Here’s his Petfinder page. We changed his name to Widget, which seems to fit a bit better, all things considered. He’s totally cute and absolutely worth driving almost 200 miles each way to go pick him up. He has perfect car manners and is absolutely great in the house–slept right next to the bed all night with no separation anxiety or wandering about. Housetrained, too!
He’s integrating well with the rest of the menagerie, SpaceDawg thinks he’s the cutest thing EVAR and follows him around the yard whenever he’s out (thereby gently exercising that arthritic leg she’s been very resistant to walking on, heh heh) and Widget’s taking the very intelligent view that any cat that weighs almost as much as he does is best left thoroughly alone. Pratchett the shit disturber cat thinks Widget is very funny and tries to attack his tail. I expect that in about a week they’ll be careening through the house chasing each other and being bestest friends.
One unforeseen but fabulous side effect is that Old Cat has decided that as much as Young Cat pisses him off by his very existence, at least he is still a CAT and not one of those poxy DOGS and is therefore pretty much okay–for the first time ever both cats shared a chair back with their butts touching, and no snippy hisses were heard out of Himself.
Widget is sleeping with his head on my foot–lovey puppy goodness, awwwww!
It’s so good to hear a happy puppy story like this; congrats on your gorgeous puppy and I hope you realise how lucky you are that he’s fit in so well!!
Why thank you! I think I’m pretty much allergic to standard pet names, and in the case of rescue dogs there seems to be some kind of rule that they come to you with really crappy names. Space started out as Cheyenne (gag me with a cliche) and whereas Dylan would be a fairly cool name, it’s overused. Actually Widget was originally Maverick, which is a really sucky name–Dillan’s better, but Widget is perfect. I was planning on calling him Fidget (after one of the dwarves in “Time Bandits,”) but he’s very calm and mellow and the SO is a computer guy who prefers Widget–I had to admit it was better all around.
And yes, Pratchett (yup, named for Terry who is a favorite writer around here) is a complete shit disturber–he’s mostly Maine Coon and at a year and a half is pushing hard at twenty pounds, not one ounce of which is fat. He’s completely fearless, and the SO has played with him to the point of total Olympic caliber wrestliness (is that even a word?) and trained him to leap up into the SO’s arms at a finger snap. Pratchett is probably supremely unaware that he is actually a cat–he hisses and makes cat noises but at completely inappropriate times and for his own reasons… he is so weird. He is finding it extremely amusing that if he stares at Widget long enough he can make the poor puppy shiver and start growling at him–like most herding dogs he instinctively sizes up any other animal for prey behavior and Pratchett has absolutely none, just this awesome confidence that throws a dog off coming from a cat. Stiggs the older cat is more catlike, but he’s 17 pounds and looks even bigger than he is due to his extreme fluffiness so he gets very little in the way of attitude from most critters he goes nose to nose with.
The ears definitely made the sale on this guy–as cute as he looks in a picture it’s nothing to seeing him in person, as he not only pricks up those giant bat ears but he also cocks his head in an amazingly photogenic manner at any unfamiliar sound, which is so cute it’s appalling.
If there are any dopers out there in Oregon or Washington who’re looking for a dog, I can definitely recommend the rescue society that we got Widget from–a couple who have over a hundred acres in the butt end of eastern Oregon and who take excellent care of the dogs (they have 18 at the moment, most of whom are at least part stock dog–Aussie shepherd, border collie, cattle dogs, etc.) and work hard at socializing them and finding good homes for them to go to. These guys live in a pole barn and from the looks of things they spend more money on taking care of the dogs than they do on themselves. Donations would be much appreciated!
I spent over an hour on the phone with the rescue lady finding out about Widget’s personality–I knew he’d be fine with Space since she’s never met a dog she didn’t love on sight and he looks right for her to be partial to. Malemutes are a bit snobby and prefer dogs who look like them, so prick ears and a black and white paint job are pretty much all she needs to predispose her to dig him. He’s been raised with a buttload of dogs of all sizes and ranges of behavior and got along well with all of them–he was the pet of the pack, apparently. The cats are a different matter, and we spent a good portion of the four hour drive home planning on the logistics of who to introduce to whom along with when and where–but I can’t deny there’s a good bit of luck in this equation for which I thank all benevolent powers that may claim responsibility…
When I saw he was a border collie/jack russell mix, I thought “Holy cow! Hope SmartAleq knows what he’s getting into!” But it sounds like you do, so good on you!
Ditto, I have both a collie and a JRT, and I think you’re NUTS! I keep thinking I just have to get a dalmation to complete my own personal triumvirate of insane pooches.
But I’m just jealous as Widget is adorable and my JRT’s 11 months old now and is busy growing out of puppyhood. He’s also got giant ears that give him a distinctly yoda-ish vibe. Yay, puppehs! Best things ever. Especially when they fall asleep in their food bowl.
Well, it’s several days later and Widget remains the cutest, funniest puppy ever! He decided on Friday night that he’s home now and suddenly became all about the playing. He’s also developing the silliest bouncy, pouncy run when we throw toys for him–I laugh every time he does it, then throw the toy again just to see more. He’s also decided to be territorial and barks when people come to the door or get too close to the house. He and Pratchett have started to chase each other around the back yard, and already SpaceDawg is showing definite signs of improvement in her back leg due to following Widget around the yard. He’s been to PetSmart to get weighed (exactly 25 pounds) and today he went with the SO on a walk to the store, which was apparently very exciting and fun… He’s showing a remarkable preference for kids which is unusual for Border collies–he’ll pull on the leash to get pets from any small child in the vicinity, while remaining a bit shy of adults. The grandboy fell in love at first sight, and the feeling was definitely mutual.
Right now he’s busily removing ALL the toys from the toybox and scattering them all over the living room floor–such a busy boy!
You are such a lucky person, SmartAleq, to have such a wonderful and really cute puppy! How marvelous too that all the pets are getting along (crossing my fingers it stays that way LOL). Good on you for adopting Widget and enjoy playing with your puppy and getting puppy kisses.
