Wirehair Wednesday: From Rowdy With Love

Rowdy, December 7, 2011

It's Wednesday, and that can mean only one thing - yep, it's Wirehair Wednesday!  Lots of good folks have been asking about the new addition here at the World Headquarters of The Long and Short of it All, our own wirehair boy 'Rowdy.'  Well, he's doing just great!  He keeps us busy with his antics - Joey and Maggie were nothing like this little wild-man when they were puppies.  He just turned 7-months-old a few days ago, and still acts like a 3-month-old who plays ALL THE TIME!  We figure since the first 4 or 5 months of his life were spent behind bars 24/7 that he's still got a lot of exploring to do to understand all that goes on around him.  He loves his toys of any shape and size and always carries one around in his mouth, almost like a mother dog would carry around one of her pups.  Sometimes he'll even carry a toy out when it's time to go outside to do his business, which attracts lots of smiles from all the busy city people on their way to catch the morning subway. 
His house training is going very well - he has had just 4 accidents in the house in the two months that he's been with us, and half of those were our fault for not reading his cues that he needed to go out, so no complaints in that department.  He was peeing on the blankets in his crate we discovered though, and talked to a dog trainer friend of ours who suggested that we remove the blankets (it's a human thing), and no crate accidents since.  We're hoping that he will earn the blankets back in his crate in a few months, but since he went potty in his crate the first several months of his life, that is what he thinks he is supposed to do, and it will take time to retrain that behavior.
He gets along with Joey well, but Joey is a laid-back guy who gets along with everyone.  They like to play together after they eat, but when Joey has had enough, he'll growl and gently bite Rowdy to tell him to stop.  Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, and Dad may have to intervene if Rowdy is getting too rough for Joey, who will soon turn 11.  They do lay together and sleep together, and it's great to watch them lick each other's faces and snuggle together - Joey will even roll on his back while Rowdy licks his face.
We still miss our Miss Maggie terribly, but Rowdy, and his cute little mug that puts a smile on our face every time we look at him, has sure brightened up our lives.