In which Haiku Farm gains a new employee, and he is very soft

Foxie Loxie has been our only dog for a while.

Our beloved Roo's gentle heart gave out last summer, which nearly broke our hearts.  She is buried here at home, of course, with an apple tree to mark her grave because bacon doesn't grow on trees.

That left Fox as the only dog, which is a huge responsibility for such a small fellow.  He has matured in his time with us--nearly 10 years now--and has faithfully executed the tasks as assigned, including barking at the garbage truck, barking at the goats, barking at the neighbor, barking at school bus, barking at the Amazon truck...

We thought it was time to add an apprentice dog, and yesterday we hired this fluffy guy:

His old name was "Derek."  Blech.  He is now "HRH Winnie the Pooh of the House of Floof."
Pooh-Bear for short.  

Pooh Bear is a 3 year old sheltie who has already had some adventures.  He earned his AKC Champion status before his first birthday.

Photo from his AKC show days

After finishing that task, the breeder decided not to keep him in the breeding program, so he was neutered and placed in a pet home with an elderly couple.  However, one of the adopters died, and the other had dementia.  Even with the help of a daughter, this little guy wasn't getting the care he needed, and his weight went from 23.9 pounds to 41.3 pounds in about a year.  

Santa Jim interviews the new hire

That enormous fur coat he carries might be a sign of thyroid imbalance (common in Shelties, most of ours have had this).  He may or may not have had some seizures in the past.  Because of the dementia, the former owner was something of an unreliable narrator.  

Reading through the (!! 40 !!) pages of his vet records made me so anxious that I asked Jim not to read them.  Our beloved vets Patty and Crystal and Casey have promised to help us make good choices for him, which includes re-evaluating the bucket of meds he came with.

The adopter finally moved to a memory care facility, and the little pudgeball moved to a Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue foster home.  They kept him for a while to try to get his weight under control (he's lost about 5 pounds) and then contacted us.  

Jim immediately claimed him as a personal assistant, much to Fox's relief.  Fox doesn't mind having an apprentice but he doesn't much want to share his momma.

Coming home to Haiku Farm

Pooh Bear's employee onboarding will look familiar to longtime readers:  Jim toured him around today on leash, and introduced him to the other residents.  

He was a little awed by the size of the Dragon (valid) and very interested in the "chicken soup" (the kitchen scraps that we feed to chickens every day).  He and Foxie will be working closely together and are already friends.

Pooh Bear had never been invited onto a couch before,
and needed to check with HR.  Fox will teach him all about that stuff.

Most interesting of all is CATS.

He is already earned off-leash privileges, and is making headway through essential training modules including "sit on command" and "play the zoom game in the backyard, not the kitchen."

He is also already filling a gap in service.

Roo and Foxie : with a whole house of sleeping spots to choose from,
they usually slept together.

Foxie and Pooh Bear: continuing the tradition.