I've been babysitting a small flock of nine Lady Gouldian finches for a friend for a bit. When she left, I was still talking about my search for a puppy. She returned yesterday to find that I had acquired the perfect puppy while she was gone. I was telling her how scarily eerie it has been, lucking into Reilly. All the small things that had to come together, that all did just that, and perfectly. Like a jigsaw puzzle. I told her I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. There has to be Something that goes wrong...doesn't there?
Margie said I was wrong. She said that finding Reilly WAS the other shoe dropping. That all my looking and research and the litters I had to bypass was the first shoe. Reilly is the finale.
So, today we went on a four hour drive (not 3.5) to my son's place. We loaded all the stuff Joe forgot to take when he moved out. Or at least, what is reasonable to fit into my car. And a cooler of lamb from our flock. And all the stuff Reilly needed. Bed in place, toys, towels....it was like traveling with a baby. But he rode like a champ, as expected. When we got there, he wasn't so sure. he knew it was a strange house. And there were strange smells. A raccoon had gotten into Joe's trash the night before, so lots of wild smells. And a shiny thing that looked kinda scary on the porch. It was a snow shovel someone had given Joe, but Reilly didn't know. Once Chris turned it over, he was ready to walk past it, but not until then. He was just going to sit and stare at it. The landlady stopped by to check on the upstairs unit, where the tenant had just moved out, and she brought a happily unruly, fat boxer with her. The big girl was thrilled to rush up to Reilly...who was not so thrilled. Nor was I. Reilly did well under the circumstances, and the big ole girl wasn't pushy with him; just wanted to check him out. But that was a bit too much for Sir Reilly in such a strange place. The boxers mom called her away though, so Reilly didn't have too much time to dwell on it or react much. And then she was gone. Once we got inside, I put down food and water, and Reilly made himself at home. I realized I left the (charged!) camera in the car, but since we were going to take Joe out to lunch after Reilly settled, I figured we could do some pictures after lunch. So, we set up the bathroom as Reilly's room for our lunch. He was pleased to see his bed go down, and snuggled right in with one of his toys. And we went off to lunch, and to pick up a supply of groceries for Joe, so he has a base to start with in his new digs. Then we headed back. We pulled in, Joe unlocked, and I went to let Reilly out while the guys unloaded groceries. Reilly was asleep, but I dragged him out anyway, as a few drops were falling. By the time we got outside, it was raining. Harder than Reilly had seen to date. He hasn't minded the light rains we've stepped out in, but this one he minded. I didn't really blame him; I got soaked too. He refused to go potty in the rain, so we ended up returning indoors after a toweling off. And it continued to rain. And my raincoat was in the car. So was the camera. It was still raining when we left, and Reilly still wouldn't potty in the rain. And I never got any pictures of the cool little place Joe had found for himself.
We pulled over as soon as we'd left the rain behind us so Reilly could go, which he did. And then he slept the rest of the way home. When we got out of the car, he was thrilled to see Murphy and Jake, and pretty much did to them what the boxer had done to him, except more so!
Reilly spent an hour playing, and then was ready to go to bed again. We won't walk tomorrow, so he has a break, but will on Tuesday.
Things he did today that are particularly noteworthy:
He recognizes my car.
He understood "load up," and went to the door each time we reentered the car, sometimes putting his feet on the door frame.
He expected Joe's door to swing on a left-hand hinge, the way ours do. It doesn't, and that confused him.
Not much else to write tonight. It's been a full day.
Meg and Reilly
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