Uno, Dos … Tres???

The excitement just never stops around here. ;-)

Yesterday, DH drove DS#2 to school — since his usual driver has now graduated and, well, we've never figured out the correct bus or times since we moved to this house. On the way back, DH was supposed to stop for milk.

On the way to school, DH saw a small black and white dog weaving in and out of the traffic on the small country roads. He felt really bad for the dog but continued on to drop DS at school. On the return trip, he saw her again as he was pulling into the corner store for the milk. When he went to push open the door on his way out of the store, the dog was staring back at him with sad eyes.

He scooped up the dog and then asked the group of older men sitting outside at their usual morning coffee drinking table if they knew anything about her. The men told him that a short while earlier they had seen a truck stop and push the dog out of the truck in front of a nearby trailer park. DH decided to bring her home to keep her safe. (I have a personal rant about people who dump animals, but I'll save that for now.)

So there we were — me, my mom, and Bob (her "companion"), sitting at the table with our own morning beverages and in walks DH. I was expecting him to be carrying a gallon of milk, not a dog!

She came with a small collar, but no tags. She was horribly infested with fleas (we bathed and treated her immediately), and she's very sweet. Pepper isn't 100% sure of her yet, but Chili has been enjoying a new, young playmate and they've been racing around the house non-stop. Only on the first floor though, as she is afraid of the stairs and will not go up or down them.

I don't know if we'll keep her. I didn't have time yesterday to deal with Animal Services and I don't want to turn her in only to be euthanized if she's not claimed or adopted. Before we go that route, I need to find out if they'll let us take her back if she goes unclaimed.

But THREE dogs? (Gaylen, tell me it will be OK!) And this one who will certainly need a couple hundred dollars' worth of vet services, if only to be spayed, probably dewormed, and her belly button hernia taken care of. (Yes, she's got a chick-pea sized protrusion at her navel spot which will need to be fixed.) Who knows what other health issues may be lurking. We don't even know how old she is, although she seems to be young. Will she get bigger? Is her round belly a sign of worms or of an impending litter of more pups?

So, does anyone have any suggestions for a name that goes with Chili and Pepper? We can't keep calling her "new pup" if we keep her. If. Yeah, right. ;-)