The new dog

A dog showed up at our house yesterday and is acting like he lives here.  He hasn't tried coming in the house, in fact when the kids tried to coax him in he refused.  He sits when you tell him to sit. He lays down when told.  He has a bit of a limp at times.  I think maybe he fell off someone's pickup as they were driving by.  He's the right breed for a good ranch dog.  He even gets along well with Big Dog and Yip-yip. 

I put the baby chickens cage onto the backyard lawn today.  I took the runt chick out and placed it on new dog.  The new dog didn't panic and didn't try to eat the chick.  So far so good.  I had also taken Girl's parakeet bird cage outside and put it onto the lawn.  New dog jumped on that cage a couple of times.  Death by heart attack for the parakeets?  No, they survived.  I wonder if new dog was interested in pouncing on them because they kept flying around.  Chicken was pretty calm.  Who knows.  I don't trust any dog with chickens for any length of time but if one gets out I don't want it killed. 

The kids want to keep new dog.  I said OK but first we have to try to find the owner.  "Why?" they complained.  Finders keepers.  No.  We are obligated to try to find the owner.  Otherwise we would be stealing.  This dog isn't a dumped dog.   If Big Dog lost her way I sure wouldn't want someone to just keep her without trying to track us down.  

But this means I have to prepare for another dog.  Yip-yip isn't ours but I still included her in our food storage plans.  After all, she hardly eats anything compared to Big Dog.  But this dog.  I think he will have a good appetite.  That means I'm going to have to store a couple hundred more pounds of food.  So about a hundred dollars will need to be spent on dog food plus a can to store it in. 

I'm hoping I can get up to GI Jim's next week to pick up some 55 gallon drums.  He had them for a good price two months ago.  I just haven't been able to get up there since while driving my truck, and 55 gallon cans won't fit into the Prius!