Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Moses!


Moses

As of today, I am hoping the hiatus from the blog is over. We have a new addition in our house! We adopted an adorable, male, Harlequin Great Dane over the weekend from Big Dogs Huge Paws. It’s been a while in coming. Since we lost Charley, the house has felt a little empty, even with 10 chickens, 2 Danes, and 2 humans. Maybe it would have felt different if Mike had allowed the chickens in the house. Totally unreasonable in my opinion. I mean, it isn’t as if I can’t figure out how to sew diapers for them. At any rate. Moving on.

Moses came from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and was first reported as a calf running loose. He was starving and grossly underweight, infested with heartworms and parasites, and has scars on just about every inch of his body. I am guessing that he was clearly on his own for a while, as well as being severely neglected and abused. I have a photo of him taken the day he was rescued, but it’s a bit graphic to post. Super sad.

After going to a lovely foster family in Fort Worth he has turned into a completely different dog. All he wants is to be loved. Unfortunately, we have had to treat him for heartworm, which entails a nasty long needle full of arsenic that deeply penetrates the back muscles on 3 separate occasions, so he is quite sore right now. But I am happy to report that we are done with the heartworm treatment as of Sunday! We have to keep him almost immobile for the next 3 months. Evidently, if the heart rate increases there is a possibility of him throwing an embolism. So he’ll pretty much be confined to the house and backyard until September. Then the neuter and gastropexy…. This poor dog – no doubt after this is all over he will never want to get in the car again.

Moses & Mike

The foster parents, Steve and Andrea, drove Moses up here all the way from Texas on Friday and stayed with us over the weekend. I can’t be entirely sure, but there is a strong possibility that I am speaking with a slight Texas accent since our guests left. They were both utterly charming, and Andrea’s lilt is evidently infectious.

Andrea, Moses & Steve

Mike and I are quite smitten with Moses, as is Ivy. Milo wants to eat him, thus possibly turning him into a potential keyword statistic on the Google: “do Great Danes eat Great Danes?”

In other news, here is a little video of Ivy at the dog park enjoying a ride on her friend Starbuck. Not unlike seeing those little kids at the grocery store on the fiberglass ponies. I suggest making sure the volume is turned up to get the full effect. The mount and dismount are particularly graceful. She is clearly a natural horsewoman.



Normally Starbuck is the one doing the, um, “harassing” shall we say? Seriously, he LURVES Ivy. He cannot get enough of her. So it’s nice to see the tables turned every once and a while.

The ladies are doing well. I finally got to take the baby girls out of the bathtub and put them into the coop last weekend. Did you know that chicken is a chicken’s favorite food? Mavis and Vivian are very intent on making dinner out of a couple of the little girls. Gross. Ruthie the Rooster is starting to go a little funny. My friend Tamara and her boyfriend Brian visited last week and while we were in the coop, Ruthie attacked us with great ferocity. I’ve never been so scared of something so small and fluffy in my entire life.

Other than the rooster attack, we are very happy and settling in as one big happy family.

8 comments:

  1. Moses is adorable! And very, very lucky to have you guys taking care of him.

    Is Ruthie still acting funny? I say we blame it on chicken-eater Brian.

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  2. Moses is so cute!!!! You and Mike are such great people... I really want to adopt another dog eventually!

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  3. Congratulations on the new addition. Can't wait to meet him!

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  4. Loved seeing Moses. He really looks happy to be with you both. What made you decide on Moses instead of Wyatt? We really think that he looks more like a Moses, though. Good choice.

    Sorry to hear that Ruthie is acting out. We still want to come out and see the clan.
    Dad and Beth

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  5. Love the name choice and that top pic is absolutely adorable! I hope these three months go by quickly for dear Moses.

    In the meantime, will you please tell Ruthie to behave herself for me (ha) and be sure to let Ivy know that she continues to make me very, very proud.

    And yay for new posts! You know I am technologically challenged and therefore have to check your blog constantly and when there is nothing new I sometimes wimper (to put it in dog terms)...

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  6. Lovely! What a gem he is! Glad he has you as parents to love and care for him!
    OMG! I cannot begin to say how HYSTERICAL the video of Ivy is! Laughed and laughed, and replayed, and laughed...

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  7. Too Cute! we cannot wait to meet him, Kev will love the name.

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  8. How lucky for Moses to have found such a wonderful family :) Poor guy about the heartworms- no fun. Harrison and I laughed so hard as we watched Ivy ride Starbuck! So funny- and you are such a clever writer, Em! We have missed your blogs!
    Miss you!
    The Lone M

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