Happy New Year 2010

After our Cairn terrier Bob went to Canine Nirvana in July 2007, I searched Petfinder in hopes of finding another cute little Toto-like dog to join our family. Alas, all of the cute little Toto-like dogs either were taken, or the rescue organizations wanted to subject us to a background check akin to a Senate confirmation hearing. I got pretty bummed about this, until one day, I saw an ad for a really strange-looking little dog named Madge, who supposedly was part Basset hound and part fox terrier. The woman who had rescued Madge from a kill shelter in Virginia was really, really eager to place her, and wrote me a long email about what a wonderful, cute, affectionate little doggie she was. When we drove up to Harpers Ferry, WVA to meet Madge, we were a little shocked. She was not little, and she was put together like an accordion bus, with a body that was about a foot too long for her little stubby legs. She had a muscular neck, a gigantic head and muzzle and a big set of teeth that didn't much resemble a Fox terrier. In addition to her odd appearance, she seemed absolutely terrified of us.

We decided to take her home with us anyway. But unlike our easygoing little Bob, Madge had a very difficult time adjusting to our household. She hid from us for the first few weeks, seemed to have no idea how to walk on a leash, wouldn't eat, and totally forgot her house training. When we took her to the vet, she took one look at Madge's head and her brindle coat and immediately deduced that she was no fox terrier mix, but rather part Basset hound and pit bull. Pit bull? All we knew about pit bulls was their frightening reputation. How could we keep a pit bull in peaceful, hippy-dippy Takoma Park? But we couldn't bring ourselves to return her to the rescue group. So we did our best to work with Madge and try to figure out her strange behavior and win her trust.

It took quite a few months, but eventually, it worked. Today, Madge is totally comfortable with us, so much that it's hard not to imagine that she's always been part of our family. Since then, we actually did manage to get ourselves a cute (though high-strung and neurotic) little Toto-like dog named Joey as well, and also an ungainly, easily confused puggle named Kirby with a Gene Simmons-like tongue that he can't completely fit in his mouth. Okay, we're a bit dog crazy. Our little two-bedroom bungalow is continually in commotion, with mutts running around and barking and jumping on each other, when they're not jumping on our laps.

Madge, though, is the dog that arouses the most curiosity when I walk her. I've lost count of how many times people have come up to me on the street, or even stopped their cars and got out, and asked, "Excuse me...so what kind of dog IS that?" Ergo, this blog, in which we'll be writing about our eccentric, canine-centric household and its inhabitants, both human and animal.