Today was a low key day in the great dog merger: 2008. I rotated the boys and Ana to each have time in the living room/downstairs, outside and in their crates. All seemed to go well. Xander was very good so I let him walk into Ana's room and sniff her through her crate. She seemed okay with that.

Then, of course, Deus wanted a sniff but being more of a bumbling type he overwhelmed her a bit. Then back to the outside they went. Xander watcher Ana through the window but she was unfazed.

At dinnertime, Ledcat sat with Ana on the steps outside of the kitchen doorway which is secured with a babygate. Ana was on the steps, free to leave, enjoying teeny bits of a bacon strip. I brought Deus and Xander into the kitchen for their dinner (enhanced with illicitly good yumminess) and was thrilled that they both dove into dinner after a cursory glance at Ana. She snuggled a bit closer to Ledcat, but stood her ground and peeked around the corner.

Once the bowls were licked clean, I sat on the floor in front of the babygate (on the kitchen side) and slowly gave them teeny pieces of a treat in return for them sitting upon request. They were much more into the food than the Chihuaha. She continued to sit there and eat her own treats. Xander sniffed at her through the babygate, but I did not let him push it to the point that he would scare her or work himself up. After the treats were gone, I took the boys back outside in a very low key manner. Ana lept off the steps and went over to sit on the sofa.

I'm not a trainer, but it does seem like our maintaining a low key vibe and not "over"reacting to their inquisitiveness or hesitancy makes a difference. It certainly gives both of us a sense of control and that has to ooze into the canine vibes.

Just to be on the safe side, we have our trainer from Pawsitive Reactions coming over for a few sessions to help us along the path. We'd rather invest a few dollars on the front end to do things right rather than wait until we have an issue.

Right now, Ana seems to be fine. She's enjoying a Kong up in her room right now. She seems to be the most afraid of Natasha the Calico Cat and will walk big circles to avoid her. Natasha is not imposing so that's very amusing. Deus and Xander are asleep on their dog beds in the living room. Ledcat is going upstairs to hang with Ana and I'll stay down here with the boys.

Pet integration is challenging. It requires a lot of patience, extra rooms and creativity. But we love our pets and really want to make this work. We are resolved, however, that if Ana's welfare is not at its optimum here, then back to the rescue she will go.

I continue to be amazed at how not timid she is. She eagerly greets both of us, comes when we call her and walks right through the cats (except Natasha). She doesn't seem afraid of the dogs, just a bit indifferent. She was fine when our friend Julie came over. So there's lots of room for optimism.

I listened to the song that makes me think of Mona .. Pink's "Who Knew"... and it was the first time it didn't make me cry. Which made me cry. I'm tearing up thinking about it. Ana isn't Mona, but she does fill a teensy bit of the void.

And, oh the kisses!

A Tough Month

The past month has been really hard on me. I've been very depressed about Mona's death. Like stay in bed depressed. Don't do anything after work but watch television depressed.

And try to find another dog depressed. I knew in my heart I should wait for the right dog to come to us (which may work if things go well on Monday). But I kept searching the shelter websites and Petfinder.com

Let me tell you ... trying to adopt a young female between 25 and 40 lbs into a multi-pet home is like a competitive sport. We found a dog Friday night on the Animal Friends website and she was adopted by the time I called Saturday morning. We found a dog at the Western PA Humane Society, but she was quarantined due to diarrhea. I thought that meant we had a few days. But apparently, it meant they would adopt her to a no-dog home, but not a multi pet home. So we were outmaneuvered on her, too.

I say that out of frustration, because I am very glad those dogs all found homes (there were more). But each time it didn't work out, I would get more depressed.

Finally, I posted about my frustration on a local dog email list sponsored by http://www.pghdogs.com/.

That's when Ana came to our email box. Her rescuer, Crystal, took a chance that we'd go smaller than 25 lbs and sent us her story. Ana was in a home that couldn't meet her needs. She had apparently been kicked and ended up with a broken pelvis that had to heal while she was crated for a month. That's remarkably similar to Mona's story.

So we'll see what happens. The sticking point is how Xander reacts to her. We have a doggie person coming over to help us with introductions. I admit that I have a rosy image that they'll get along fine once she adapts to the new environment. I want to be able to take a picture similar to this one of her in her foster home.

So keep your fingers crossed for us. Especially for Xander.