Anyone who knows, or is even acquainted, with me understands that my dogs are an important part of my life. I never had human children. Through the years, my dogs offer me comfort, companionship, entertainment, and unconditional love. Since purchasing my first house thirty years ago for the sole purpose of finally being able to have a dog, I have lived with dogs and usually more than one.
A year ago, we had four dogs. Three of them died last summer and fall. Homer left us first after a month shy of sixteen years with me. Hooch died of liver cancer in October and Luna died one week later to the day. I am convinced that Luna died of a broken heart though she was twelve with her own health issues. She adored Homer and Hooch.
A few years ago we adopted Booboo, a golden Pyrenees mix estimated to be about six years old. As a hospice social worker, I have known many patients with dogs who cannot be at peace unless they knew their dogs had a safe home. Booboo was dropped off periodically at a patient’s house by his substance abusing human. My patient had already found homes for her dogs as she knew her days were numbered and asked me to help find a home for him. A gentle giant who carried liked to put his head on my lap and pretend to give me his little stuffed toy, I fell in love with Booboo. I told my husband that I needed to bring him home and he agreed.
I worried how Boo would fit in with our pack of black labs who had been together for years. My loving sweet pack sniffed and welcomed the new member of the family with little fan fair. Homer only tolerated Booboo and a couple of times Boo scuffled with Homer which he learned was not tolerated in my house. My geriatric Homer stood his ground and luckily no one was ever hurt.
After losing three of our fur babies I was grateful to have Booboo in our life but our house was still lonely. Booboo spent less time inside and seemed to mope around like me. Eventually, I started looking on petfinder.com for a lab mix pup to adopt. I worried how Booboo might react to a puppy but our home is much happier with at least two dogs. More on Winnie later.
Before we adopted Booboo, our hens flew over the fence between the pasture and yard wandering peacefully with our crew. Unfortunately, my patient did not tell me that Booboo had a history of killing smaller animals until after I had brought him home. He killed two cats that came into the yard. He dug under the fence and killed some of our hens. It was a challenging period of trial and error. We have a lot of ceramic steppingstones and every time I noticed the start of a new hole, I placed a tile there. I seriously thought of trying to find another home or surrendering Booboo. But I could not give up on him or give him up. He had a rough first half of life and he deserved a loving home. He is a sweet dog who was never trained.
Eventually, a fragile truce held on Webb Acres. The hens and cats stay on their side of the fence and Booboo on his side – usually. Last year, when loading the alpacas for shearing, one of the hens snuck through the gate and trailer. Booboo took off and I feared she was a goner. I found her in a corner, in shock but unhurt. Last month, we bought chicks as our girls are aging. When our chicks first come home, we keep them in a metal trough on our screened in porch. Booboo is allowed to see them supervised and occasionally I will hold a chick near his nose and tell him no. I thought over the years, he had learned.
After about a month, we move them to the trailer in the pasture and place a chicken wire screen at the end of the trailer keeping the chicks enclosed but with more room to run and allows them and the other critters to get to know each other.
One evening recently, I heard our one-year-old pup Winnie barking frantically. I looked outside and saw Booboo in the pasture by the trailer. He had dug a hole under a gate, tore through the chicken wire and killed five of our chicks. We found the survivors, huddled under the trailer. Booboo immediately laid down and let me put the leash on him. On some level, I think he knows what he did was wrong but does not seem to understand why. He does not abuse or torture the animals. I believe he sees them as some kind of threat or intrusion and when the newcomers moved into the pasture, he thought they did not belong.
Jim Bob attached a more secure screen and now we close the trailer door at night. I have more tiles along the fence and gate. And I bought more chicks who will be joining their siblings. Hopefully, we have put enough protections back in place and we are back to some kind of normalcy.
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