Tag: rat terrier

We Got a Puppy

The Portly Politico9 Comments

Big news: Dr. Wife and I got a new puppy! He’s a ten-week-old rat terrier named Tot.

We adopted Tot from Renaissance Rat Terriers, a breeder and veterinarian in Knoxville, Tennessee. This weekend saw our little family (including Nugget) bundling up to the mountains to pick up the newest member of our family.

Those ears!

Well before Murphy passed, Dr. Wife and I had discussed getting a rat terrier puppy. My parents have two, and they are really great dogs. Dr. Wife also thinks they’re adorable, and she wanted Nugget to have a little companion.

Nugget helped to raise my in-laws’ little pug, so we figured she could do it again. Our hope is that it will help keep Nugget young and active, while also offering a good canine role model for Tot.

At the time of pickup, Tot weighed around 6.5 pounds. He was the “runt” of the litter when he was born in July, but he’s surpassed a couple of his sisters. We’re big fans of the runts in our family; they seem to make the best dogs!

The breeder was fantastic. She observed each puppy closely to see how it would align with each of the prospective adopting families. We emphasized that we wanted a cuddly, easy-going pup that was fine being a couch potato. The breeder called me when the puppies were around nine-weeks-old and gave me a detailed rundown of which dogs were not a fit for us, before revealing that Tot was the best choice for us.

So far, it seems she is right! He is a sweet little guy. As I’m writing this post, he’s asleep in my lap. He’s definitely a puppy—he gets into everything and has a tendency to equate my out-of-the-way office as his personal bathroom (we’re working on that)—but once he’s had his playtime, he’s out like a light. His potty training is going well overall, too; he’ll often go to the door and let me know he needs to go out to take care of business, the aforementioned accidents notwithstanding.

Nugget and Tot are still feeling each other out. Tot very much wants to hang with Mama Nugs, but Nugget will sometimes remove herself from the situation just for a break. Tot sleeps in his crate at night, which he doesn’t care for at first, but he settles in quickly and rests well, giving Nugget some time with us without a pesky puppy interjecting himself.

First encounters

He’s also a very photogenic guy, with his gorgeous tricolor coat. He’s blue, brown, and white (that grey fur is “blue” in the dog world), with striking grey-green eyes.

Big Boy

The rest of this post is a photo dump, because we all know everyone is here to look at puppy pictures:

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TBT^2: Hungry Like the Wolf

The Portly Politico8 Comments

Seeing as yesterday was my dog’s birthday, I figured I’d throw back to a piece that I seem to come back to each June, “Hungry Like the Wolf.” Tech magazine Gizmodo ran a piece some years ago that poses the question (in its title) “What Happens to Wolves When They’re Raised Like Dogs?”

My thinking on dogs has done nearly a 180-degree turn—maybe a 150-degree turn?—over the past few years.  I’ve always liked dogs (so I was already thirty degrees in their favor), but I disliked dog people.  I still would not classify myself in that way, though I do serenade my dog, so maybe I’m just in denial.

Regardless, what chapped me was the way people would use dogs as surrogate children, or would invest huge amounts of their personal identity in their dog.  Again, perhaps I’m in denial, or blind to reality, but as much as I love my dog, I’d like to think I’m not pouring misdirected paternalism into her.

But dogs do provide wonderful companionship, and can be a great deal of fun.  Murphy does something comical or amusing just about every day.  And her adenoidal snoring and “talking” crack me up.  I actually sleep better when Murphy is snoring her brains out—she’s like a living white-noise machine.

Pretty crazy these chunky furballs used to be wolves, eh?

Here’s 24 June 2021’s “TBT: Hungry Like the Wolf“:

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TBT: Hungry Like the Wolf

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After writing about whales yesterday, I thought I’d look back at some animal-related posts.  I stumbled upon this post from last June, in which I waxed scientific on the origins of dogs, and how we are all the descendants of the people the wolves didn’t eat.

My entire perspective on dogs has changed dramatically in the past year.  I used to think dogs were fine, but I didn’t see what all the fuss was about.  After dating a woman who was clearly using her poorly-trained dogs as surrogate children, I swore I would never date a single woman with dogs again.

Indeed, when my current girlfriend and I started dating, she had recently adopted her puppy, a German Shepherd.  According to her, whenever she mentioned the dog, I immediately changed the subject.  That sounds about right.

I was skittish around the dog initially, but now I love that critter.  Sure, I still find it a bit sad when single women approaching The Wall start channeling their unfulfilled maternal instincts into a four-legged fur ball, but I can now appreciate these wonderful creatures for the positive qualities they possess.  As Gavin McInnes—no lover of dogs—often says, we bred dogs to love us unconditionally, so it’s little wonder that they do.

Nevertheless, it’s nice to be loved.

Here is 29 June 2020’s “Hungry Like the Wolf“:

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Hungry Like the Wolf

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I’m puppy-sitting today, watching my parents’ ten-week-old rat terrier while they’re working and attending various doctors’ appointments.  I pray that the day I go to the doctor and various specialists as frequently as my parents do is still decades away.

Dogs are interesting critters.  It’s kind of amazing that our ancient ancestors domesticated wolves and bred them to hunt on behalf of humans, instead of merely hunting humans.  It’s even more interesting how breeding for selective traits led to various breeds.  There’s a whole art and science to animal husbandry that is fascinating.

The rat terrier, for instance, is the result of various combinations of terriers (for hunting), greyhounds (for speed), and chihuahuas (for compactness—the rat terriers had to be small enough to get into rat holes).  According to my dad, who has become something of an authority on the breed since getting the puppy, rat terriers used to be very common in the United States—most farmers had one or two to help kill pests.  Theodore Roosevelt kept one named Scamp around the White House to kill mice (although Scamp may have been a different variation of terrier).

Of course, the question that interests me is thus:  if we domesticated dogs once, couldn’t we do it again from their cousins, wolves?  Naturally, there’s no need to do it again—it was surely a long process—but doing so would help us to understand how difficult domestication was, and why our ancient ancestors thought it was worth the effort.

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