phyfe dog is in effect (revisiting last monday)

so, as i mentioned previously, we have a new family member…

the hole budnik left will never be filled, but i kinda had to try. i was just too bummed out. the house didn’t feel like the house. i’d be lying if i didn’t say a part of me felt it was too soon – it was two days after the little guy joined us that budnik’s cremains were ready. but i have to admit, as had setback after setback, as ailment piled on top of ailment, i could tell we had reached a point where it was no longer a matter of “if”, but “when”, which was sad on multiple levels. that being said, until his dying day budnik never stopped trying to get up and move and get better and i, as i promised him, never stopped fighting along side of him. hell, at 3:30 budnik got himself up, under his own power, and walked over to the couch where i was, i kissed his nose, he kissed mine, and then he walked back to the bed and lay down. six hours later he was gone.

the window was that tight.

i had wondered to myself when it would be too soon, but it broke down in my head like this – since 1986 i’ve never NOT had a dog. since 1996, i’ve never not had more than one in the house, save for the seven months between the passing of miss copper and nik moving in when it was just budnik and i. and while gypsy is both our dog, she is unmistakably nik’s dog. and got damn it, i wanted one of my own.

the dogs are always gonna bond more with nikki than me – she has that sing-songy disney princess voice, and she works from home. she’s always going to be around them more than me. but i’m around quite a bit, and i’m trying to be as participatory as my schedule allows. the first night i wasn’t around to go to bed with everybody (that’s the next bit) i got my side of the bed peed on by him, so clearly i was missed. hell, the morning i wrote this i took him out, then put him in his playpen so i could go get some more sleep (i never did) and he chased me the length of it jumping up at the end and yelping as i walked back down the hall and nik was in the room with him, so i guess he might like me a bit more than i’m giving it credit for.

it started the same week budnik passed. i looked at some craigslist ads after facebook market place proved fruitless. i found a couple in san antonio, and the first ad had a rehoming fee in the thousands, but then there was a free one. when i contacted her she said due to pits attracting some of the wrong kinda people she would only meet in the leon springs police department parking lot. while i saw her point and applauded her efforts i could NOT applaud having to trek through all that traffic on 1604. further looking later in the week turned up an ad out of north austin and we began the conversation. the rehoming fee was $250, but she was going to bump to $300 after the end of the week when they went to the vet for their first shots. i said i couldn’t get back to her till monday because i wanted to be home for the little guy’s first couple of days. when i reached out that sunday i found out the vet visit hadn’t happened due to car trouble, so the rehome would be $250 and she recommended a vet to me in south austin. this made me question her location, and she verified she was south. when i said we would prefer to take him to our vet before paying just to make sure he was okay, and that we lived in lockhart with our vet being yet further south in luling, she stated SHE LIVED IN LOCKHART TOO.

that changed things.

so we met monday, got a yet further reduced fee due to being local, and the little guy came home with us. turns out our vet won’t see them until they’re eight weeks old, and that’s this coming monday (he’s 2/19/2024) so we’ll see how he checks out, but i’m thinking he’s a keeper…