Not Sure How I Feel About This

Meet Pretzel

Mom had her birthday a couple of weeks ago. Instead of getting her the usual jewelry or gadget or stuff, Dad got her a dog. Well not so much as a dog as a promise of getting a dog. Mom has wanted to get a dog for a while. She couldn’t imagine a better birthday gift. Go figure.

When she didn’t get the dog right away, I figured that was the end of it. You know, Dad does a sweet gesture and life goes on. I just assumed that she forgot about the whole thing. She didn’t. Yesterday she came home with a really cute doggie.

I don’t usually like dogs, and I’m not completely sold on this one, but Pretzel is a very quiet Dachshund-Whippet mix that I just might be able to get use to. Mom picked him up from one of the people that fosters pets for the JSPCA.When mom saw him, she just fell in love. Chaya, Pretzel’s foster mom, said he was a very timid boy and that he doesn’t usually come up to people. When he saw Shira and Zahava, Mom’s human girls, he started wagging his tail and came to them straight away.

Now, I haven’t had very much to do with him, but the little that I have had to do with him, he seems very respectful of cats. He hasn’t tried to chase us and we’re more curious about him than he is bout us. He likes to sit by mom or curl up in a ball and sleep on the chair. He seems pretty benign.

I haven’t spoken to Pretzel yet. I mean, I smelled him and all, and I arched my back, but I didn’t growl or hiss. It just didn’t seem worth the effort. He’s not paying attention to me, why should I pay attention to him?

Mom told me she was very careful about who she was going to let into our home. Pretzel is a bit younger than she was looking for, he’s 3-years-old, but Mom thinks it would be harder for him to find a home than other dogs. He has an allergy which makes him scratch himself something awful. Pretzel scratched a patch of fur off his back. He’s on steroids now, but mom hopes to find and eliminate the cause of his allergy. He also has a hunk missing out of one of his ears. Battle scars that make him unique.

We’re the fourth home that little Pretz has had in his short life. He was taken from a crazy guy on a farm, brought to the shelter, adopted and returned. Chaya had to work with Pretz to get him more socialized and it seems to have worked well.

He stays out of my way, I’ll stay out of his. Now that there is a dog in the house, we have all these cool treats. Mom moved our food so that Pretz can’t get to it, but there is nothing she can do about getting us kitties not to take his stuff. I’m lovin’ that chicken jerky.

Tagged as: adoption, animal shelter, dogs and cats