Sunday, July 19, 2015

Meet The New Catican Guards!

After the tragic death of our Smaller Catican Guard, Ellie*, a few weeks ago, we decided to get another one as the Larger Catican Guard, Bodie, was very depressed. We auditioned two separate dogs and neither of them fit the bill. Yesterday, we drove up to Riverside to look at a Chihuahua mix puppy, which is what Ellie had been.

There were three in the litter and all of them were beautiful. When we arrived, a couple was adopting one of the three. We fell in love with the others immediately and ended up coming home with two, Leah and Lilly. Bodie is happy to have new recruits in the Catican and has already begun training them (primarily not to take his toys while he is playing with them).

We've got a few other things going on right now, so we have scheduled a gathering of the College of Cardinals a few weeks hence to select a new Maximum Leader. When we begin the Conclave, you will see black smoke arise on the sidebar of this blog until we have chosen one, which will be heralded by white smoke. In the meantime, the Catican Guards will continue their training and will maintain a respectful and preparatory posture in the Catican Compound.

Which means a lot of playing with toys, eating crunchy food and running about in joy.

Leah is the one looking at the camera. She has very long legs. Lilly, looking away from the camera, has more Chihuahua-like features.
* - I've not been a dog person since I was a child and hadn't owned one in about 40 years when we got Bodie. I was certainly never a fan of little dogs. Originally, I hadn't wanted to get Ellie when we first met her, but my wife talked me into it. My attitude towards little dogs changed almost instantly. Ellie, as far as I was concerned, hung the moon. I have loved pets in my time, but Ellie was beyond loved. I've never been so sad for so long at the loss of a pet. These two are beautiful and I love them already, but I there's only one Ellie in anyone's life and that's OK with me. I was blessed enough to share 5 years of my life with her. Thank you, God.

6 comments:

Jedi Master Ivyan said...

They are darling. I'm sure they will make excellent guards for the new Maximum Leader.

Trigger Warning said...

My wife was not a dog person when we got married. And, as it happens, I was traveling a lot at the time and was between dogs. As my new bride and I settled in, I noticed a local ad for beagle puppies. When I raised it with my new wife, she pooh-poohed the idea. No way were were getting a dog. Dogs were "too much overhead".

I agreed. Then I suggested, "But for fun, let's just go look." Heh.

Lieutenant Mr. Dog, the Samurai Space Beagle, rode home on her lap.

tim eisele said...

Much cute!

What was the chihuahua mixed with in this case? Leah looks kind of terrier-like.

K T Cat said...

Tim, we were told it was Pomeranian, but I don't believe that for a second. They just don't have the look and Leah shows signs she might hit 10-12 pounds. I think you're right, it looks like terrier or cocker spaniel.

tim eisele said...

Yeah, I'm not buying "Pomeranian" either. I suppose it's possible that the Chihuahua short-hair trait completely overwhelmend the Pom's poofiness, but in that case where would the longer nose and legs have come from?

Speaking of people incorrectly assigning breeds to dogs: years ago, we got a dog from the local animal shelter that they claimed was a "German Shepherd/Labrador Retriever Mix". Aside from being about 80 lbs and mostly black, though, he had no particular resemblance to either of those breeds. After noting that there were a lot of local dogs who looked a lot like him (and hardly any German Shepherds or Labs around), I'm pretty sure that he never had any ancestors that would have been considered to be any recognized breed. He was just a dog. Possibly descended from the dogs the local Indians had all along. Trying to say he was a "mix" of specific breeds was just all kinds of nonsense.

I'm told that the local tribes used to use dogs as a sort of self-heating blanket in the winter, and he certainly did like to lie on top of people.

K T Cat said...

I love the laying on top of people part right about now. This morning, after an 80-minute romp, these two just wanted to sleep in my lap while I sat on the floor. Going in to work was pretty hard.

:-)