Stealing Georgia's bed for a quick nap. Arcy looks good in Yellow.
Arcy was the cutest 10-week-old McNab cross puppy. She came from the Humane Society, like Georgia, after wooing Pat with her charm. But she preceded Georgia by a year and a half, and she is the older of the two. As a little puppy, she looked like a photo-negative of the little RCA dog in the old ads. So, the name Arcy, for RCA, stuck.
At 11 weeks, she was in the vet hospital, attached to tubes, fighting for her life. Sick, sick puppy, with kennel cough and huge parasite load and infections. Obviously, she made it. But when I held that sweet puppy in my lap, waiting to get her into the vet's, I wasn't sure.
Now the sheer force of will that got her through that ordeal is common knowledge. She likes to control things, be in charge, and direct traffic. Growing up Arcy was not a task for the faint of heart. First there was the challenge of socializing her. At 6 months, she went to a doggie day care. Imagine my horror when I showed up to pick her up, and she had a shock collar on! Turns out she had been ordering all the other dogs around, including the massive Rottweiler and German shepherd. lol. She went many more times, but never got over her bristling control issues. That's when Georgia came on the scene. Terrier tenacity meets herd dog mentality. Guess who won, really?
Ah, the pleasure of being "owned" by a herd dog.
At home, the issues were digging holes. Arcy did not dig holes just for the pleasure. No, she had a purpose. She dug grand-canyons in pursuit of gophers. She dug whole swaths of the garden up for carrots.
Arcy had a cat, Rico, who she liked to herd. The other cat, Carbon, abandoned the back yard once Arcy moved in. But Rico liked her back yard, so she developed a tolerance, of some sort.
Paws on quilt. An artistic shot. Told you she looked good in yellow...
Balls were what Arcy lived for. Or any toy that could be hurled through the air so she could chase it. Favorite was ball and bat, but she also liked frisbees and this sling-shot ball that had an elastic band attached. Unfortunately, Arcy can't smell real well, so she was always losing her toys in the garden jungle. She'd stand outside of where she thought it was, wagging and barking, until someone found it for her. Or you'd just see this little black tail with a white tip, attached to a wiggling butt, sticking out of a bush as she searched futilely for her ball.
Bookend puppies.
A brief moment in the middle of moving chaos.
It is stressful being in charge of everything- just ask Arcy. Now she's an elderly girl, and she really hates having her senses compromised. Can't hear, so things keep sneaking up on her. But she still carries herself with great pride, and finds things that she enjoys. The majority of her time, however, is spent sleeping. Something she rarely did as a youngster.
One of Arcy's favorite things to do is push back my blankets and sleep ON the sheets. OH, there's that yellow thing, again...
As I was putting this together, I realized Arcy does not have as many pictures as Georgia. Something about the cuteness factor, I think. No, Arcy is not cute. But she's beautiful, to me. I'll rustle up some more pics. Most of the ones I have also have a particular kid in them, so I need to get permission before posting them....
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