The Little Ones in 2009: January

Sidka Finds a New Home

As I settled in for football my day took an unexpected turn. I hit the Oregon Humane Society website to check for cat-friendly dogs, a daily ritual the past couple of weeks, and to my surprise several good candidates had just been added. I wrote down the five that might work for us and down to the Humane Society we went. I have a weakness for black labs (two were on the list) but tried not to get my hopes up given how many times we had come home dogless.

But this day was our day! Lo and behold both labs were still available and we met and loved them both. We could only bring home one, I could have flipped a coin between the two, but my wife had a preference for 5-year old Ellie (known then as Sidka) so ladies and gentlemen we had our dog!

We’re very excited! Maybe I need some more exclamation points!!!!!!!!

	I Saved You from the Alligator, Now Can I Have a Treat? While we generally love our house in Portland, the alligator infestation in the basement has been a constant aggravation. I don’t think we’re going to have to worry anymore!
	Ellie Makes Nice with the Alligator “Look Alligator, we didn’t get started off on the right foot. It’s just that I’m new here and I’m so anxious to meet my furry little masters and I thought you were going after my people and … say, you’ve met them, haven’t you? Do you think they’ll like me? The cats I mean? Scout and Emma snuck down here but they were whisked away before I could even say hello and I was thinking — what’s that? What did you say? Look I said I was sorry about thrashing you around like that! Let me give you a hug.”
	One Tired Pup When my wife woke up in the morning, during those first few seconds before you’re fully awake, she thought I smelled so bad that she was going to ask me to start showering before coming to bed. Then she remembered that she had slept downstairs with Ellie and I was upstairs with the cats. Now fully awake, she realized that during the night Ellie had climbed into bed and curled up with her. She’s long had a variety of stink-based nicknames for me but until now I had always assumed they were in jest … Ellie had a good first full day with us. She’s definitely fixated on my wife but she’s warming up to me, she even came over and curled up beside me on the couch while I watched the NFL playoffs. I’m not too worried, I had to win over Templeton once upon a time too.

Speaking of paint, she also has some white fur that is only temporary thanks to some paint splotches on her head and tail. The reason her previous owners listed for giving her up was “Moving” so they were probably painting the house to get ready to move and a certain someone got a little too close …

Ellie’s original name was Sidka but it sounded too much like “Sit” so we decided to rename her. I originally suggested Willow but little Sam was horrified and pointed out that Old Man Willow in The Lord of the Rings eats hobbits. I didn’t quite see the problem until he reminded me that he was named after a hobbit. Good point little one!

Today was the first introduction of Ellie to the cats. After taking her for a long walk and run and playing ball with her, I put her leash on and held her close while my wife opened the door to the basement. Scout wanted no part of the proceedings but Sam and Emma did eventually creep down, moving in super-slo-mo as they crept down from the top of the steps to the landing to the bottom of the steps and finally into the den.

Sam was first to approach with the fur on his tail spread wide, he rubbed noses with Ellie before backing off again. First contact! He and Emma later approached but were intrigued by Ellie’s bushy tail, when Sam went in for a sniff Ellie turned towards him and both cats bolted under the couch at full speed. They watched from a safe distance until we decided to call it a night.

Not bad for a first introduction!

All three cats were anxious to get down to the basement, every time I'd go up I'd have to fend them off as I opened the door, no besieged city has ever been so well-defended. When it was time I opened the door and all three came down. Sidka was being good so as a test I took off her leash and let her go. She didn't chase anyone, at first the cats kept their distance so Sidka and I played some more as they watched and got a feel for her movements.

Everybody got a nose touch in today with Scout again setting the record for the longest nose touch, she holds both first and second place by a wide margin. Emma wins the award for most time spent near Sidka, she's rather fascinated with her, while Sam wins the award for actually falling asleep with her just a few feet away. Also for eating the closest to her, as if we had any doubt who would win that contest. Sidka is definitely interested in the cats but has clearly been around cats before as she doesn't move and scare them when they come in for their nose touches, and when she once got too close for comfort for Sam he swatted her on the nose and she immediately backed off and came over by me. The cats aren't comfortable with her yet but today was excellent progress.

Sidka Finds A New Name

We whittled our list of names down to two likely candidates, Darcy and Zira, which kept with our tradition of choosing names from literature. I read on the internet (so it must be true!) that Darcy comes from the Gaelic word for dark, which goes well with her black fur, and of course Darcy is a character or two from a mutual favorite of ours, Pride & Prejudice. Zira comes from the chimp in Planet of the Apes (book and movie) that discovered our man hero could talk. Our dog can't talk but she is an excellent typist.

