Meeting Persephone

I haven't been around for awhile and for those that are not friends with me on Facebook, I thought I should explain why.

I'm sure I mentioned on here that my mother-in-law's husband passed away after a 15 year sickness. She's struggling on a lot of different levels with these events and my husband and I have been trying to get her through it as best we can despite many miles between us. Finally, she made the request that I'd been waiting for her to make.

She'd been spending the last several weeks watching a couple of shows called "Dogs 101" and "Cats 101". She had decided that she wanted either a Rat Terrier puppy or a Burmese kitten. Both breeds are apparently very people oriented and would be likely to bond to her very closely which is what she feels she needs at this point. I immediately set about discouraging her from getting a kitten and this pissed her off. She has never had a cat and never shown an interest in cats prior to this so I was not without reason in my discouraging her from acquiring a cat. She is also a severe diabetic with neuropathy and claws could be quite dangerous to her. Her answer? Yes, you know it's coming - Declaw that cat and it would all be fine! I absolutely refuse to be a part in the declawing of a cat and told her in no uncertain terms that I object to this option completely - again, pissing her off. My belief is that if you choose to befriend an animal and request that it fill a void in your life, you do NOT have the right to alter its very being to make it fit you - find an animal that fits, don't alter it to fit. To declaw a cat is essentially to remove the top of their toe - so YOU can have the animal in your life. It's just wrong! And there are often consequences to the procedure that leave cats crippled and living a life of pain. If one isn't prepared to deal with the claws - don't get a cat. Period.

And I also set out to remind her that while these shows do showcase certain breeds of dogs and cats, they're highlighting them in contrast to other cats (not in contrast to a dog) and no matter the cat, they are still far more independent than what she was wanting for herself. I have a cat and I love my cat. I've nursed her from the jaws of death and am thankful to the gods that I was able to bring her back. But I do not advise dog people to get cats and expect to be happy with them.

So back to the Rat Terrier. She saw on this program that they "stick to you like velcro" and "the only way to get rid of a Rat Terrier is to leave the house". This appeals to her a great deal because she needs to fill the void with something as bonded to her as she feels the need to be to it. See? Not a cat person - but certainly a dog person. Her brother who is battling cancer got a Rat Terrier about a year and a half ago and swears that the dog has been his sanity through all of his struggles.

So...

We have gotten her a Rat Terrier puppy. He's 11 weeks old and absolutely adorable. I'm training him for her over the next 2 months and then we will deliver him to her for her birthday.

This is "Dobby" (after the house elf in the Harry Potter series). It's his fourth name - my husband first called him "Bandit" before we brought him home but my mother-in-law didn't like the name so she started out wanting to call him "Baby" and then changed it to "Baby Boy". I didn't care for either of these and they really didn't fit him so one night last week I was watching Mini Me play with him and stumbled upon "Dobby" and really liked it. It fits him and so Dobby he is.

He's a brilliant little pup and that's all for the good as I have a great deal of training to do with him. He's being box-trained (like a cat) as my mother-in-law lives in an apartment, is on oxygen full time, and could never handle getting him outside as often as he'd need to go potty. He's already gone nearly the full week that we've had him with no accidents (really impressive and far better than our 3 year old Chihuahua did as a puppy - who hates the puppy btw because she's a princess after all and doesn't like another pooch horning in on her attention). Because she's on oxygen, I've had her send me a length of hose to make sure he won't chew on it and I've also had her send me a shirt that she's worn so he's very used to her scent before we arrive in Colorado with her new little boy. This is all going well. I was beginning to feel guilty about having him for 2 months since he'd been so easy to train and I didn't want him bonding too much to us when he could have been with her during most of that time but...

...Leash training is not going as well. I need to get this one handled before we take him to her as she cannot physically handle a dog who will jerk her around. She suffers from a lot of the same ailments that I do and while it's not easy on me to train him, it's important to get it done so she has a successful relationship with this little guy. He also hates his crate so we've had many sleepless nights in the short time that we've had him. I do anticipate all of these things improving though.

So by the time she gets him he'll be potty trained, neutered, leash trained, and loving. Just what she's hoping for. I've also decided, since he's so incredibly smart, to work on training him to put his toys in a toy box because it'd be cute. I think my mother-in-law will get a kick out of having a puppy that cleans up his own toys.

He'll be stuck to her like velcro and hopefully will help heal her heart a bit too. And that's what I've been up to.

The Trash Heap has spoken.