ROSCOE THE DOG

puppydog eyes



This is my new friend Roscoe. Thursday afternoon driving home from town, I took the back road coming up the mountain by a whim. I went around the curve at the bottom of the mountain at Whitehead and saw Rick Harris on a tractor headed up the mountain. Going by him I decided to take the back road so he wouldn't have to deal with the dust. I seldom take the back road, but sometimes like to. As soon as I crossed the bridge Waterfalls Creek passes under, a big puppy came running behind the car, running with all its might, ears flopping, yipping, squealing, barking. He wasn't going to let me get away. This is a place where people put out puppies and kittens. I stopped the car, got out. The puppy was frantic to be touched, to be seen, like the Who's Tommy: see me, feel me, touch me, heal me. The eyes looking at me with all-out pleading, intelligent eyes and a strong sense for self-preservation. I put him in the car. He curled up on the seat beside me and stayed there all the way home.



I thought about keeping the dog overnight and taking it to Twin Oaks next day. I've been needing a dog to walk with. I'm not able to go walking by myself. It's boring. A dog makes a walk an enjoyment. I've never been able to exercise for exercise sake. Walking on a treadmill is worse than walking on a paved road without a dog. I knew Caterpillar and Tapo would hate it. It's still summer and the dog can stay outside so the cats can have indoors secure from dog invasion. Tapo was outside when I brought the dog home. She couldn't come back to the house, because the dog was outside the door. Today I had to search for her. Found her in a place only a snake could have reached her. I was calling to her. She called back and I followed her voice until I found her. I was carrying her to the door. Here comes the dog. Tapo jumped down and ran under the bathroom.



I took the dog and tied a rope around his neck and the other end to a tree. Houdini dog was almost out of the rope by the time I got Tapo into the house. I took the cat carrier out there and put her in it so I could pass the dog without her going nuts all over me. As soon as I let her out, she went to the bathroom to her hiding place behind the tub where no dog can go. She's been there ever since. At least she's in the house and I know she's still living. She has always been the first one to get along with a dog that enters the house. If she'd been in the house she wouldn't be so freaked. She'll be a few days approaching the rest of the house. Caterpillar tends to stay close to hiding places, easy getaway places. They're both spooked. I'm pulled in several directions.



This dog is so rampageous he wants to jump on me all the time. All the time. I push him down every time and tell him feet belong on the ground. He responds to barking instantly. When I holler STOP IT, that's the end of it. It's really the only thing he responds to instantly. It doesn't take any convincing. I can push him down a hundred times and he keeps coming back. I holler Stop It like a bark and that's it. For the moment. He rides well in the car. Only issue is when I get out, the dog turns into a snake pushing its way with his snout determined to go with me. It turns into a wrestling match that wears both of us out. I took him along yesterday when I went to town for whatever it was, using the trip to make the decision whether or not to take him on to Twin Oaks Vet to be a pound dog. We hadn't bonded yet, so it would have been easy to pass him on. I chose to come on back. On the way home I realized this is now my dog and the cats will have to get used to it. I'll give them full consideration.



Realizing this was now my new dog I started searching for a name. Nothing would come to me. My mind went blank. Sitting at the computer yesterday I told myself to remember names I've thought in the past I'd like to name a male dog. Right away the name Roscoe came up. There it was. His left ear flops over on top of his head. It grew that way. Melia Edwards told me her dog, Buddy, had an ear like that. It corrected itself as Buddy grew. I wouldn't mind if Roscoe's ear stayed like that. Took him in to town today, had to leave the car twice for a few minutes. He didn't shred the interior. Though when I opened the door it was like wrestling a boa to keep him in the car and make room for me to get in. Finally I sat on his head, not hard to crush him, but enough to hold him down a short time to teach him to keep his head away from where I'm sitting, like stay out from under my feet. Right now he walks up close behind me and will not pass me when we're walking. He doesn't know where I'm going and it would be preposterous of him to want to be out in front like dogs do. He will in a day or 2. I'm taking him on short walks the same way each day to help him have some places that are familiar. He'll make a good dog to walk with when he knows his new landscape better. He's a roly poly. Roscoe needs the walking practice as much as I do. We'll learn to walk together.



I'm guessing he's 2 months old, not much more. My neighbor Allan told me about 5 puppies that had been put out where I found Roscoe. I told him I have one. He told me the Episcopal--I don't know what they call them--minister who is up here at Air Bellows let his kids take 2 of them. Allan has been telling about them on facebook. I've found so many dogs and cats along there that have been put out it's like I know on sight one seen there is homeless. It's a place where there are no houses, out of sight where nobody will see the act. I've found homes for several and Allan has too. I don't even question who might have done it. Anybody might have done it. My concern is it's an abandoned baby. Puppies can't find food. Roscoe has been kept in a pen with the mother and 5 pups. Roscoe is a classic black and tan mix of everything. It seems like in dogs when all kinds of breeds are mixed in one body the hair is black and tan. That's the kind I like, a mix of several races. Roscoe is so inexperienced that every experience is new. He's a fur ball of mayhem.



Stopped by CJ Hardware to get some Frontline flea/tick one-spot. That's where I sat on Roscoe's head. He was covered with fleas. This poison starts spreading in ways I don't understand and don't want to. The fleas freak out and run around like ants on the outside of a kettle that's heating up. That's been the dog's day since we got home and I put it on him. He wrings and twists, sometimes lets out a yelp from the severe discomfort of fleas running for their lives all over his skin. This goes on for several hours. By morning the fleas will be gone, dog will be without vampire bugs biting him and crawling on his skin through the forest of puppy fur.