And then there were four ...

It's so quiet and peaceful in our house tonight and for the first time in two and a half years, I will get to sleep without a dog named Ross stealing the covers or sleeping on my legs. For those of you who don't know Ross, he is Brett's cousin's dog that we have been caring for since October of 2003. We took him in back then with every intention of fixing him up, training him to be an inside dog and then finding a good home for him. We almost sent him home with various friends and family members on several occasions. Lucky for Steve (Brett's cousin and Ross' dad) nobody ever followed through on their thoughts of taking Ross home with them. Steve moved back to Lake City in January and asked if it would be alright if he took Ross back when he found a place of his own (he's staying with his parents for now). We were very happy about this. See, Ross isn't a bad dog but he does have his issues. More issues than our other four dogs put together probably. And over that last four months or so Ross has had an increasing hatred for Tater, our lab puppy who is close to three times the size of Ross. Ross doesn't seem to know any better than to keep picking fights with Tater. Tater is a sweetie though and never hurts Ross even though he could very easily. We never had to deal with dog fights in our house until Ross came to live with us but since then, if there is a dog fight going on, you can be sure Ross is involved. He has several arch enemies ... pretty much any male dog with his manliness still attached is fair game for Ross. Tater's dad (lives across the field) put a pretty bad hurtin' on Ross one day. There was so much blood I paniced and called Brett to come home thinking that Ross was gonna die. Turns out that dog ears can bleed a whole lot. One ear made a pretty good puddle on the floor and the half detached toe made a pretty good puddle of its own.
So getting back to the point, i'd had it with Ross fighting and I don't want to worry about it happening around the new baby or with Houston in the middle of it ... so we told Steve Ross needed to be out by the end of May. He jumped on that pretty quickly having been here to witness the Ross vs. Tater daily fight on several occasions. So today Steve is here to pick up Ross ... and here they go again. Now Tater usually will lay Ross down and walk away and then Ross (not very smartly) continues to go after Tater. I've always wondered why Tater was so nice about this. I'm not sure why but for some reason today Tater let him have it. He layed him down and grabbed his neck and started to shake Ross back and forth. Brett and Steve had to jump in there to break it up and Tater listened like a good dog and let go (Ross does not let go when he's the one doing the latching on). After everyone calmed down I checked Tater over and found no blood. I then began to check Ross over and found a puncture wound (pretty deep too) on his neck, one on the top of his head and his ear full of blood. I got out the antiseptic spray and cotton balls and patched him up so he could get in the car and head home with Steve. Hope there wasn't too much blood on the upholstry by the time they got home!
Ross is not a "bad dog" so to speak but I must say it has been quieter in our house this evening than it has been in a long time (except for the cat working up a hairball in the room next to me as I sit and type this). You see, Ross can't even seem to get off the couch without letting out a bark or two. And I honestly don't think i've heard a bark today since Ross left. It's so nice being back to having our four dogs. And i'm looking forward to going to sleep without having to move Ross out of the way. Tiki, Marz and Mowgli all sleep in our bed as well (on my side too) but they know where to lay so that we all fit and don't get in eachothers way. Ross never figured that one out. I know many people would not believe life could be peaceful with four dogs but I wouldn't have it any other way. We have a unique situation in that our dogs have grown with and from eachother and I think that's why it works so well. Tiki is the mother of both Marz and Tater. Tiki was only 11 months old when Marz was born so they basically ran around together as puppies. Tater is the youngest and the largest who just loves his mom and his brother as much as can be. They all nap together and play together all day. And Mowgli, being the elder of the group thinks she controls the whole thing. She plays with them when she wants to but can otherwise be found inside napping on the recliner.
I have dreams of using our dog family as a basis for a children's book some day. Writing about them like this makes me want to do that even more. Maybe someday i'll actually come up with something good.