Bringing home Maki, or not

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Maki was scheduled to have his neutering surgery Monday afternoon. I called around 3:30pm and was told to pick him up by 5:30p. When I arrived to pick him up the nurse gave me his instructions and said he was a very sweet puppy however they had been teasing him because he didn't look anything like a whippet! The vet carried out a very drowsy, floppy puppy and I thought he must have gotten quite a bath because his fur looked much shorter and his coloring was different. Then I petted his head and looked at his face and thought, "wow he looks really weird!" I checked his paws knowing that our little Maki has one white front paw and one black, this puppy had no white feet!!! I informed the vet that "This is not my dog!" She was a little confused at first but then it was determined that the shelter had brought the wrong dog in! Quite disappointing but also very funny! The poor little puppy in the next cage over got neutered without having a nice home to go to :(

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

I arrived at the vet to find the correct puppy, Maki!! He had been a great little boy for his surgery and was sent home with pain meds, antibiotics for kennel cough and a conehead collar in case he started to lick his incision (although the he was good about licking and didn't require the collar). He arrived at his new home, gave it a quick inspection, attempted to mark his territory but quickly learned that this was an illegal action! Maki slept in his kennel the entire night without any complaints or accidents and in the morning I took him with me to work.

He adjusted to the work setting quickly and loved all the people, he's quite the people dog and loves everyone!


Maki stats:

• A licensed Whippet Mix ;)
• 29.4 lbs
• Brindle and White
• 10 months or your best guess
• Short Hair

Let's review my requirements:

• Odorless : he smells fairly "doggie"
  
• Cat like : maybe a little
  
• Does not lick : Licks a lot
• Mellow but not lame : most of the time
• Housebroken...we think so far
• Not a puppy : definitely still a puppy
• Not small but not big : yes
• No barking : when we leave him alone he barks a lot :(
• Low maintenance : ha! not quite
• No shedding : he's a low shedder but he does have fur and it does come out

So as you can see he doesn't quite fit my perfect dog mold but he is a sweetheart and we love him!

We're working on the separation anxiety issue and he does well for a half an hour but past that and he becomes very barky :( We've set up two camera's to record his antics and we're sure the neighbors aren't pleased with his complaining but we hope he'll improve soon.

-Elizabeth