There is a new man in town

Is that the most handsome face you have seen in a long time? I think so. And he could not be sweeter if he tried.

He arrived last nite, after running loose and receiving threats of being shot by angry neighbors. He lived in a junk yard, but evidently was not supervised well, and fortunately, the owner agreed to give him to someone who could keep him safer. Linda brought him to me.

And here is the sad part. Look at that poor child. You can see every rib on him, every vertebrae, his hip bones protrude, and he has calluses on his butt bones. It is truly heart breaking.

I took him to the vet today. He weighs 104 pounds, and according to the doc, needs to gain 40-50 pounds. We got very lucky, and he is heartworm negative. We hope he is just full of worms, and we have started treating that. Slowly but surely, we will get this weight back on him. The vet also thinks he is 3 years old or so, which is older than we were told, but still not bad. I was dreading finding out that he was very old, so that is a relief. She based that partly on his teeth, which are in pretty dang good shape, but also the shape and size of his neck--that is all testosterone. Which is the next thing that will be addressed--he gets neutered in a few weeks, and will also have his stomach tacked so that if he bloats, he will not torsion. That is what killed Stumpy and Thor, and I cannot bear to go through it again.

He looks very much like Argo, who we had for several years. That was a wonderful dog, and if this dude is half as wonderful, we will be very happy with him.

He will not meet the other dogs for a few weeks, in case he has picked up something out in the world. At Simba and Slater's advanced ages, kennel cough could do them in, so better safe than sorry. He is currently spending his time in the laundry bathroom except when I am with him, because he thinks he has to mark everything. That is an unpleasant habit that I am not used to, since I do not have intact dogs ever. We will deal with it though.

The current hurdle is to get him to eat. He refused last nite, but ate over night. He has decided not to eat so far today, but maybe he will eat over night again.

I will admit he cuddled up in bed with me for a half hour this morning. I really missed that, as Thor was the best cuddler ever, and it has been a while.

Now--the immediate situation---this boy has no idea what his name is. And I did not like the one he came with, so we need some suggestions. I do not like people names for animals--as you probably know by now--but I dont really have any ideas for this dude. I want something big and strong, because he is sure gonna be!