When I adopted my mostly chihuahua puppy—her name is Beatrice, by the way—in August, I actually had wanted to get two puppies, but she was the only one available. So last month I went on Craigslist again and saw that a woman in Blaine had a litter of Chiweenies for sale. I did not have to look that up (as apparently some of my Facebook friends did) to know that meant a mix of Chihuahua and Dacshschund, aka Wiener dog. I texted her, made the deal, and that evening she brought him over.
Meet Benedict.
I wanted two dogs so they could be company for each other, especially while I'm away. My employer has recently told its employees that they plan to have us back in our offices by September y7. When I commute to and work in Bellingham, I'm out of the house for about nine hours.
My previous dog (rest in peace) had pretty severe separation anxiety. If left alone in the house, he chewed things, did his "business" in inappropriate places, and generally went crazy. For a while, I crated him while I went to work, but that was a sad thing to do. In 2017, when I had to live in a hotel for months on end while my home was repaired from water damage, I could not leave him in a hotel room for fear he'd howl and bark all day. I started bringing him to "doggy daycare" at Hyline Hotel for Dogs, and he loved it. When I moved back into my house, I did not have the heart to start crating him all day again, so I kept bringing him there every day. He was much happier, so it was worth it, but it was a bit spendy. When was had a financial advisor come to work, I told my co-workers that I was spending my retirement money on my dog's day care.
My theory is that dogs, because they are pack animals, are not hard-wired to cope with solitude. It freaks them out to be alone. So, now, when I go back to the 9 to 5 slog, my dogs will not be home alone.
They are still getting used to each other. It is Beatrice who has to make the biggest adjustment. Benedicts is quite placid. He waddles around cheerfully on his rather short legs, eats heartily of his puppy food, chews happily on chew sticks, and takes frequent naps. Beatrice's attitude toward him ranges from indifference to jealousy. She is not a placid dog. She is nervous and yappy, and she prances around Benedict on her long, slender legs, poking her nose at him. She has a hard time settling down with me if I want to hold both of them. She wants to be the only one in my arms. But I think eventually Benedict will come up as the alpha dog because he dominates at the food bowl. When I put it on the floor, he walks up and wades in, and if Beatrice comes up he leans over the bowl and she backs away. I've started putting two bowls down, at some distance from each other, so that if Benedict is at one Beatrice can be at the other.
When I'm busy working at my desk, they do play with each other, in puppy fashion, fake-biting each other and lunging and rolling around. Sometimes they scrap over a toy. They actually do play tug-of-war with the knotted-rope tug toys I've gotten for them.
So I think that as they grow up, they'll fight and play, like siblings, and eventually settle down to each other. They bring a lot of interest and enjoyment into my life.
