Jonah's home!

When we rehomed Jonah back in January or February, I made it clear that if it didn't work out for any reason, they should let us know and we'd take him back. Then the girl who took him left the firm, and of course, our department changed firms, and I figured that I better call her and let her know. So, two weeks ago, I tried to call and the number was "not accepting calls at the request of the subscriber". Having no other way to contact her, I let it go and hoped all was well.

Yesterday, I was away from my desk and received a voice mail when I got back saying that these people had Jonah, the girl I gave him to had moved to Arizona and left him, and they couldn't keep him - did I want him back? I said yes and made arrangements to pick him up after work.

When I got there, Jonah was in their wading pool...lol...apparently, he still loves the water, was my first thought, while I was also looking him over to see how he had changed (not much, just larger) and how his demeanor was. He didn't seem to recognize me, and he seemed beaten down and cowered before the guy I was picking him up from. "Uh oh," I thought, "this doesn't look good". I got us both out of there as fast as I could.

All the way home, Jonah just laid in the back seat of the car. He still didn't seem to recognize me, but I'm sure he was thinking "Oh God, where are they taking me now??" Then, we pulled through the gate of the community and he perked up - sat up and was looking out the window with his nose in the air, sniffing.

As I pulled up to the house, he looked out the window on the side with the lake and he got very excited! I opened the door and he got out of the car and he just stood there, looking at the lake, with his tail wagging fast and furious. We went into the house, where Rusty was still crated, since Scott wasn't home, and I heard Rusty bark. The crate is in the bathroom, in the same place it was when we had Jonah the first time, and Jonah headed straight in there. Rusty let out a low warning growl, so I decided that I better leave him in the crate for a few minutes, which I did. When he quit growling, I let him out and then playtime began! Of course, there was the obligatory sniffing (both males) and some "who's going to be top dog" behaviors, but they've been having a blast together since.

When Scott got home, we all went down to the lake - and both dogs immediately headed for the water. After swimming for awhile and running on the beach, they just played together till they wore themselves out.

Jonah is 17 months old now, and he's much calmer than he was. His manners are better than they used to be. He seems genuinely glad to be home, and we're both delighted that he's here. We both initially had reservations and said we'd try it out for the weekend, and if it wasn't working with Rusty, then we'd go ahead and take Jonah back to the SPCA (because he still is really way too big for this house - he's over 100 lbs now, I'm sure!). But it looks like we now have 1 cat (who is not very pleased with us right now), 2 dogs, and 3 birds!

Jonah trying to contain an exhuberant Rusty


Pals :)

Welcome home big boy!