I HAVE A DOG! SERIOUSLY!! I would have blogged some pre-dog shenanigans, but there really weren't any. I found out about her one day, went to see her the next day, and then went back later that day and brought her home with me! Her name is Eleanor, but we've been calling her Ellie. She's the best thing ever. She has a squishy face, and makes snarfy sounds, and loves everyone! Our cats are still a little upset about her, but I think it will work out.
I found her on craigslist, (thanks craigslist!) which I regularly peruse, but I really wasn't actively looking for a dog, or expecting to get one soon. I just stumbled upon an ad that said they had a boston terrier who was unable to have puppies, so they didn't want her, but wanted her to live in a good home environment where people would love her. A little light turned on in my heart. A little dog light. I emailed them, and said that, for some reason, I was terribly interested, and wanted to meet their dog. I included a description of myself and my home, and my lifestyle. They thought it was a good match, and called me the next morning, inviting me over for an interview/dog meeting. I loved her IMMEDIATELY!
So, for a little more of her story, she was previously owned by a breeder. They did genetic testing on her, and she is negative for eye, spine, and patella problems that are common for the breed, and she won 1st place in a confirmation contest. For those reasons, they decided they were going to breed her. She has lived most of her life in a kennel, and was gonna spend the rest of her life in a kennel having puppies, and then having more puppies, etc. But, lucky for her, she's infertile! Yay! No one knows why she can't get preggo, but I don't care. The breeder didn't want her anymore. Long story short, now she's mine.
We're trying to keep her in her kennel at night, and on a regular schedule throughout the day until she's used to our home, because she's not terribly well potty trained. She knows not to go potty in her kennel, and she knows she's supposed to go when we take her out, but she isn't quite sure about the kitchen, she thinks it might be ok to potty there. It's not, so until she knows, we're doing a kennel-potty-play-kennel-potty-play rotation. She's also about 3 pounds too thin, they say it's because they put her on hormones to try to help her get pregnant. I'm not sure why, with a dog that only weighs 13 pounds, they would keep her on the hormones so long she'd loose 3 of her pounds. That's a lot, when you're already small. But anyway, I switched her food from Costco brand to Bill Jac. It's first 6 ingredients or so are all animal meat/fat/protein, so it will help her bulk up, and is easier to digest. I also have been giving her a raw egg each morning, to help with her fat, and also her coat, because she's got a little dandruff. We still need to get her fixed, which I will update on when it happens. She's a little bit of a project dog, but all in all, I
think she's going to be great. And she REALLY likes being out and playing with people. She's friendly to other dogs, but a little protective of her food, which we'll have to work on. She wants to learn. She learned to sit in about half an hour. Liver treats are the trick. She'll do anything to have one.
The cats don't really like her yet, but I hope they all end up getting along. The real problem is when the cats start running from her, because then she wants to chase them, and then the cats panic and run MORE, and she chases them even harder. I think Ham stands the best chance of liking her, because her existance promises a future of rawhide chews, which she thoroughly enjoys. Her mouth doesn't even fit around them. It's a little bit strange to watch her eat em, but whatever makes her happy is fine with me.
worried for a day or so that it just wouldn't work out. She kept going potty in the house, even though we took her out ALL the time. She chased the cats a few too many times for my comfort. My mom also expressed some concern about her. It's all irrelevant though. She loves us. And we love her too. She wouldn't go potty in the house if she'd known it was bad, she has just never been loose in a house before. She went the whole day yesterday without going in the house once. She's catching on. I also taught her how to "sit pretty", so she can be like my mom's dogs. It took Sophie like 6 years to learn that trick, so I feel pretty good about Ellie learning it in 10 minutes. She spends most of her free time holding a toy in her mouth and speeding around the house like a weirdo. She goes from the living room to the kitchen to the hallway to the living room, etc. Her favorite toy so far is her little green weiner dog thing like they have in the Petsmart 
commercials. Her face is pretty weird looking, and her mouth equally so, which makes it difficult to fit most normal toys in it. :3 It's adorable, really. Her whole body is just stumpy, in one way or another. The cats are starting to adjust. When I take Ellie out to go potty, they wait at the door and watch. Samus also decided to come lay on my lap, while Ellie was sleeping right next to me! It felt a little tense, but it's improvement. Samus glared at her the whole time, too, like she was a terrible intruder in her comfort space. I've gotten a couple of those "HOW COULD YOU?!" looks from them too. I figure they can't stay mad forever, but they're cats. Maybe they can. Ham still mostly avoids her, but last night she spent about half an hour staring into the front of Ellie's kennel after she'd gone to sleep. Ellie didn't notice. I'm not sure if Ham 
was more interested in getting close to Ellie herself, or if she was just trying to figure out what the weird sounds were that were coming out of the kennel, because the sounds ARE really weird. She snores when she sleeps, and says "boo boo boo boo" like a little piggy when she wants attention or food, and makes "snarf" sounds when she walks around and plays. She burps and farts and weezes. She's the loudest dog, but I think it's all pretty endearing. She doesn't bark at all though. The only thing that really makes her bark is when Christopher does his "sonic attack"... you have to hear it to understand... but that is how he makes Ellie HOWL!! It's WAY cute!! She howls and barks, and seems really happy. So now the goals from here on out are to solidify her potty training, get her fixed (eek!), and keep reducing her spazzy OCD house pacing time.
