Duke's Gotcha Day!

Duke and Maggie November 2009

People frequently ask if Maggie and Duke are from the same litter, since they look alike and get along really well. Duke is a year younger than Maggie, and her mom was spayed after being rescued by Save a Sato. (They might have the same dad, as they were both street dogs with mystery dads.)

 Finding Duke was a little bit like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Mississippi spells FUN!

The first dog we met was a beautiful pit bull puppy, who was too hyper for Maggie and kept jumping on her even when Maggie snarl faced and snapped. Mr.Man and I really liked that dog, but Maggie wanted to eat her face. She did NOT like having a giant puppy that was already her size climbing all over her and wanting to PLAY nonstop!

This is Mississippi, she's available for adoption through Worcester Animal Rescue League (WARL). She's one and a half and has that same type of fun puppy personality as the dog we wanted to adopt, if Maggie would have let us. WARL is running an adoption special through October 31 where you get to decide the adoption fee, so go meet Mississippi or their other cute cats & dogs! They have a lot of sweet pit bull and pit mix dogs, Sierra recently earned her Canine Good Citizen Certificate!

Lovely Liana

We went to Buddy Dog to see the next dog, who was an adorable little chihuahua, very friendly and laid back. Maggie had no interest in this dog at all. Maggie likes most dogs, but completely ignored her, even though she was very polite.

This is Liana, she's available for adoption through Buddy Dog Humane Society. She's 8 months old and has a similar personality to the cute chihuahua that we met, as Liana loves other dogs and cats too! Like Maggie and Duke, she can be a little shy at first, but is great with older children and adults. Buddy Dog has all sorts of dogs, including hounds, labs, a purebred rottweiler, a pair of beautiful shepherds and quite a few cute smaller mixed breeds, including a pug/beagle mix. They have a lot of friendly and playful cats available for adoption too.

Maggie's laser vision detects good times!

 Maggie really liked a beagle/whippet mix that we met while at the B.O.N.E.S. Beagle Bash. When I saw a listing for a 1 year old whippet mix on the Buddy Dog site, I called about him, even though there was no picture. Duke wasn't even supposed to be listed yet, as he had just been transferred from another shelter. He had been labeled "fear aggressive", and the shelter had been talking about sending him back to Puerto Rico to live in a feral dog rescue for dogs deemed "unadoptable."

Luckily one of the people who worked there called Buddy Dog and asked if they would take him. He was there for 2 days when we brought Maggie to meet him. When Maggie saw Duke she sat right next to him like she already knew him. They went for a walk with no issues, so we let them play in the fenced area and they ran around together. Back inside, Duke jumped up on the seat next to Mr.Man, who said "What fear aggression?" We brought Duke home that day, on Halloween 2009.

Dog Fort!

When we brought Duke home he went right into Maggie's XL crate with her. (He did go into his own crate at night when we said "go to bed.") They're still pretty much inseparable, though Duke will sometimes go lay on the couch with Mr. Man or hang out on the bed with the cats, while Maggie is my velcro dog.

Maggie definitely likes male dogs more than females, which may have been part of the reason she didn't warm up to the first two dogs. There are so many great dogs at shelters, and the people who work there do such a good job at finding the right match; it really wasn't hard to find the perfect dog for our picky girl. Getting Duke was the best thing we ever did for Maggie, she loves having a little brother to boss around. The video below is them playing on Duke's first night home.

Best.Halloween.Ever.