A Friend for Lex?

It has been almost 4 months since we lost Bailey to the great Puppy Beyond.  I truly think that Lex is starting to get lonely.  In the first weeks after Bailey died he was a clearly depressed puppy.  He just kind of lounged around when he was in the house.  He would show some signs of life when he went outside and ran after the squirrels, but that was about it.

In the intervening months, Lex has grown used to being the lone dog in the house, but there are signs he needs puppy companionship.  One very obvious sign of his need for puppy companionship has been his desire to escape the house.  Over the last 2 weeks while I have been cleaning the garage Lex has used the opportunity of me having the garage doors open to get out.  Because he is so smart he has figured out a way to get the door between the house and the garage open.  Once he does that, he tends to fly through the garage before I can grab him and go on a puppy romp.

Lex’s typical puppy romps used to include running through the yard of every house on the street.  Instead he now makes a beeline straight to our neighbor’s house to visit with their dog.  My neighbors have a 3 tier wooden fence and Lex is flexible enough that he can crawl underneath the lowest level of the fence.  He gets into their yard and then frolics with their dog until we come and get him.  In the last 2 weeks I think I have had to send Zack into their yard 5 or 6 times to retrieve Lex.  It is just so funny as he never used to do this before.

(Who can resist that puppy face?)

On top of that Lex has taken to acting all schizophrenic when I leave the house.  He typically runs and hides somewhere whenever I leave.  He never used to do this, but in the last couple of weeks he has done this at least 4 or 5 times.

So I think the solution Lex's problem is to get another dog.  I am in no rush to do this.  In fact I anticipate waiting a few more weeks or a even a couple of months as the timing is just not good.  My thought right now is to stay away from getting a puppy and think about getting an older dog that is near Lex’s age.  This will save us from having to deal with the problem of house training them, etc.

Zack and I had meeting early this morning at his school with the Dean and several other faculty members.  I got a lot of my questions answered as to what went on.  There were a number of different circumstances that came into play regarding what happened.  All I can say is that Zack is responsible and he got a punishment he deserved.  I truly hope that has enables some significant learning on his part.  The one thing I learned from this morning’s meeting was that the staff at West really do have the best interests of all the students involved.  I was really impressed by the conversation we had. 

On a funny note – after I spent all the time working to get the garage cleaned, I found out today that Nancy really doesn’t like having her car in the garage.  I really had to laugh about that.  So I have decided that I will keep whichever of my two cars I am not driving in the garage.  When I get the other bay finished then I will keep both of my cars in there.  I just had to laugh a little bit about that.

Tomorrow Zack returns to school and his one banned item is returned.  He can start reading books again tomorrow.  However he is still banned from television and video games.  I expect that those bans will continue in place for the foreseeable future – maybe even until the end of 2010.

Thanks and peace to all! ~J.
FYSRD