We Are Now a Two Barkbox Household

Boop!

One of the joys of having a heeler is that they chew. Luna chews and chews. To prevent her from eating my shoes and Owen’s toys I have always made sure that she had plenty of dog toys to chew on. She was only a few months old when I ordered her first bark box. Every month when hers arrives the first thing she does is start to systematically destroy whatever toys are in her box. As a result I never have too many dog toys— once she has chewed them into bite size pieces I throw them away.

Where is the squeaker?!

Now that we have Emery, we get two bark boxes a month. Unfortunately Luna doesn’t understand the concept of “her” toys and “Emery’s” toys. When Emery’s box comes, Luna inevitably chooses whichever toy she wants and works on it until she has at least located the squeaker and removed it. Right now she is working on disemboweling Scooby Doo. Emery doesn’t seem to mind too much that all of her toys have been destuffed and desqueaked. She’s happy as long as there’s enough left to play tug of war with.

Just a Little Tandem Walk with the Dogs

The day after we brought Emery home I took her and Luna for a walk together. I had never walked two dogs at once before. I had never walked a blind dog before. I didn’t know if Luna was going to spend the whole walk growling at Emery or trying to bite her. Almost every day now since I brought her home I have walked Emery and Luna together, mostly on my own.

So what’s it like walking a blind dog and a heeler? Emery walks along either beside or in front of me very well. However, she will run into obstructions (like fences at the edges of yards) if I don’t steer her away from them. This is a challenge for me since I am always trying to pay attention to both Luna and Emery while we walk. Luna will lunge at and bark at people and other dogs if I don’t restrain her. If I see someone coming towards us I will move all of us off the sidewalk so the person or dog can pass, but if I come up on someone or just don’t see them Luna will pull and bark and, unfortunately, Emery will follow her. Today both Luna and Emery were trying to pull me out into the street while a woman ran by us with her dog. That’s 44 pounds of stubborn as shit heeler and about 50 pounds of her faithful sidekick in naughtiness. I was able to pull them away, but it was not easy.

Emery really is an excellent walker. She does pull if she wants to either sniff at a telephone pole or another dog’s excrement or if she is looking for the perfect place to poop, but otherwise she stays close to me. We have even, all three of us, run a little on our walks. This works best if we can run down the middle of the street because the pavement is smoother than the sidewalk and there are fewer objects for Emery to encounter. We run slowly, Emery on my right side with a very short length of leash, and Luna in front of us. We don’t go fast or far but we can all run together fairly smoothly.

Emery loves her dinosaur

New Dog

Emry chilling on the couch downstairs

Before we brought Emry home we referred to her as “new dog.” As in, “I wonder how Luna will adjust to new dog” or “Owen, are you excited about new dog?” Before she came home with us I expected that she would be like Luna— who follows me everywhere. Having Emry has reminded me that Luna is not like other dogs. Australian Shepherds are often called “Velcro dogs” because they bond strongly with their human and they want to be with you all the time. If I move from the chair in the living room into the bedroom to change my shoes, Luna goes with me. If I go downstairs to do a load of laundry Luna follows me and waits outside the baby gate that blocks off the laundry room, sometimes whining if she can’t see me. She sits in front of the sink when I brush my teeth in the morning so that I have to place one foot on each side of her. It’s like have a toothy, furry toddler. She is the best and also the most protective and prickly and sometimes bity of dogs.

Emry, on the other hand, amuses herself. She goes downstairs when I’m upstairs. She lays down in the middle of the floor and sleeps and doesn’t get up unless she wants to. She likes me and she likes Todd and she thinks Owen is a furless playmate, but she can do her own thing. She likes playing fetch and tug and she loves going for walks too but she can survive without constant attention. She is the perfect compliment to Luna’s constant vigilance.

Emery

Emery likes to sleep in the bed

This post could be subtitled: How I’m dealing with Five Weeks and Counting of Quarantine.

A couple of weeks ago I found myself on Petfinder perusing dogs. Mainly Heelers and Australian Shepherds or Cattle Dogs. Then I stumbled on a listing for a deaf Australian shepherd mix from a rescue called Double J Dog Ranch. I sent the link to my husband and he started looking at the rescue’s dogs too.Then he asked me why I wanted a dog now. Good question.

I have been working from home (mostly), home schooling my son (badly) and basically keeping myself busy around the house since the third week in March. This absolutely is the perfect time to adopt a dog. I haven’t spent so much time at home and with the furry members of my family ever. If ever I had the time to introduce a new dog to the pack, this was it.

After being approved to adopt from the rescue, and talking to the lovely women who run it, we decided to bring Emery home on a sleepover. Emery is almost six years old and blind. She is a shepherd mix and before coming to the rescue she had been with the same family since she was a puppy. She is potty trained and knows commands for sit and lay down. She walks on the leash very well and is very, very sweet.

The biggest challenge in bringing Emery home has been how Luna, our Australian shepherd/cattle dog/heeler mix is adjusting to the new family member. Luna is definitely an alpha female and doesn’t like to share: not her chair, not her toys, not her food and not her people. So far though, there’s been some growling and barking and light nipping but nothing serious. I even took them out for a walk together yesterday.

This is our beloved Miss Big Ears: Luna

The most surprising thing so far? Emery likes to play fetch. She hands me her toy and lifts her head to hear the drop of the toy on the floor and then she goes and finds it.

Look: no biting