Emma suggested another name — since she has black fur like her, she wanted to call her Emma II. I pointed out that since the dog was born long before her that really the dog should be Emma I and she should be Emma II, but she thought it ought to go by the order of the arrival into our home. My wife agreed with her but I think it's just the womenfolk sticking together, it may have been a mistake to adopt another girl as now Sam and I are outnumbered 4 to 2, giving them veto power! My wife was quick to point out that they've always had it.

Say Hello to Ellie "Let it be said that I am right rather than consistent." Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan explaining his transformation from a vigorous defender of slavery to the lone supporter on the Court for the rights of former slaves After whittling down our list of potential names to Darcy and Zira, we settled on her name: Ellie. When I first came up with a list of possible names for the dog, all sixteen names were from our favorite books or shows save two, Ellie and Libby, which made the cut simply because I liked them. Libby seemed like a good name for a lab but I ruled it out myself the very next day when on the train I couldn't get the "Libby Libby Libby on the label label label" song out of my head and realized the horror the next seven years could bring. My wife further whittled the list to a half dozen but even after a week none of the literary names felt right and we realized we were trying to force the wrong name onto our sweet-hearted girl. She feels like an Ellie, not a Darcy or Zira, so we're breaking with tradition. We could cheat and say that she's named for Elinor from Sense & Sensibility or Elessar, one of the 187 names for Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, but we're not. She's Ellie because she's Ellie.

Ellie Loves Her New Home

Dark Chocolate Ellie had a vet appointment this morning to get a booster shot. She got a good health report all around (apart from needing to lose a little weight, which we are working on). But late this afternoon I got a call from my wife saying she was heading back to the vet. During the day, Ellie had somehow gotten a hold of some of my wife's chocolate calcium chews. This is not the way to weight loss Ellie! At least we won't have to worry about her suffering from osteoporosis. The vet didn't think any harm was done but had us watch for vomiting and unusual stools just to be safe — any blood and it was off to the emergency vet. Thankfully she's been fine, a little hyper but she got a lot of exercise this weekend and calmed down nicely by nightfall. Ellie's a black lab, at least we thought she was, but I'm thinking now she may be a chocolate lab. No, not chocolate, not with her black fur. Dark chocolate.

Some Advice For Our Dear Ellie You don't have to do everything little Sam says. While I applaud his use of the scientific method, after getting into chocolate you didn't have to eat a tub of caramel just because he wanted to see if your poop would smell like Twix bars. (In the interest of science, the answer is no. No it did not.) You don't have to believe everything Scout tells you. When she told you that she is the only one who didn't come from the Humane Society, that was true. But when she told you that she didn't come from the Humane Society but instead hatched from an eagle's egg high atop a Sitka spruce, that was not. In a similar vein, she's missing fur on her foreleg because they shaved it at the vet, not because she gave a grizzly bear the what for. And please, please don't listen to Emma when she asks you to bring back a tree when we take you for a walk. It's only ten more months until Christmas. She can wait like the rest of us.

Ellie & Smelly The title for this picture comes from little Sam, who is skating on thin ice I assure you. He asked me today if I knew which part of Ellie I most smelled like. I said no but to consider his answer carefully and reminded him who plays countless hours of String with him. He deliberated far longer than I thought necessary, eyes darting between me and Ellie, before finally answering "Why the sweetest part of course!" I don't know exactly what answer he originally had in mind, but given that he was staring at Ellie's rear end, I can guess well enough. I would not say such things if I were you!

The Dog & The Tennis Ball You don't need to travel to the Galapagos to see evolution in action. Consider that when Lewis & Clark first crossed the Rockies into the West, they looked across verdant fields and saw dogs chasing tennis balls, with some highly evolved breeds specializing in catching the hapless balls on the bounce. While at the time dogs seemed to have the upper hand, in the intervening years evolution seems to have lobbed the advantage back into the ball's court. The balls have increasingly learned to anticipate being caught from above and have developed ever more complex bounces to evade their slobbering foes. But recently, dogs seem to be regaining mastery over their prey of old. While the ball nervously scans the skies, the dog flattens itself against the ground and sneaks up from the side, catching the ball unawares.

Evolution in Action Usually catching the ball unawares. Sometimes the ball still manages to escape. That's nature for you.