Bessie

About 3 weeks ago, Savannah brought home a dog...yes, another one...big surprise, eh? Anyway, it's a one year old female half black lab, half mastiff that belonged to a friend of hers, from school. The family has a mom, a 16 year old son, and a 6 year old son. They are living in a rented house and they have 5 dogs. They have a female black lab and a male mastiff (not the daddy), who are grown. The neighbor's mastiff is the daddy. Anyway, the lab had a few puppies and they gave away all but 3 last year. Bessie was the runt, so they kept her, along with two of her siblings. Well, apparently, the landlord is planning to move his grandmother down here and wants to put her in the house they're renting, so they are soon moving to an apartment. Obviously, you can't have 5 dogs (big dogs!) in an apartment, so they're slowly giving away the puppies. Bessie was the first to go. Savannah's friend told her about the puppies and she stopped by the house and brought Bessie home for us to see. We balked at yet another dog, but Nicky really liked her, so we've kept her. And, man, she is the best dog! She is house-trained and listens very well, fetches, comes to her name, sits, does not jump, does not bark too much, does not chew on stuff, gets into and stays in the kennel with no problem and is great with the kids. FINALLY! A decent dog!! Not a runaway with emotional, mental, or behavioral problems! You think I jest. Anyway, she's been great and we're really enjoying her.

We had to get rid of the remaining "New Kid" (the puppies we found last year), because she was very erratic and began growling at the boys. Plus, she was attacking our old basset hound, Elvis. So, we put her in a shelter. Having Bessie has been great for the kids. Even though her breeding is large, she's not really that big. She's only about maybe 2 feet tall at the back. I guess because she was the runt. But, she's really sweet and very submissive to us.

Now guess what? The friend wants us to take Bessie's brother, who is a brindle and looks more like a mastiff and is much larger! His name is Mac, as in Big Mac. lol We haven't seen him yet, but we're anticipating seeing him later this week or next. We'll see. We'll see, too, if Nicky likes him. I imagine he will since he loves mastiffs. I just hope he behaves as well as Bessie does.

I know it seems like we have a lot of dogs, but in fact, we don't. Savannah is a dog magnet and all the strays or runaways seem to find her (or our house!!), which is why we always have new dogs. Mostly, we find homes for them, but sometimes, if we can't find a home, we'll put them in a shelter. I don't like doing that, but we can't keep them all. Of course, Savannah thinks we should. lol Believe me, when she moves out someday, there won't be any more of this bringing in strays! But, as for now, we have a new doggie, with another *maybe* on the way. I'll let you know.