Sweetpea

Do I want a dog? Do WE want a dog?

Marie's been thinking we need a dog to increase home security. A big bark at strangers outside would be a deterrent to trouble, and Sweetpea has that, though she uses it rarely.

Jamie, a friend of Eileen's, rescues unowned dogs and places them in good homes. We'd visited her house and rejected Edgar, a very aggressive dog who is otherwise indifferent to humans. (Sweetpea has a small scar on her nose, a souvenir of the few days she boarded with Edgar.) So we were on Jamie's watch list...

Sweetpea adopted a homeless man who frequents the sidewalk in front of Jamie's office. He was asleep ("read 'passed out'," says Jamie) and woke with Sweetpea's head on his lap. Jamie worked to persuade him to give her up for adoption, while a social worker was simultaneously working on him to persuade him to go into rehab. When he finally agreed, Jamie took the dog to the vet, where they found her in good health (and spayed) except for a mild urinary tract infection. And they found a chip in her.

They phoned the number in Jonesville given in the chip, several times, without success. Then they sent a registered letter, which was never signed for. And so Sweetpea came for a visit...

She's very sweet, housebroken, very easy-going, doesn't chew anything, and she sleeps through the night!  Well, at least she goes to her bed voluntarily in the late evening, and she's still there, or on a chair, when we awake in the morning. It's been very cold. I gave her a good belly rub after my shower one morning, then offered to put her out into the back yard while I dressed. She looked skeptically at me and went back to bed. I told Marie that Sweetpea is definitely related to her...