Homer

Day: 16
High Temp: 91F
Job Status: Unemployed

For weeks leading up to our move to Austin, Tom and I discussed getting a dog. It is something I had wanted for a long time, but we had always found Chicago very unfriendly to dogs. It is hard to find an apartment that will let you have one, and those brutal, 6 month-long winters don't make middle of the night potty training any easier.

We found a great little lab-mix named Clive last week, but when Tom got home from class, and we went to go see him, he had been adopted by someone else. Tom was a little crushed, which was the first time I realized that he wanted a dog just as much as I did. After missing the opportunity to make Clive our own, we started looking at all the adoption websites, and came upon a little 2 month old Aussie mix. I fell in love with his pic immediately, and so began the process to get approved by that particular rescue organziation so we could meet him. Thursday afternoon I got word that we were approved, and so we set up an apporintment to see the little guy for the next afternoon. We were told that if he was the right fit for us, we could take him home that day.

We met him at the rescue center, and fell in love immediately. He is very cute, but also suprisingly calm. He is sweet, inquisitive and not at all aggressive. He is also not very vocal, which we thought might be good, as we are living in an apartment. Knowing that his mother was an Australian cattle dog, we did expect him to have a lot of energy, and need a lot of excercise, but he hasn't really been that demanding. Indeed, it's hard to get him to play much when he is inside, and he is reluctant to go on walks, although he seems to really enjoy himself once he is moving.



After much discussion, we decided to name him Homer. For years now, Tom and I have had a make believe dog named Homer (it's a long story), and after meeting this guy, we knew he embodied all the wonderful traits and wisdom of our pretend dog, and that it was the perfect fit. Our real Homer sleeps a lot, and likes to chew, and be petted. He has itchy skin (we think from residue protein from old flea bites still irritating his skin) so he is constantly scratching. We have put him on Benadryl, which makes him even more sleepy than he already was.

And he is slowly getting the hang of the potty training thing, which is more work than I remember. Tom and I still have many more weeks of waking up once or twice a night to take him out, but we think he is worth it! We are planning on driving to St. Louis for Christmas this year, so those of you in that area will have a chance to meet him then. Fingers crossed that by that time he is sleeping through the night, and not having accidents on the carpet!