We decided a few weeks ago that Rufus T. Firefly would be a happier dog if he had a little sister to keep him company. He wasn’t getting weird, exactly, but we felt that he’d be better around other dogs if he had a fellow grey around during the day, and didn’t just have to be the foil to my repartee.
So we went down to the Greyhound Friends NJ annual craft fair to check out some of the “adoptables” they brought along. We had our eye on a particular girl we saw on their website, but she turned out to be a little ball of rage and fury.
We checked out a number of other available greys, and found that Rufus got along really well with one of the males, Conner’s AR. “Connie” was very affectionate, easy-going and, okay, maybe a little prey-driven, but that can be worked on.
The more we talked with people down there — GFNJ people, foster “parents”, other grey-owners at the fair — the more convinced we became that getting another male wouldn’t be a bad idea. I was somewhat concerned about space issues, since Connie is actually a little taller than Rufus, but one of our long-time GFNJ contacts said, “When you get down to it, they all take up the same space.”
So, despite our aim of getting an smallish female grey, we ended up adopting a big ol’ male. One of the GFNJ people — the same one who tied a leash to my wrist when we were taking another grey for a walk — told me that we’d need to muzzle both dogs for the ride home. We complied. Ten minutes into the hour-long drive, I looked back to see that they were both zonked out, lying on their sides, one’s paw draped over the other’s tail. They were clearly a menace to life and limb.
I’ve got next week off, so I’ll be able to help our new boy get acclimated to his new home. He did a little better with the stairs than Rufus did in his first few days, but this guy’s got a whole new world to get used to. Fortunately, he’s got a pretty awesome big brother who’s already teaching him proper sprawling-position.
The one thing is, we had no idea what to call him. See, we were planning on a female, and all the Duck Soup names that I came up with were more girl-suited: Pinky, Chicolini, Mrs. Tisdale, Maggie (after Margaret Dumont). (I also wanted to go with Chaka Cohen, but that would’ve been too weird.) Once we got home, we started looking through the Groucho Marx IMDB page, to find other character names that would compliment Rufus T. Firefly.
So now, I introduce you to our new fur-son, Otis B. Driftwood Roth:
(Here are more pix by my beloved wife.)
Oh, and here’s the male (and previously male) contingent of our happy family, in the Adoption Room at the fair:
Congratulations! He’s gorgeous. There is something about brindles and those irresistible chocolate-drop eyes. I’m sure you will all be very happy together.
Be warned…After we got Lizzie we thought it would be easier to leave the house knowing that Ned had company. However, now it’s just twice the guilt because we’ve got two forlorn faces staring out through the fence instead of one!
I’m expecting a little of that, but I’ll also have a little anxiety as to whether they got into trouble while I was at the office. Joy!
(but he’s a cutie, and we figure he’ll be fun as we all adjust to the new dynamic)