Sometimes I get so caught up in my job(??) of helping and fostering doodles for IDOG, that I forget the stress and strain on my pack, Jonah, Miko and Rumor. Miko and Rumor understand much more what it's like to be given up on, or to have a ruff start in life.

All three have been much more willing to accept a doodle in need than I ever thought. The toughest was the first, Sera. She had a supposed male dog aggression. That certainly wound up my boys. I of course being a newbie at the time, found this to be quite stressful. I followed the IDOG rules, did the 3day decompression time, then slowly tried to introduce them. Mad chaos ensued, so we continued with the "look at each other only through a gate" routine. After a week of separate potty breaks, shuffling dogs.....I was beat!! I had my 3 in the yard, took Sera outside, put her in the car so I could put mine in the house so I could give Sera some well needed zooming around the yard. Well Rumor being the wise doodle he is, refused to come in. I told him "Alright, but if Sera eats you.....don't come crying to me!" Well, as you guessed already......she was fine with him and he with her. After 10 minutes I let Miko and Jonah out and they all played like best friends (after the initial conga line butt sniff).

Holly was so sick when I got her....recently spayed while in heat, UTI, ear infection, kennel cough....that from the beginning , there was no barking, growling or anything. Comet came 2 days later, and he never really got his 3 day decompression because he freaked in the crate and escaped from every other method of containment I tried. By night 2, Comet was sleeping comfortably with my pack in the bed.....with Jonah's blessing! It took my Rumor 3 months of sneaking in bed around Jonah, and to this day he still gets the occasional snarl from Jonah.

And now we have Scooby! Scooby is a typical teenage who does not have much experience with dog pack mentality. He is submissive to me and other humans. After the 3 day decompression period, he immediately started dominance humping Jonah (who sits and rolls his eyes). After 3 days of this, he started on Miko (who sits and rolls her eyes also). He has tried with Rumor, but Rumor doesn't stay in one place long enough for this to happen. I can't get over how tolerant my 3 are with him. I sometimes wish they would tell Scooby where his place is in the pack, but they don't. None of them have submitted to him. When he does this (humping), they ignore him. When he's not doing doing it, they all play really well together. It's so strange.

I think I had a point to make when I started this....but as usual, I got side tracked......