Riley Comes Home

So for the past two weeks we have had a dog...we had no choice
He has been named Riley...we had no choice
He has ruled our lives...we had no choice
BUT he isn't the pack leader! NO HE ISN'T!!!

When I was at church Parker fired up the invisible fence. I found this out when I came home to dribbles up the steps and a dog that would not go outside. The same dog we had been trying so hard to keep inside.
It seems the beeping signal only increased his curiosity. He tried to find the source by digging. So he needed to realize what the beeping was warning him of. He found out. He didn't like it and he ran for the house. It's been 10 days and he still won't venture into the yard without a lot of bribing and tugging. We were so concerned that his headstrongness would be an issue, never expecting him to be such a softy. Any correction, be it verbal or physical really scares him. I shudder to think what his life was like pre-incarceration. He had been in lockup for 6 weeks when I first saw him. No one looked for him. No one cared.
Well he won't wander again, at least not from our home. We left him outside during the day this past weekend and he stayed on the porch all day with just the fear of being zapped keeping him home.
He rides to work with me each morning. This is not easy either. He doesn't mind riding, he just doesn't want to get into the increasingly smelly car. We have progressed though. At first I had to physically pick him up and put him in the back seat. After a few days I began to lift his front legs with my foot, placing them on the floor of the back seat. Then I would put my foot in his butt and shove him in the rest of the way. Today he actually climbed in on his own after being dragged to the door. Small steps! But progress non the less.
At work he pretty much sleeps. He moves around the building several times during the day, finding a new bed and collapsing again. When he is awake he gets nothing but loving from 90% of the people who come in. You can tell dog people. As soon as a dogger sees him they bend down and scratch an ear. They invite him to jump up on them and chuckle at his obvious joy. A non-dogger will either totally ignore his presence or make a snide remark such as "oh, you have a dog" or " can't you get that smell off of him?"
His favorite activity at work is looking out the large windows that frame the front of our building. As he watches the world go by he reacts differently to each person. A child will make him whine and scratch to be allowed out. Someone with dogs will get a "gruff" out of him. The ubiquitous train whistle makes him talk. We wonder if the whistle hurts his ears. He will raise his little round hound mouth to the sky and howl in tune with the train. If you have ever heard a beagle/hound talk you know what I mean. As soon as the whistle stops he stops.
Walking the dog has become an activity shared by myself, John & Parker. John loves the dog and would come to work just to care for him. They take frequent strolls around the building and down to a retention pond. The grassy area is full of sticker burrs and he often has to be rescued as his paw pads fill with them. Some days he refuses to go on the grass and I can't blame him. They hurt!
So begins our life with Riley. We wonder how long we will be his custodians. He sleeps so much and any activity tires him quickly. Tomorrow I take him for his second round of shots and to schedule the heart worm treatment. Maybe the vet can help with the smell problem too.
A pet asks so little of us. I realize if we treated the people we meet in our daily lives with the same caring as we do this little animal, then we might be just a little more Christ-like.
As I type, he snores and the day starts to pass me by. Gotta get to work.
Sleep on Riley!