Finally Home-Lessons on Life from a Free-Spirited Dog by Elizabeth Parker Page B

something you really want to discuss. Again, we acquired some more medicine for this , and she was as good as new. Buddy, on the other hand, was still adjusting to the fact that he was no longer the only dog , but when he wasn’t looking we did catch him studying Brandi with intense curiosity.
    The first few days we suffered from buyer’s remorse. Since the initial problems with the ear mites a nd worms, we were no longer sure that a second dog was such a smart move. After all, there was so much work involved with training Buddy, and a second dog would be double th e work .
    We hadn’t even thought about the extra expense that a second dog would bring us.
    Through a few discussions and some tears, we needed to take a break to get our thoughts together. Michael locked Brandi in her crate while he took a long-needed nap , and I ran to the store to clear my head and get out for a while.
    When I came home, Brandi’s crate was still locked; however, she was sitting outside of it just looking at me. I surmised that Michael had lost his mind and forgot ten to put Brandi in her crate before he locked it. I put her back in her crate, locked it , and went to wake Michael.
    When I woke him, I gently asked him if he ’d forgot ten to put Brandi in the crate. He looked at me like I was insane, and I told him where she was when I came home. We went back downstairs and sure enough, there she was sitting outside of her crate again, with the door still locked . We nicknamed her Houdini, since we don’t really know how she got out, but she never did it again after that .
    After the initial shock of owning two dogs , we were still deciding if we should keep her. Michael decided to have a private talk with Brandi by our backyard tree discussing the rules of the house. We often declare d later that she understood, because she was nearly perfect after that day , and , yes, we did keep her.
    A few days later , Buddy determined that it was time for him to show Brandi who was the boss and the king of the house. Even though he was neutered, he decided to meander to where Brandi was sitting and mount her time and time again. Again, through our research , we found out this was not a sexual thing but more about dominance. He was trying to show Brandi he was in charge. Brandi was fine with this for the most part. She was well adjusted and did not feel the need to compete.
    Things went on like that for a while until Buddy pushed her to the point of intense frustration. He was playing and playing and enticing her to play a little more. She was growing kind of tired of this and just wanted to have some downtime.
    Buddy obstinately pressed on as he always did. This time, however, Brandi decided to teach him a valuable lesson. She grabbed onto his ear and held on tight. She held on with so much force that Buddy screamed in pain, but Brandi refused to relent. I yelled at her and yelled some more, but she wouldn’t let go.
    Finally, though I am not proud of this, I threw my cell phone down in an attempt to scare her with the loud noise , and it accidentally bounced and hit her. It did not hit her hard, but it was enough t o make me feel guilty and get her off of Buddy. After that, I put her in her crate and made some loud noise to kind of scare her , and she never bit him like that again. Luckily, she had been gentle enough not to draw any blood. She did succeed in teaching Buddy a lesson , too. She had become the new Alpha dog.
    We were well on our way to having one very obedient dog and another that still would not calm down. Despite their initial meeting, these two dogs quickly grew fond of each other. Brandi looked up to Buddy , and Buddy secretly loved his new playmate. They would play all day and look out for each other. It was beautiful to watch. After the one episode of the ear biting, they never hurt each other. Not once. They would play, nip, growl , and enjoy every minute of it. Brandi would entice Buddy to play by stealing his toys , and Buddy