Goblin

This is Goblin, a 4 month old sharpei mix (judging from the brown patches on his back, I'm wondering if it is a mix with a Jack Russell terrier).

We exchanged Tara for Goblin today. The tension between Tara and Nicki was just escalating. Tara hated Nicki but always wanted to be in my lap, so whenever Nicki came up to me, Tara would snarl and lash out at her. It's really too bad because otherwise she was a very sweet little dog, even if she did take over my office chair! (First dog who has ever done that...and please note my screen saver, which I love...the dog is continuously licking the screen.)

Ashley had talked to me about Goblin (or rather Sharpei Mix puppy 68595), who came to the shelter as a stray and "has some issues with his back legs." It was the thought that Nicki would get along better with a puppy, and I thought having a Sharpei would be kind of cool, so it seemed the perfect solution.

Megan showed up tonight, with Goblin in a carrier and I nearly didn't let her in because I wasn't answering the door since I wasn't planning on doing trick-or-treaters tonight, so she called me from the driveway and brought him in. He burst out of the carrier, full of life and exhuberance, an adorable puppy who looks a lot like Marley, a big dog who doesn't know he's a big dog. In short order he had peed about a cup of pee on the floor, and followed it up with a pile of poop that would do a cow proud.

Clearly this was going to be a higher maintenance dog than Nicki, but if they would become friends that would be fine.

Only that doesn't seem to be happening. At first she jumped up on him, like she does Sheila and Lizzie, but they ignore her, and Goblin was ready to play. He happily tried to play with her, but it freaked her out and she ended up on her back, her legs waving like a bug flipped onto its back, her teeth bared, and moving her head rapidly back and forth to bite at whatever came near her.

In truth, watching her strengthened my opinion that her main problem is that, while she can see, she can't see well. She appears to make out shapes all right ("this is dog shaped, so I'll jump on it") and she has no problem picking up all sorts of things to carry around the house, but I don't think that when someone like a big happy puppy is trying to play with her, she can figure out what it is, so she just freaks out.

I picked her up and she reacted exactly the way she had done the day she freaked out at the Farmers Market. She put her legs around my neck and clung to me, her heart beating fast.

I held her until she'd calmed down and then put her on the recliner, where she has remained ever since, while I've been chasing after Goblin.

As it turns out, Goblin is going to UCD to be neutered this weekend, and won't be out of there until Tuesday and, based on how Nicki reacted, Ashley will put him somewhere else. . But obviously Nicki needs socialization with other dogs, so we have to work out a plan for that too.

Sheesh...any day now I'm going to start a dog therapy practice. But I guess I don't need to because Ashley already seems to be running one!