Mid August, 2011
Welcoming Opus to the family!
Things have not seemed exactly right in young Elf's world for a while. A certain perking of her ears when another dog went by the house, or barked on the far side of her fences. A certain drooping of impressive corgi ears when the other dog disappeared from sight and sound. All of which, after so many repetitions, caused the human companion to think perhaps we should look for a four footed friend for the solitary, energetic one.
Late in the afternoon of August 17, this is who arrived at our front door:
Opus! From Almost Home New Mexico, in Peralta up the road just apiece.
At first we thought he was a mixed breed based on Dachshund. But he turned out not to have legs so much as springs, which suggested a terrier. That provoked a web search based on memories of a friend's black Patterdale Terrier. So now the working theory is that our new friend is a mix based on Patterdales. He weighs a whopping 18 pounds and likes nothing better than soaring off and on chairs, shelves, beds… And wrestling with Elf, who pretty much greeted him with open paws.
When I was a kid of three, my parents brought my baby brother home from the hospital. "Can we keep him," I piped up immediately. Love at first sight. Something like that seems to have happened with Elf.
Their first few days together have been spent alternately racing between house and yard, wrestling vigorously, sniffing everything in sight outdoors, barking at neighborhood dogs in unison -- and sacking out like logs to either side of the human companion.
We renamed Opus in honor of his black tuxedo suit. Originally the six-year-old fellow was "Oreo." While he is a sweet guy and a snuggle-up-agus, he is just not the cookie type. To be fair, the human tried out a list of names repeatedly. He responded similarly to Opus and Oreo -- sealing the switch.
There is also a new blog in honor of my late German Shepherd Dog, Oso in the Dogs section.
Here they are on their first morning together, shortly after sunrise. Life is rich.
