Category: dogs

Orion – One Year Old

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Orion, a miniature schnauzer born on October 20, 2008, is one year old today. He came to live with us from the Pikes Peak Humane Shelter on December 18, 2008.

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I would have taken him for a haircut to celebrate his birthday but there is a dog flu epidemic in Colorado Springs right now, and I want him fully inoculated before he goes to the groomers’ again. Besides, I don’t think Orion thinks going to be groomed is much of a celebration.

His favorite things are eating, playing with his packmates, riding in the car to play-dates with his BFFs Cheney and Brody, playing with his squeaky toys, playing “Where’s Jack,” and giving Puppy Wakeup Calls.  He is much stronger than one would expect of a dog his size, and quite athletic. I don’t pick him up very often, since I am not into carrying dogs, but whenever I do I go “oomph.”

He has been a very healthy puppy.  I was concerned at one point because his permanent teeth came in and the deciduous (baby) teeth didn’t fall out.  His vet recommended waiting and seeing what would happen and the deciduous teeth finally fell out about two months later.  This was a big relief: I didn’t want him to undergo surgery to remove the teeth, but it was disconcerting when he would yawn and remind one of the movie, “Jaws.”

I hardly ever call him the demon puppy anymore.

Rion at Day Camp

Meanwhile, back in Colorado, Rion had a good day:

Rion Normandy-Heneghan spent the day at Old Ranch Stables.  There was a open play session, a roll in the sand event,  freestyle tug toy pull,  an observation class on cat behavior, cookie time (a real favorite), and naptime (when the counselor left to get her hair cut).  He and his cousin got kicked out of the photo session; whenever the camera came out they would not even begin to do anything interesting (other than jump on the photographer).  As a result no photos of the event are available.  I will say Rion looked pretty much the same when he left as when he arrived, except dirtier and quieter.  A very nice day.  The counselor had to stay home most of the day to wait for the guy to come clean the portapotty, while the Nanny left to help paint trim on her dad’s house.

Cheney and Orion


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Jack said I had to upload a photo with Cheney and Orion so viewers could see how much smaller Cheney is compared to Orion. I think Orion was blinking from the flash during this photo. I decided to go with it anyway, since it is very difficult to keep two terrier type dogs sitting at the same time. I tried to photograph Cheney next to a soft drink can, but Cheney was deeply suspicious of it.

Cheney

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Cheney is a very small, three year old Rat Terrier with Issues who was adopted by my friend when he was about one and a half years old. A couple of months ago, my friend was bemoaning the fact that she would never go on vacation again because she wouldn’t ask a critter sitter to take care of Cheney. My friend is our backup for whoever takes care of our critters when we travel, so I told her he could come stay here. He is also Orion’s best friend, at least when Orion is visiting his house.

Since we were worried about how Cheney would get on, she brought him out for several trial runs. The first time he was worried, but at least not catatonic. (If Cheney was a person, I would say he had some sort of severe anxiety disorder.) During the second, longer trial a few days ago when my friend left for a few hours, he was still worried but actually showed signs of interacting with me, the environment and the other dogs. So yesterday I went to pick up Cheney so he could stay for a few days.

It is going quite well. Yesterday, I was gating dogs into various groups inside the house so they wouldn’t be in a critical mass while they adjusted. I also put Cheney in his crate a few times when he seemed overloaded. After the first few hours, Lody, the old Collie, decided he could be safely ignored. Lightning, the Sheltie, seems to like him. Lily seems to like him. And Orion thinks it is terrific, though I’ve had to put Rion in time out when he gets too boisterous for the other dogs.