Educating Ollie

I drove down to Lynchburg today to meet Ollie.  The humane society there had contacted VGSR about him, saying that although he was young (a year or less), and sweet and friendly with people, he was not at all good with other dogs.  I wasn't worried about the dog-on-dog thing, not with a dog that young.  I figured that Dixie and/or Trooper could sort that out, and there's always Sparky if I needed to bring out the big guns. 

It was a beautiful day and I should have been out hiking instead of driving, but I was a bit sore from the last few days anyway.  Yesterday I only did about 45-50 minutes on the trails, but part of it was jogging so I was happy enough to take a day off from it today.  I haven't been in Lynchburg in a long time and the Lynchburg Humane Society wasn't far off the highway; my GPS system found it easily.  Still, I locked my doors as I approached the town, wary of roving gangs of Falwell's Baptist Brown Shirts from Liberty University.

The Lynchburg Humane Society seemed to be a very clean and well-run shelter.  It's not new and not fancy, but the runs are large, the place was clean (didn't smell), and best of all, there seemed to be a lot of volunteers around working with the dogs. 

Ollie was cute and sweet as advertised.  He's a mix, but has a very shepherdy look.  He's small, only about 35 pounds, and he's very thin.  They had him neutered, thank you very much, and he had a rabies vaccine.  I'll try to get him to the vet tomorrow for everything else.  Ollie's former owner had apparently gone away for a few days and left him alone in an apartment.  Fortunately, the dog ended up in the shelter and the piece of human excrement never came to claim him. 

He rode home nicely.  I put him in a kennel, fed him, and then opened up the gate to let him into the bigger kennel with Dixie.  He growled at her, or tried to, I think she just laughed it off.  He just hasn't been around other dogs and doesn't know how to act or play.  He does a lot of defensive growling, but that's about it. Having Dixie here right now is just perfect for him.  She's an adult but still young enough to play.  She's small but still big enough to kick his butt is she needs to.  She's a female, so she knows everything, and she will take no shit from him.