A Bittersweet Day

1 12 2010

It was a bittersweet day November 12 when we met and fell in love with our newest family member – Lexi, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

While we were checking out Angel (Lexi) in her former home, my sister and her family were grappling with the loss of their beloved 14-year old black lab, Matilda.

Matilda and I were running partners, back when she was a frisky pup, and I in good running form. Named after the rambunctious Matilda in a Roald Dahl book of the same name, she once chased a herd of dairy cows up a hill, deaf to our calls, returning a tired, dung-encrusted puppy with a massive grin on her face. That escapade earned her the lifelong nickname “Moo” or “Moozie”, which fit her so well. Matilda was the kindest, gentlest dog I have ever met. I feel very fortunate to have spent so many good times with her.

But back to Lexi. We’d been looking for a companion dog for Duncan Garden Dog since Barry Squirrel Chaser “went to the bridge” in September. Not necessarily a replacement squirrel chaser, but an amiable, laid-back corgi who would allow Duncan to rule the roost.

If you’ve been in the market for a pure-bred dog (and we have nothing at all against Heinz 57s), you have a few choices:

  • Go to a reputable breeder, put your name on a list, fill out all kinds of paperwork, have the breeder visit and approve your home making sure the fenced yard is secure enough for the breed, etc, etc.
  • Go to a pet store and purchase a caged pooch who hails from who knows where, but most likely from a puppy mill, in a mid-west state.
  • Sign up with a breed club/rescue organization in your locality to be considered for a rescue dog.
  • Scour Craigslist (CL), PetFinder, and links to local shelters and Humane Societies to find a pure-bred who needs to be rehomed.

Open to all options except a pet store purchase, we searched pet listings on CL and Petfinder while waiting for the local corgi club/rescue to acknowledge our application. (They never did.) Neither did a local breeder who apparently still has puppies to place.

We quickly realized that a full-bred, younger corgi rescue is a hot item, even if it comes with a few hundred dollar “rehoming fee”.

Corkie, a corgi in a shelter in Longview, WA, was nearly ours; we just had to get to him first and allow he and Duncan to get to know and approve of each other.

Then there was Bella, a 2 year corgi who already had a long list of interested people by the time we expressed our interest, 3 hours after she was announced on CL.

Our third attempt was a charm. A few hours after Angel was announced on CL, I texted Angel’s owner, found out she was still available, and made arrangements to bring Duncan to meet her early the following day. The meeting was amicable, no red flags raised, and so Lexi came home with us.

Lexi is a 6 year old tri, petite corgi girl “on the pudgy size” (“grossly obese” in vet-speak). With her red and white head, teeny ears, and a slightly more pointed nose than the breed standard, Lexi looks remarkably like our first corgi Maggie who went to the bridge in 2009.

Since Lexi’s been with us she’s shown a very keen interest in the garden; she’s been my faithful companion while I do battle with leaves and pine needles; she waddles behind me on my strolls in the garden, and she fetches tennis balls and other retrievable objects with remarkable agility and enthusiasm. In short, she’s much more the Garden Dog than the title-holder Duncan. If she keeps this up, I’m going to have to consider a “shake-up” of my garden staff.

But there is one thing. And believe it or not, I’ve never owned a dog who did this.

Lexi is a bit of a digger.

Muddy paw prints around the doggy door, in the utility room, and on the leather chairs.  The smell of freshly turned soil when she makes her entrance in the family room. Holes along the base of trees, next to the newly planted ferns, and in the nursery bed by the sleeping plants. I can’t blame the squirrels. It’s Lexi.

She’s still settling in.

It’s a temporary thing; she’ll grow out of it.

I try not to panic.

I caught her last weekend next to a mini-crater with the silliest soil-encrusted grin I’ve ever seen. I just couldn’t be mad with her.

Another gardening challenge. And I will do my best to rise to it.


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Chasing Squirrels in the Sky

29 09 2010

Yesterday morning, Barry our resident Squirrel Chaser, moved on to greener pastures, where pain and suffering are no more, and free-feeding is the norm.  We like to think he’s now chasing  (and catching) squirrels in the sky.

Caught Table Surfing

Being De-Skunked in California

Barry was with us for 12 short years. In that time, as far as we knew, he only caught one squirrel, and when he did he had no idea what to do with the critter squirming furiously in his mouth. He ended up dropping it and then barking incessantly when the critter scampered up a tree to freedom. That brief taste of squirrel was more than enough reward for Barry to continue his mission to free the world of squirrels, or at least tell the whole neighborhood when another arrived on the horizon.

