How Mr. Trip Came To Live With Us

Our family grew by one during the storm – just a tiny one. Donna, the woman who cleans our house, lives in the old part of Pearland, next to some folks who have had a Chihuahua/rat terrier mix since the beginning of the summer and she said that they often left him in the back yard tied to a tree while at work. Can you imagine? In the Houston humid sweltering heat? Poor baby. Well, her kids heard the dog whimpering and barking on Thursday, the day before Hurricane Ike was to hit, and they found he had once again been tied to the tree with no food nor water. And the people had evacuated because of Ike! So Donna untied him and took him into her house to ride out the storm. She didn’t want to return him when these people returned home so she asked if I’d foster him until she could take him to the Humane Society. So, he’s now living with us - but we are failures as foster parents. We've already adopted him!

Everyone on Donna’s block was in on the rescue and when the owners returned they all said that they had no idea where the pup had gotten off to. Probably ran away during the storm. The bad thing is that they will probably just go get another dog and abuse it as well. But at least this sweet little dog has been saved.

I was amazed that Porch Boy and Tater took to him right away. They usually are quite ferocious about protecting their territory. But they just accepted him, tails wagging, rump-sniffing galore. Clearly he had never been walked on a leash. About an hour after he arrived, I put one of P Boy’s harnesses on him and took them all out on a walk. He was freaking out. Kept rolling over on his back to bite the leash and when he got all wrapped up in it I tried to release him. He bit me. Not enough to bleed but a hard bite – enough to say “What the heck is going on here???” I just held him close and petted him. Now I use the double leash with him and P Boy - he loves P Boy and feels more secure when I have them both leashed together.

The first night he stayed in the crate that Donna provided. When I let him and the other dogs out for their morning backyard pee, mine came bounding back inside but he stopped cold at the door and began to shake. I encouraged him to come on inside but he just looked up at me with his ears flat back on his head, kind of cowering. Broke my heart. I picked him up and held him awhile.

He seemed quite bewildered by the cats, but hasn’t bothered them so far. Keeps his distance. The second night I invited him to join me and the rest of the pack in my bed and when I picked him up he was more than happy to sleep in my armpit all night.

I’ve named him “Mr. Trip” but call him “Trip” which is short for “Triple” since he’s the 3^rd dog that has come into my life and my heart. He is a great addition to the family. So sweet. I taught him to sit today. He's definitely the smartest of the 3 dogs. He learned to sit in less than 8 minutes.

Good news from the vet is that he is heartworm negative, but unfortunately he has hookworms. Typical for an outdoor dog. He will need to finish 2 weeks of meds for them and then we'll have him fixed. The vet says he is probably 6-9 months old, based on the number of puppy teeth. We did get him microchipped. I will post several videos but some are a bit dark. Can't wait for everyone to meet our newest baby!