We have a new dog. Meet Jasper.
It's not a great photo, but he's a little shy of the camera even without flash. He's 5 years old, a stray who had previously been adopted from the Peninsula Humane Society but then obviously left to his own devices. He's quiet and mellow, sweet-tempered, and he has a very delicate mouth when we feed him treats. He came over and asked for affection from both of us during our play session at the shelter which was an important test; he seemed interested in us despite the circumstances. He also responded well to whatever we asked of him: come, follow, treat. It's hard to assess interest in shelter situations, everything's so chaotic and noisy, but I thought he showed at least as much interest as Dixie did when we met her at the Nashville Humane Society so we adopted him. He weighs about 50 pounds. The shelter thought he might be part cattle dog, in which case he'll be herding the cats around, but he's classified as a Shepherd mix and I can certainly see it in the face.
We're crate training him because this is apparently the number one way to cut down on separation anxiety. We've never done it before, I hope it works. He's going to be primarily an indoor dog. John is home until Wednesday so even though I have to work Monday there will still be someone around to help Jasper get used to our household. The cats are forced to live upstairs again, and this time the hole in their baby gate is blocked so they can't get out. They are very displeased about this and are busting out of jail at every opportunity. Eventually everyone will be able to see and sniff each other if they wish, but we're going to do as every shelter and guidebook suggests and try to keep them genuinely separated for two weeks.
I'm fairly certain Jasper doesn't have a strong prey drive. Keiko snuck downstairs a couple of times already before we reinforced the baby gate upstairs and he wasn't all that interested. But he's kind of stressed from the changes so it's a little early to tell.
As usual, picking out a name was ridiculously difficult. I think this one is a good one. I like mineral names and it's easier to say than Molybdenum or Rhodochrosite. I'm pretty sure he'll learn to respond to it. They named him Sultan at the shelter, but they said he never paid any attention to the name so we felt free to rename him. He does know "come" and "sit." A good start. We'll go to obedience school in the spring and teach him a few more. I never felt like taking Dixie to obedience school because she learned on her own and obeyed us remarkably well after the first year. She was quite an escape artist at first, and I can tell Jasper is, too. He won't be left alone in the backyard for a long, long time.
I am so happy we have a new dog. I believe he's going to work out just fine.
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