Shelter Dog

Xena has informed me that she deserves a break from "Friday Cat Blogging", particularly after last week when I likened her to a dog. So, today I will be focusing on Cricket, the chihuahua-rat terrier mix we adopted from a shelter nearly three years ago.

We had been talking about getting another dog for some time, but when we went to the West Suburban Humane Society that day, I really thought we were going to "just look". We'd been leaning towards getting a puppy.

While admiring the dogs (and resisting the impulse to adopt them ALL), we were quickly smitten by a "Chihuahua" called "Babette":



By the end of the day, the "just looking" turned into bringing home a new dog. We had to run home and pick up Bailey so that he and the new dog could meet at the shelter and make sure that they got along. But, a few hours after we first walked in there, we were on our way home with a new dog. Neither of us liked the name "Babette", so she quickly became "Cricket".

According to the shelter, she was 2 years old at the time, but I am convinced she was younger. She still behaved very much like a puppy, and I swear she has grown taller since we've had her. I don't really know anything about her background...she had been at the shelter for just 4 days when we adopted her. Before that, she had been at animal control. She was mostly trained and had some bad habits (like begging at the table) that make me believe she had been in a home for at least part of her life - it seems unlikely that she could have been a stray.

They claimed she is a chihuahua, but she is taller and heavier than most chihuahuas (12 inches tall, as opposed to 6). Personally, I believe she is part rat terrier, particularly after looking at pictures at American Rat Terrier Rescue and Ratbone Rescues - Rat Terrier Rescue of North America. She has many chi traits (like shaking when she gets nervous or excited), but also many terrier-like traits as well.

Anyway, time for some Cricket pictures.

She always jumps up on this chair when we're getting ready to leave for work.


Trying to take a nap here:


Convinced her to sit still for a minute:


This one highlights her very chihuahua ears:


I just took this one this morning. She had been dashing about with that toy, trying to get the cat to chase her. I managed to get one "action" shot before she lost interest.


Be sure to check out this week's Friday Ark for more dogs, cats, and whatever else.