Aidan Comes Home

So, Thursday afternoon, as I'm working away, I get a little notification that Bob has sent me a Facebook message. Tap a tap a tap, working. 

Then my phone pings. It says, "LOOK AT YOUR PMS!!!!"

And, while I'd insisted we not look, and to be fair, I had just looked the night before and he was not there, Bob had peeked at the shelter's website and found this:

Oh, dear. 

I had said the night before, I want to find another shelter border collie, about a year old, a boy, with a rough coat like all our previous BCs. Bob had said, "You know, that could take a long time."

And yet, here he was.

I called, knowing I could not get down there in time to see him that evening. He was at the same shelter we adopted Evan from in 2010, in Colorado Springs. 

I left a voicemail and a nice gentleman called me back and said, "If his photo is still up at 6:00 this evening, no one adopted him today."

So we waited. 

And at 6? 

Still there.

So I get up early and put in some hours at work, let my folks know I'll be out a bit during the day, and will work late to make sure everything is caught up, and head out at 9:30 in order to build in time to get there ahead of the doors opening at 11:00. 

I show up at 10:35 and walk up to the doors to check. Yes, still locked. So I stand there. I'm not even sitting on a bench to the side. FIRST.

About ten minutes later a line is starting to build and a nice lady with her teenage daughter ask me, "Are you here for a cat or a dog?" It turned out, they were here to see him as well. I was pretty sure, unless I met with him and he tried to bite off my face, he was coming home with me. I hope they found another wonderful dog to rescue. 

Because, yes, he was mine. 

The nice volunteer who logged me in to visit him heard all about Evan and was so sweet. She brought him into meet me and it took all of two seconds, staring at each other with smiles, to say, "Yeah, absolutely. Let's go."

The super wonderful Amber who got all my paperwork in order and heard all about Evan (and was trying not to cry) took our photo on the way, less than hour after I'd gotten in the door. In shelter time, that's got to be a new record. Being first in the door is the way to do it. 

They had taken the cone of shame off him for our meet and greet and for the photo, but he had to keep it on for the ride home. He'd already been smart enough to get out of it the night before so he could get to his stitches (neuter) to lick at those itchy things. 

First discoveries:

He had never seen/done stairs before. Within half a day, he had it down. 

He met the cats and was only vaguely interested in checking out their interesting scents. No chasing, nipping, or any of BC/cat interactions that would be a problem. 

He was freaked out by a stuffed bear sitting on the floor. Freaked out enough to slip and slide around on the floors, compose himself, and then give an indignant "woof" at it, for creeping up on him like that.

Our main work to start is to teach him getting up on his hind legs to "see" is no bueno. He's already picking up that he gets turned away from and ignored unless all four paws are the floor. 

It is a little like having a very intelligent toddler in the house now. I've picked up stuffed animals within reach because they are too tempting to carry around in his mouth. 

I've also covered up the mirror in the guest room because he seems quite taken with the other dog in there and was attempting to navigate from the bed over to the mirror to have a conversation. 

He's very gentle, taking treats from my hand, even jumping, most of his weight he keeps on his side. And very well behaved for a not-quite year old puppy. No chewing or destructive behavior at all. 

No one has ever taught him fetch. We're working on it.

That TAIL. I don't know if he was born with it or it was damaged at some point, but it curls sideways, and wags in circles. It's ridiculously cute. 

He has a mid-range bark, not the low Evan bark.  

We have to take it easy while his stitches heal. No visiting the dog park yet. But we'll be taking a walk later today if the rain will stay away. 

He went to the vet this morning and charmed and flirted with everyone. He went to PetCo yesterday with Bob and was also perfectly well behaved, even with a pushy poodle not being contained by his owner who got too close to his stitches only got a "back-off" growl warning. 

And once he settled, he was quiet all night. 

In fact, he crashed with Bob in the basement in the oddest of places:

He did manage to get the slightly less shameful cone of during the night, so we remedied that by lacing his collar through the straps on the inside. No more escape artist. 

And he looks rather Edwardian in his "ruff"

He's already heard so much about Evan and how much Evan would have loved having him as a little brother. 

It's good to hear the sounds of little dog feet.