The Poop Troop Tx household doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. Nope. For us, February 14th is all about birthdays. (Shout out to Sarah, Andrew’s sister who is the original birthday haver)
By some twist of fate, we have two pups with February 14th birthdays. So, it’s story time.
It all started with a road side sign.
“Catahoula/Aussie puppies for sale.”
We stopped, because of course we did. We wanted to see what the heck a Catahoula/Aussie looked like(Catahoulas were almost nonexistent where we lived). And then this gangly, tri color four month old puppy came running up to Andrew. You could smell him from fifteen feet away and I was ready to get back in the truck but Drew took one look and fell in love. He scritched his ears and Beaux stared up at him like he hung the moon, dropping the long-dead turtle he had been playing with.
Despite the stench, I didn’t even have to ask Drew if he wanted the dog.
So I asked the woman, “how much?”
“Twenty five," she said.
And I sighed because I figured, for a working dog, $2500 wasn’t that crazy.
I made noncommittal noises and started inching back toward the truck because a $2500 dog wasn’t in our budget.
Just in case, though, I asked her. “Twenty five hundred?”
The woman laughed and said, “No, these guys were accidents. The neighbor’s dog jumped the fence and got our female right before she was supposed to go get spayed. We just want them to go to good homes.”
Just like that, I knew we were bringing this puppy home with us.
So off we went, to get cash out of the ATM. We returned to get our $25 dog, a happy go lucky little dude, who stunk to high heaven.
It took two bathes and some strawberry shampoo to get the turtle smell out of his fur but he’s definitely the best $25 bucks we’ve ever spent.
Five years later, he’s a great snuggler, the best ball chaser (but not bringer backer), and shadow game champion. We wouldn’t trade him for the world.
The baby of the family, Boudreaux or Boudie for short, came to us on a fluke. I told Andrew when we first started dating that someday I wanted to own a Catahoula. I’d met one on a road trip to Louisiana years ago and ended up doing a bunch of research on the breed. Beaux was the gateway dog but I really wanted a full blooded Catahoula. We figured we’d get one down the road. Eventually.
Then, a little less than a year ago, I was working at a local vet clinic and one of our office ladies casually mentioned that she had a Catahoula puppy who’s home had fallen through. I thought she was kidding because she and I had talked before, about them being my dream dog.
The next day she walked in and handed me a teeny tiny little puppy. I’m a pretty impulsive person but I knew bringing home a third dog wasn’t a decision I should make lightly so I tucked the little dude into a kennel and let him hang out for the day, sneaking in snuggles when I had a second.
I called Andrew on my lunch break and he laughed at me when I asked what he thought.
LAUGHED!
I said “what so funny?”
He responded with "You’ve been telling me you wanted one of these dogs since we started dating, why did you even call me? You know he’s coming home with you.”
And so he did. I brought the little five week* old dude home with me. Then, a day later we noticed he was limping. So back to work with me he went. Radiographs found a possible shoulder fracture. Of course, I panicked because that’s who I am as a person. But the Doctor assured me with some rest, it would be fine.
Have you ever tried to crate rest a five and a half week old working dog puppy? It was a rough few weeks but we got through it (and he is indeed, fine).
And today our handsome little guy turns one. He’s super smart, stubborn as all get out but somehow still one of the most willing to please, sensitive dogs I’ve been around. He’s everything I could have asked for in a dream dog.
*It’s not recommended to separate puppies this young from Momma but there were extenuating circumstances in Boudie’s case.
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