Vet visit

At our first visit to the vet, with our new pup, Hickory, we found out that he had an intestinal parasite, staph, and the start of mange on his head and back leg. He weighed 40 lbs, and the vet guessed him to be about 4 months old.

"How big is he going to get?" I asked. Not that it really mattered, but I was still thinking that we didn't need two BIG dogs. Holly, at that time, weighed in the 70s, and was fully grown at 2.5 yrs. We love Holly, and I doubt I'll have have a more devoted or intelligent animal friend, but she's a challenge. She hates being crated, she was difficult to house-train, she lunges at cars and bikes and anything going fast when we walk, she has separation anxiety and can just be a bit too high maintenance sometimes.

We hadn't planned on getting dogs, DH & I are both being allergic, just like we didn't plan on having cats, being allergic to them as well, and then ended up with three! We'd gotten Holly for our son for Christmas, after some new neighbors moved away, after only being in the house about 3 months. They had a beagle, Dexter, they were happy to have DS play with, since they also had a new baby. DS has always loved dogs, and it was the perfect situation, but only for a short time.

When I told my mother that Dexter was moving she'd said, "Every kid deserves to have a dog." DH & I talked about it, but talked ourselves back out of it, before going to bed that Sat. night.

The next morning, the first thing DH said to me was "I've been thinking about the dog...", and then we talked about how both of us had had dogs ,and the next thing, I'm doing online research, calling Friend Karrie about breeds, and checking the paper. Within a few hours, I'd called someone about the Aussie puppies he had listed, and on Tues., DH and I drove down to Malvern to see them.

There were two in that litter, a male and female. The male had prettier markings with bits of brown added in with the black & white, but it was the female who made it clear that she'd picked us.

She sat by me, leaning against me, while the male ran around ignoring us. Since it was still several weeks before Christmas, and since we're firm believers in letting babies stay with their mommas as long as possible, we didn't get our Aussie pup until she was 12 weeks. It was the last day of school before the Winter Break. We were going to go get her, but the man had to come to LR, so he met us in the PetsMart parking lot, and handed DH & I our pup...just a little beer barrel of fur!

That afternoon, I went to DS's class party, and when got home, we had him sit by the tree with his eyes closed, the camcorder running, while DH brought the pup out.

"A puppy?! You got me a puppy?" He was shocked, since we had him, like ourselves, convinced that we weren't getting a dog. The next question was priceless, "What will the cats think?"

Our cats, all about 11 by then, were NOT amused!

The problem was Holly, named for the plant that goes with that time of year, was not a good kid dog. She didn't play well with DS and had bonded more with me. Looking back, we should have had DS with us when we went to see the puppies, since maybe her brother would have bonded to DS more. That's what has been so great about having Hickory. He's a GREAT kid dog...he's a great everything dog.

The vet told me, at that first visit with Hickory, that typically dogs double in size from where they are at 4 months. I quickly thought about it, "80 lbs...about Holly's size...I guess that's okay..." None of it would matter, but we really were apprehensive about adding another dog.

Over the next few months, as our Hickory got bigger, passing 80 and finally entering 90, my mindset had changed to, "Well, if he's going to be 90 he might as well be 100!" Hick weighed in earlier this week at 102.4, but a lot of that is because he's been leash restricted. Typically he hovers just below or right at 100 lbs. When he steps on your foot you FEEL it!

The main difference between Holly and Hickory was we had no "tail issues" with Holly. Aussies don't have tails, just a stump...but she wiggles that rump so fast you never have to guess if she's happy! Hickory, on the other hand, has what DS has labeled: The Tail of Destruction!

We've decided that Hickory is most likely a Great Dane/Lab mix. He has a lot of Dane features, but his tail isn't thin and whippy like a Dane...it's a big and thick and powerful! We also call him Chomper. When he gets excited, he likes to chomp his teeth together, but he's very gentle, and you never feel like you've nearly lost a finger when you hand him a treat, unlike Holly who gets over-excited sometimes.

Hickory is one of those dogs that everyone loves. At a picnic once, a small boy wanted to walk Holly. Walking Holly is a challenge, especially with other dogs around. This boy's face was level with Hick's, who is no longer 1/2 Holly's size, and Hick probably weighed 3 times as much as the boy, but we know our dogs, and Hickory was the one we convinced him to take. They were so cute. Even after the boy dropped the leash, Hick just kept walking along beside him.

We'll have had Hickory two years tomorrow, and none of us could imagine our lives without him.