It’s a dog!

[ Mood: Happy ]
[ Currently: Listening to old German love songs. ]
We’ve just added a new member to our family: Lili Marleen.

Lili is a miniature schnauzer. I really thought about continuing our weird tradition of naming our pets after food, but all the German food names were too butch. Still, I almost tried to convince Junko to name her Schnitzel.

But then I remembered Junko’s hobby, singing old love songs, and she loves that WWI German song, "Lili Marleen." It felt right.

She’s been through a lot: her first owners had her "debarked"–that is, they had her vocal chords cut, so now she just kind of gasps when she tries to bark. I was kind of depressed and angry about that, but I just read something about it and it seems that the chords can eventually grow back, so maybe someday she’ll be able to bark again.

She was being kept by an old man who takes in unwanted pets and resells them. Junko saw her about 2 weeks ago and started to have trouble sleeping, thinking about that cute, sad-looking schnauzer. I saw the man a couple of days ago and got his phone number, and after thinking it over, Junko, Natsumi, and I met him and bought her and brought her home. We fed her and bathed her and picked about two dozen fleas off her. Tomorrow she goes to the vet to remove some ticks and get a thorough checkup. The old man claims she’s about 4 years old, and she’s very well behaved. She’s just starting to settle in and relax.

Lili is my first dog since I moved out of my parents’ home. We’re going to take an obedience course together–she needs to learn to walk on a leash, and I need to relearn how to be a good master. But after knowing her only 3 hours, I can say this: she’s a good dog.

superdave