Tread lightly on the things of earth

We’re now proud parents of two rescue bouviers, Lillie and Emma, thanks to Judy and the folks at Second Chance Bouvier Rescue (scroll halfway down to “Lily” and “Liza” to see these girls’ adoption updates).

Last Thursday we packed into Steph’s monster truck with our old-guy lab mix Peabody (RIP) and headed to central Ohio. Ten hours later on a high school tennis court near Columbus, we met these bouvier girls for the first time along with their foster family. (Meeting through the court’s fence let Peabody and bouvs safely say hi; five minutes later they were happily running all over the court together.)

We took custody of the bouvs early the next morning, then drove ten hours back to Memphis. Height of autumn colors! Sunny All Saints’ Day! No accidents in the truck! The round trip was an wonderful adventure, but a tiring one I’d rather not repeat for a few years at least. We’d suck as truckers. :-)

The older girl, Lillie, is becoming my girl. I’m reminded anew that there’s nothing like a girl dog! The younger girl, Emma, is a big ‘un. She’s a Newfoundland-size bouvier, weighing in at an overweight 120 lbs. We’ll probably get her down to 100. Apart from her girth, it’s eerie sometimes how much she looks like, and acts like, Paddington. When considering her girth, however, it’s more like the difference between 1968 Capt. Kirk and modern-day William Shatner. :-)

We’ve approached introducing them to other people and animals with a high degree of caution, as is usually appropriate for assertive-breed rescues whose past you don’t know fully. But so far these girls have met people quite gently and courteously. Still to go: introducing them to small children and small dogs. We’re told they dislike cats, but they didn’t seem too bothered by a kitten at the vet’s.

I think both Lillie and Emma are going to bloom into wonderful people. Different as they are, I already love them both.

<!— imported into MT from 2002 Radio entry via RE on 2003-12-10 —>