Last September, I adopted a dog on Friday the 13th, just two days after my birthday. I drove to the Indiana border to rescue a dog that was only 80 dollars and was apparently 3 years old. (Vet papers said probably over 1 year old) However old she was, they knew she had been abandoned outside the shelter, and then she had been adopted before me and was brought back the same day, since she tried to kill the family cat. She loves people, but occasionally gets nervous around strangers. Loves dogs too, but she is food aggressive around them and also doesn’t want other dogs to have more attention than her, so she can’t live with other dogs.
She was perfect! No other dogs, no cats, and it’s just me, so this will work; also, she has these blue eyes. My phone does no justice to the pictures. When the sun hits them, they light up like sapphires!
For the first two months I had her, she was a shy dog. Rarely chewed on toys, had to be in her kennel while I was at work. It’s held together with 6 padlocks since she figured out every single way to escape it. Oh yeah, this dog is intelligent. Everyone thinks their dog is smart, but no, this dog is something else. She is a problem solver. I’ll watch her trial and error on things, like watching her teach herself how to open doors, open cabinets, unscrew caps on jars and bottles, unsnap containers, and eat every piece of deer jerky! That happened at my dad’s house. During the hunting season, she came with me and stayed at my dad’s house for the weekend….until after the morning hunt. She figured out how to open all 3 latches on the kennel and broke through into my dad’s house and did more damage there than she has ever done here. So that night and the test of the weekend, we slept at home. I just got up extra early, but it’s fine, I like sleeping in my own bed.
Little bitch, that’s what she can be. Used to jump the fence all the time when she saw a rabbit or another dog. Slipped out of her harness and took off into the middle of the road, almost getting hit by two cars. Nico has weird anxiety at night. I have to give in to many distractions just so I can have a moment to relax after work. When she plays, she wants to fight with her claws, and since it takes more than one person to actually clip them, they get pretty long, and I have several scars to prove it. She has killed a possum, at least 2 birds, a rabbit, and almost had several baby rabbits, but I got them from her before she could kill them.
About a month ago, we were walking home from the park when we were nearing the corner. It’s the last turn we take before home, which is 3 houses up the street. Before we hit the corner, a woman was outside with her border collie, with no leash. The dog is nearly twice Nico’s size. It ran up to Nico and smelled her. Nico was friendly as she always is until… the dog attacked Nico, snarling and snapping at Nico’s face. See, Nico is very fast, 0 to 100 in under a second; she dodged both bites, and she retaliated. Nico bit down on the Collie’s snout, had the whole thing in her mouth, and drove that collie back into its owner, and was turning the collie’s head, which gave a quick flash of her killing that rabbit. I yanked her off immediately.
Yeah, she has been with me almost a year now, and we have a hundred stories. Just this morning, I caught her knocking the stuff I weigh my snake’s tank lid down because she was trying to get the lid off to kill him. I might have to move him to the other bedroom where she can’t get him. I tell these stories, but she is very loyal to me and a complete sweetheart. Nico, the Blue Eyed Devil (I love Pitch Black), but she is so much more than any dog I have ever met.
The rest of the year feels like a bust. Nothing significant happened; I didn’t do much, and there were lots of letdowns. Work has been crazy, but I have something good coming on the horizon. I am not going to say what that is until it is laid out before me, and I am working on projects I am actually happy about. Halloween is near, so let’s hope……
Not the most interesting 34, but I feel better about turning 35. (I still feel like 24) But to my little devil, Happy early gotcha day! I am making her a dog safe cake for Saturday (Gotcha Day) and Happy Birthday to me…in a couple of hours from my time.
In The Spider's Web 