Bruno Report; one month in

The Farm Manager just remarked that this rescue find is the meant-to-be dog of her life.

And although I totally feel the same way, I must point out that she's said the same about every dog that's ever crossed our path. This pretty boy is different, and here's why.

First off, he's not really "new" to us. We see characteristics of every dog we've ever had in Bruno. We especially see a lot of Phil, the pocket mastiff we lost two years ago, under the wheels of the neighbour's pickup truck, but that's another story.

So Phil came back in a body twice his former size, with a dick, and a silver-brindle coat instead of the former carmel beige. We even had some of Phil's old toys to present him now that we call him Bruno.

Ya, it's a crazy thing.

But Bruno is growing into his post-shelter life. He's a lot better about coming when I call him. That's a necessary prerequisite to being off-leash. The first time I walked him to the end of the Burgess sideroad, a couple of weeks ago, I'd let him off, and then a car came along. He was maybe fifty feet ahead, I called, he stopped and looked at me for a moment.

Then he looked up the road, and then back to me, and I called him again, and he took off up the road. He repeated this four or five times while the neighbour idled their car and checked their facebook, while I risked a heart attack chasing the asshole dog up the hill. He didn't stop till he got to Bella's place, where there are abundant dog-piss sniffing spots.

Recently we've been turning off the Burgess sideroad onto the Kinch sideroad. That stretches our walk from five to eight kilometers, and affords way more off-leash time. He loves the snow, he loves the walk, and he's getting very good at coming to me when I call him.

We said goodbye to Boomer at Thanksgiving, and welcomed Bruno at Christmas. We are absolutely delighted to have him!