Langley vs. the Slug: An Epic Battle

It all started with a young dog's curiosity.  Both Langley and the slug fought valiantly but in the end were both losers.

While in the back yard with me, Langley happened upon a yellow and black spotted banana slug of the size that only a long, wet, Washington June can grow.  With his razor sharp, freshly trimmed nails he pawed the alien life form with interest, and set in motion the short but messy battle.  The slug unleashed a powerful amount of slime in panic and Langley, who believes you should taste everything at least once, slurped up a couple ounces of slimy goodness.
Quickly he learned that banana slugs aren't so tasty when they grow large and past their prime and spit the slug back out.

I watched him from across the yard messing with something: chewing it, pawing it, nosing it and rushed up with the pooper scooper.  The thing was so large and mangled that at first I thought he had caught a mouse.  Then he looked up at me.  He had leaves, grass, dirt and bits of slug guts stuck to his face.  Then I knew, we were dealing with a slug.

After taking the slug to the yard waste bin to rest in peace, it was Langley's turn.  His paw was covered in slime and dirt as was his face.  So I carried a squirming 18 pounds of rat terrier to the kitchen sink, de-slimed him as much as is possible and then put him in his crate to contain the left over slime and let it get enough fuzzy blanket stuck to it that it will not be spread around the house when he is released.
Life can have some rough lessons for a curious pup.

Pictured with a leaf stuck in the slime left on his face

The Couch

A favorite place in our house is the back of the couch.  It provides great views of the backyard and the squirrels, crows, raccoons and opossums that occasionally visit so the dogs love to sit there and attempt to scare off any intruders to what they view as their domain.  Here you see foster boys Bo and Langley, sharing patrol duty this morning from their favorite perch.

Last weekend we had guests at the house and one of them wasn't a fan of dogs.  They made the mistake of sitting on the couch right in front of the prized back of the couch dent that all the dogs love.  Over bounded Langley, he charged up over the top of her and planted his butt in the prize spot, draping his legs down her side and giving her a big lick as if to say "HIYA there, I'm Langley! Isn't this end of the couch the BEST EVER!!!"  She learned to avoid the couch.

Anyhow, the dogs have it mostly back to themselves and have spent this week celebrating with extra patrol duty.

Bo and Langley are friends! (mostly)

While there are still a few rough patches, for the most part Bo and Langley get along pretty well now.  Langley doesn't mind Bo's initial need to go all snark-Napoleon on him each time they are first outside together and that allows Bo to relax and realize that even though Langley outweighs him by 5 pounds and is double his height, he isn't a threat to him.  They now can spend time together in the house playing without having me hover over them closely supervising, which we all enjoy much better.   So it took a couple weeks of work but the boys are doing just fine now and enjoy having each other to play with since Tilly and Frodo can't be bothered.  Great news for all involved!

Langley's Boogery Blues

Langley came to us with a little bit of a sneeze and it seemed that he was getting better when all of a sudden it took a turn for the worse.  He quickly went from a couple sneezes a day to a full blown upper respiratory infection complete with fever, bright green mucous, and no appetite or energy at all. 

Yesterday morning it was off to the vet for him and the vet has put him on antibiotics to deal with the infection.  This afternoon (he had his 3rd dose of antibiotics this morning) he seems to be perking up a little.  He's still pretty sleepy but he did play a little in the yard.  He only ate 1/2 his breakfast but I gave him  a midday meal since he hasn't been eating much and he scarfed that down.  Thank goodness for stinky venison and fish Ziwi Peak which a dog can still smell a little, even with a stuffed up nose.

Now he's curled up in his crate and resting.  Here's hoping that he'll be tearing around and bothering Bo again soon. 

The Incredible Shrinking Chihuahua

Bo went to the vet today for a weigh in and he is now down to 11 pounds!  He's lost 1 pound 13 ounces and we are very proud of our sweet and nearly trim little beast.  He now struts his stuff like a lean, mean Napoleon, keeping any mischief under control and making sure everyone sees that BO IS IN DA HOUSE!

He has about another pound to lose but as the weight has come off he has really started to love to play.  When he got here he mostly wanted to lie around and exercise was a chore.  Now he loves to tear after the other dogs in the yard and tonight he showed me that he can play a mean game of tug with that muscled little body of his.

Admittedly, there's not much terrier in this little guy, but we are loving his little Chi character and hope that someone will see what an awesome, funny little guy he is.

Workin' it: Langley's photoshoot

While the weather has changed for the worst again, we have some wonderful sunny moments today in the Puget Sound area and Langley and I took that time to do a photoshoot for his upcoming listing on Petfinder.

First he showed a little leg.....

Then he stretched out for some nice leisurely poses....

But then things got goofier...

and goofier until we figured we'd call it a day.  I think he earned himself a belly rub, don't you?



Bo and Langley

While he still has a long way to go, Bo is getting much better at tolerating Langley.  It helps that Langley was just neutered yesterday so he's at about 3/4 speed right now.  In this video you hear Bo "talking" to Langley, however, it's just grumbling which is a big step from 2 days ago when I couldn't have them outside together without a tennis racket to break up fights (that Bo started.) The energy between them is MUCH calmer and their foster mom is feeling a lot calmer because of that.  Yep, we all feed off of each other's stress - humans and dogs alike.

Thankfully Langley doesn't feel the need to engage with Bo for the most part, which makes it much easier to integrate the two of them.