Looking Cute  for Treats with Maggie

Barry was a brave pup who possessed the courage of a dog five times his size. The runt of the litter who looked more like an oversized Pomeranian than a Sheltie, Barry knew no fear and took on coyotes, racoons, vacuum cleaners, and the Meter Reader once when he caught Barry by surprise. He wore his battle scars proudly and he had many.  He garnished a lot of sympathy from the scars on his long Sheltie snout; some people assumed he had skin cancer, others a skin disorder which made his look a little pathetic and in need of extra love. The truth was not so noble.  As a teenager, he dared pick a fight with our first corgi Maggie, and she let him know, in no uncertain terms, she would have none of  his teenage rebellion.  Corgis are Queen Elizabeth’s loyal companions and should not be messed with. Period.

Getting Comfy on Alex the Cat (and the new blankie)

Perhaps Barry’s greatest ability was that of lap dog, able to make himself comfortable on you under any circumstances. Those included keeping you warm and cozy in the middle of a heatwave, lying on crocheted and knitted blankets while you struggled with the weight and bulk of yarn in the final stages of completion, and cozing up to you when he sensed you were  in less than prime order. Oftentimes Barry sensed that he needed to share his gentle presence with you, his humans, even before you knew it yourself.

And now Barry is no longer with us. We will miss his sweet demeanor; the way he charged through the dog flap when a squirrel farted, or some such minor event occurred outside in the garden.  We will not miss the dog fights between he and Duncan. Duncan always won, but that didn’t stop him from putting up a valiant fight.

Hanging out in a Tight Space

So now we’re a single dog household. A colleague remarked that our single dog Duncan has the spirit and attitude of three dogs. (She would know since he hogged her complete attention for hours when she last visited us. )

But still, Duncan can never fill Barry’s paws.  For one, he just can’t squeeze his plump sausage body into those tiny spaces Barry inhabited. And secondly, his squirrel chasing skills need a lot of work.

We’ll see how it feels having only one dog when our sadness lifts. Duncan may need another canine companion, or maybe it will be us who’ll need another dog. Time will tell. I’ll keep you posted.


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Categories : Garden dogs, General

Slip Up

25 08 2010

There’s a large stainless steel bowl in our kitchen sink which captures dish water, crumbs, and bits of yummy human food. It gets emptied a few times a day (more often over the weekend), into a plastic bucket outside one of the doors to the deck. When the bucket is  almost full, I slip on my brown garden crocs, grab bucket in hand, and head out into the garden looking for thirsty plants.

I’ve been schlepping buckets of water all Summer long around the garden, Duncan Corgi in tow. In the beginning, Duncan attempted to herd me around the garden, snapping at my heels, making indentations in the lovely soft crocs. If I left the bucket down long enough, he dove into the water rescuing floating scraps, smacking his lips as if he’d just got the tastiest morsel of his pampered doggie life.

It was really inconsiderate of me to only select thirsty plants in hard-to-reach places for gray water “treatment”. Those hard-to-reach places are often overgrown and prickly with Oregon Grape. Not at all friendly to my “soft”, 12″ tall dog. I mean, how is a food-focused pooch supposed to snag all the bits of food in such inhospitable terrain?

But there was method to my madness. I purposefully shunned containers with tender annuals and delicate, ground hugging  plants knowing that Duncan had the potential to shred a plant in his attempt to retrieve tiny morsels of food from the gray water. I knew his potential and tenaciousness, and then I slipped up.

One evening, at the tail end of the last heatwave, the plants on the deck look particularly thirsty. The Impatiens drooped over the side of the  planters, parched with thirst, soil crusted and pulling away from the container. In a moment of weakness , I tipped the bucket, complete with red bell pepper morsels, into the  low deck planter and then high-tailed it back into the cool of the house. A short while later while doing some food prep, I realized I was completely alone in the kitchen. Unheard of, when you’re owned by a food-focused Corgi.

I glanced out onto the deck and this is what I saw:

(Apologies for the blurry photo; it’s hard to keep your hand steady in this situation.)

I knew there was little hope for the poor plants. By the time I got back out on the deck, I was left with this:

Smushed Impatients, Impomea, and a Maidenhair Fern. At this stage in the season, there’s little chance of a full recovery. I will just have to swap this high-visibility container with one in a less visible spot, such as the one down the end of the garden.

Human v. Corgi?

Corgi 1, Human 0.


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What’s Blooming in the Shade: June 20

20 06 2010

Top: Iceberg rose, Duncan garden dog. Bottom: Bluebird hydrangea


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Categories : Garden dogs, Photo share

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