and b) we got 4 more just like her back home...First of many "hilarious or pathetic" options...We'll let you decide...]

     Funnier yet...our same Saturday night, with Roz as my dinner date...(she, having scarfed a bowl of puppy chow, me, sharing my pizza with the security guard who let our delivery driver in)--Ed's wife Kim had arrived earlier in the day, leaving me with a happy brother and a mutt to share my evening with...the ultimate girl's night in!) My last "to do" before pulling out the monkey jams and slathering a mud mask on my face while curling up to a mindless Lifetime Original) was to head out one last time with Roz, to the corner lot where they leave pink baggies for your doggie's poo...

     The night is still young....a perfect sunset (they come later here). The sky was this hazy, pastel pallet of pinks and blues. As it turns out, Roz was in no mood for pooping (no good way to paint that picture...sometimes she's in the zone...other times not...This time, there was too much to distract her...from trains on trestles, trafficky street noises and a karaoke bar just across the way...)
     I check in with home, prompted by the hilarious Hix picture on my phone...just as Roz decides to become part of the perfectly manicured horticulture surrounding the statue in front of our rehab place. "No Roz...Not there!" I'm whispering loud enough for fellow passersby to laugh...(She's not pooping, mind you...She's plopped herself smack dab in a sea of ground cover and begins to wallow as if swimming...Something about the ivy tickling her butt, I guess...Now I'm tickled.)
     "You gotta see this dog" I say to the other end of the line. (Being inept at the techy stuff, my counter, staying with Rosebud (Roz's mama) et al, will have to FaceTime me, lest we get disconnected.)
     As I reverse the camera, so Rosebud can see what her silly girl is doing, Rosebud (on her end of the line) flips upside down and sideways, (I guess thinking belly rubs come with the voice...how to do that via phone lines, we're still working on) ... A second couple passes by.... (Are you getting this picture? It's not me doing FaceTime...It's Rosebud and Roz...one wallowing, one belly up... The humans holding the phones, are the pathetic idiots here..albeit it, laughing ones)
     Hilarious or pathetic? Will let you decide...As for me and my fam, thank God for technology...And thank God for people who are as nuts about animals as I am....Though perhaps not as good as a real-time hug, "I'll hug mine on this end...You hug all the rest..." is our last communique with the family back home.
     Another day in paradise...(be it farm...be it rehab center)
     We do what we do... The conversation may be virtual, but the love is for real and streaming in spades as are the tears of laughter rolling down my face...
                                 To the right----->
is Roz, after her walk and before final goodnights.  (The duties never end.) Ever ready for the hugging, she scarfs up her Aunt Kim's hugs just before calling it a day/a week. (Everybody needs a battery recharge. Pretty sure that's why God made dogs...and the hilarious/pathetic people like us who are nuts about 'em...)
   
   

Whatever Happened to Hix? (The Hix Update)

   

     Having spent hours doing research (both on Pyrs in particular, and anger issues in dogs in general) ...having had lengthy conversations with vets I respect and fellow Pyr owners who like me, have raised the breed, lived with the breed and know this breed inside and out, the prognoses for dealing in one starting to show aggression run vast and deep.
     I was, three days ago, actually looking to find another farm for Hix ... (something I have NEVER in my life done, and something I would likely need counseling for if I chose to do so now, so unimaginable is it to me to give away willingly, something I love this much), but fear being what it is and a dog this size being capable of things I do not know, the most important thing I knew to do is pray...And so I have...Long and hard.
     For now, my update is this:
     Hix's challenges are understandable. He outgrew the alpha in our lot and is confused as to why the biggest dog shouldn't win. It was never my intention to keep him in the same pen with another male forever (TJ) ...He was to have his own herd someday.  That is my intention still.
     For now, Hix is a HUGE dog who has his moments; he has been particularly aggressive when new goat babies arrive. In hindsight I get that... Hix spotted things I as a human did not spot; that danger (the buzzard) put him on high alert.
     But at the end of the day Hix is family. He's my boy. I did not plan to keep him from the beginning, but life (God/Universe...call it what you will) had a different plan, and Hix is here for a reason.
     So with that, I have decided...real love doesn't quit when the going gets tough. We don't toss him out because he spooked me a bit. TO the contrary, that's when I need to love him more.
     I recall once volunteering in a kindergarden class. I was reading Dr. Seuss to the kids, when a little  pudgy boy in the back, turned bratty. He was pulling a little girl's hair. He was making all sorts of commotion. Personally, I wanted to thump his head like my daddy would've done me. At the very least I thought he should be in time-out... But then, a most unusual thing happened.
     The teacher, who was in the back of the room, saddled up beside this child, pulling him gently in her lap and started to rock him. At first the kid resisted, but then, slowly, he put his head on her shoulder and his thumb in his mouth. He was quiet for the rest of the read.
     As I packed up to leave (the kids now coloring) the teacher stepped over to thank me and plan our next visit..and I HAD to ask her "What in the world inspired you to do THAT of all things?" Her reply? He's new to this class. His mom's a single mom going through a rough patch...She's moved him three times in the last year. He's yet to form bonds or friendships...He doesn't know anyone, and he trusts even less.  His acting out is his cry for attention. Sure, I could've stuck him in the hallway, but that is more of what he's already feeling. What he really needs is love.
     That lesson has stuck with me for years...Isn't that true for EVERY life situation?
     When it comes to Hix, I'm taking that lesson to heart....applying it to my own situation.
     Hix. You're a good boy. And just like the rest of us, you have your moments, (don't we all). But real love doesn't give up, furthermore we're not going to let the fear win. You are loved. And I know you love me. So we're in this together Hix. You're my buddy. You're my boy. You're family. And family doesn't give up on family. We just don't.