Last Year's Houseguest Over the Holidays

Nina arrived in November, shortly before Thanksgiving. She was six months old and in heat. I have three female dogs, all who came to me as puppies. They were spayed the "minute" the vet said it was OK to, so I had never had to deal with this issue before. I was advised by my vet that I would have to wait 3 months (yikes!) before Nina could be spayed. And to be very careful when Nina went outside... Male dogs from miles around might come a knockin'.



I did not know what to expect behavior wise. For the most part, Nina was a sweet punk. She was pretty confident, not the least bit intimidated by the other "girls" in the house. She came in like she was the boss. A brief attitude adjustment by Jazzie set the record straight as to who was Queen. The horrible Ice Storm of '08 decended upon us and the three B-girls snuggled together to stay warm. They were thankful for the fleecy coats they had to wear and did not try to rip them to shreds.

After six days, power was restored to our neighborhood. Hooray! Heat! Lights! Running water! Christmas was now upon us; we could finally light the Christmas tree rather than sitting in the dark looking at it by candlelight! Christmas day came. The dogs got to rip into their gifts, proceeded to destroy the toys and model their new accessories. Special treats were served to all. Ahhh... such a nice day :-)

...until the night came. I don't know what provoked it; a toy, a spare crumb. All of a sudden there was a full blown brawl in progress. I jumped up to see what was going on. My kitchen looked like an episode of CSI, there was blood spattered everywhere! Who was injured and where? Well, I quickly determined it was our sweet punk houseguest, Nina. She had the tip of one ear torn off! I got her cleaned up and went to work on cleaning up the kitchen. Lo and behold! What do you think I found in the process? Let me just say this: Eeewwwwww!

Nina, the heat seeking basenji

New Year's Eve was "uneventful" as far as the dogs went. We did have a major snow storm that day, which lent for a very cozy night to ring in the New Year. And in the New Year, Nina was finally able to be spayed. She soon found her new home with a big brother, named Seamus, where she is Queen and can boss him around and does!

Nina (nka Keena) and Seamus