Hi Shadow.
A few months ago I introduced you to Ziva, Jade’s black rescue German Shepherd. As we had hoped, she has become Jade’s “Velcro” companion. Of course, that means she ignores me and always wants to be close to Jade.
Since Ziva is not interested in me, I could only see one way for me to enjoy the companionship and loyalty I had with you.
So!
I know you have seen a second German Shepherd roaming our house and yard. We adopted another rescue Shepherd in December. His name is Rommel – he is between six and seven years old.
It took Rommel less than 24 hours to become my “Velcro” dog. He quickly adapted to the furniture, the dog pillows, and most importantly – me.
While that is what I wanted, I think I made a serious mistake with him.
As we got to know each other I started telling him stories about you, including the time you bit and destroyed 11 tires.
I didn’t expect him to puncture any tires – and he didn’t.
What he did was just as innovative. Last week Jade decided to take him with her to the grocery store. When she came out she loaded the groceries in the back and then got into the car.
When she got situated she grabbed her seatbelt with the intention of putting it in place.
She failed.
Instead, she found the metal part loose in her hand. She looked up and discovered the belt had been completely chewed through. Then, she looked at the passenger side belt only to see it also laying on the seat.
She didn’t find the third belt that had been chewed through until she started to unload the car. That is when she saw that one of the back belts was laying on the floor.
When she got home I asked Rommel what possessed him to chew and destroy three seat belts.
Rommel told me he thought I was proud of your accomplishment in destroying all those tires. He said he was laying in the car thinking about his own legacy with me when he looked up and saw the seatbelts.
He then smiled and asked me if three belts were enough to establish his legacy, or if he needs to do eight more in order to match your 11 tires.
I told him three will do it.
I have to admit, he has some other interesting traits.
Whenever he is ready to eat, he uses his nose to open the food container to make sure there is still food there. I don’t think he wants to eat what I have put out for him if there isn’t something left for the next meal.
At least that is what I thought until Jade was sitting in her chair talking to me while holding a cool whip container. Rommel simple walked up to her and flipped his nose – and – Jade sat there holding an open cool whip container.
I have tried to get him to play fetch with me the way you use to. He will go get what I throw and bring it back in the vicinity and then take it farther away and drop it.
I think he wants me to get more exercise.
While he doesn’t do well at fetch, he seems to need to possess what he considers his. He will bring one of his bones or one of his toys to the room he plans to spend time in and will find a place to hide it. Then, when he moves to another room he will take it out of hiding and hide it in the next room.
While he is a joy to have, he will never replace you. But, he has already become “mine” – or I have become “his.”
Unfortunately, after years where we had to keep you and Thunder separate, we now have to keep Rommel and Ziva separate. We really don’t understand this; both were great with other dogs while in rescue. Both are okay with the cats (about like you were.)
We keep working with them together and seem to have some success – then failure.
Perhaps you and Thunder have had a chance to talk together and can give us some suggestions on how to get them to become friends. In the meantime we have added a fence to divide the yard so they have their own outside space.
I got the idea to put up a separate fence to keep Ziva and Rommel apart by listening to our new President Trump talk about the wall he wants to build between the United States and Mexico. He wants to keep what are known as “undocumented aliens” from Mexico out of the United States.
With this in mind, I think I will start a rumor. It seems like rumors are believed faster than facts these days.
So here goes:
My rumor is that when President Trump designs the wall to separate the United States from Mexico, he is going to extend the wall to cut off the state of California from the rest of the U.S.
Then, he will offer the state of California to Mexico in return for Mexico paying for the wall.
This will allow millions of undocumented Mexican citizens to stay in California as documented Mexican citizens. It will also allow all those celebrities who vowed to leave the U.S. if Trump was elected to stay in their homes. It wouldn’t be Canada, but as long as it isn’t in the U.S. they should be happy.
This would be a win-win for everyone.
Now if only we can figure out a win-win with Rommel and Ziva.
I’ll keep you posted on that.
– Mike Cooney