A Girl's Best Friend*

I can hardly believe that I have been going on and on for this blog and haven't even mentioned my beautiful beloved boxer!! So, she needs her own gosh darn post!

I love this dog. What's not to love, really? She is loyal, friendly, soft, cuddly, brilliant, cute, a recovered addict, she's made something of her poor start in life, and the list goes on!

This beauty is a rescued dog from a major arterial north-south interstate in middle-America. She was found at a truck-stop and was needing a home. She entered into a shelter system, where she was fed, bathed, given all the necessary items a young gal entering a shelter could hope for, but most of all, she was cared for and loved for the first time.

The love was offered in the most strangest of ways. She was allowed access to her own private quarters, yes. But, walls? Oh, heavens NO! They didn't provide any form of privacy, but they did help her out of her quarters a couple times a day to play, take care of business and learn about people.

A fine loving family was waiting to add a new boxer to their brood of three boxers at home. They were a retired couple who enjoyed their loving dogs.  They brought her home, but she wasn't quite what they were hoping for.  It had been a while since they had a young gal in their pack.  This new pup was about 6 or 7 months old.  They kept her for a week or so and called the shelter and let them know that this beauty just wouldn't turn from her evil ways and conform to the current doggie pack regulations.

It just so happens, that the animal shelter had a very friendly relationship with the new veterinarian at the only veterinary practice in town.  On the flip side, I had a very "cozy" relationship with the new veterinarian in the only veterinary practice in my new home town. So, that new veterinarian knew that I love the boxer breed and he knew that there was a boxer who was homeless for a second go round.  So, that perceptive, beefcake of a veterinarian called {his, very pregnant with their first baby, wife} me to see if I was interested in opening my home to this pup.  

So, I did what any hormonal woman would do and I accepted this wild pup into my home.  She was crazed.  Literally, crazed.  She would be sitting in the middle of the living room.  Then, out of no where, she would stand up and start running around the house as if her life depended on it.  She would howl and howl, seeming to be praying that we would let her back to her home, the wild. 

Now, at this time, I also had another little dog. Dixie, the beagle, was my companion during the first two years that Pops and I were married.  

Incidentaly, Pops was studying very hard to become a veterinarian and I was lonely so, Dixie (initials, D.V.M.) was mine.  I was hers, she thought. When this new pup made it into our life, Dixie was three years old and it had been just the three of us for her three years.  She was a bit set in her ways.  Dixie didn't like this new crazy beast that ran faster and howled more than she did.  Dixie was not all too happy about her new kennel mate.

When we learned that Scarlett was not going to settle into our home as easily as we had hoped, that local vet prescribed some doggie downers. Or, were they uppers? Hmmm... I don't know. They made her feel happy enough to calm down. There, they were doggie upper-downers. It was great!  

She is now recovered from her upper-downer addiction and that stint with the drug world only lasted a year or so.  She has been drug-free for about 6 years, now.  I have to say that she is doing well and has settled in quite well.  

Scarlett can be found in one of many places...

Hanging with her "peeps."

Enduring dress up of some sort or the other.

Sleeping on a bed.  

Hogging on the couch.  

Sleeping on the back of the couch in the living room like a cat.

Lounging on a rug in the sunshine.  

Sleeping in the sand...  

I think it is safe to say...  This pup has grown into a nice old dog and has calmed down so much that she sleeps more than she runs. She is happy to report that she is the canine who loved the baby that arrived at our home a mere two weeks after she arrived.  She loved the babe who grew to be a toddler and therefore, got to live with our family for the last 7 years.  (Dixie, on the other hand, just didn't deal well with all the upheaval and moved to a home with another beagle - and no children!)

* Sorry to all of you BFF claimers for my post title.  But, seriously - "Man's Best Friend" just doesn't work...