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SOME OF MY FB ENTRIES LEADING UP TO MY NEW LIFE WITH AMICUS!

Put in an application for a four-year-old collie/shepherd cross at the Cowichan SPCA who sounds awesome! Will probably know more tomorrow or the next day.

Well, my application was approved, next step is a home visit by the Powell River SPCA to make sure I exist and am not a psycho, and then, according to Rick down in Cowichan who has already today said no to three people, A.J., is presently on hold for me, providing I come down and meet him and we are a fit.

Just got another call from Rick, said he talked to Powell River SPCA and they’re going to call me right away (ASAP) for a home visit right away and if all goes well I’ll be heading down to Cowichan on Wednesday to meet A.J. possibly a.k.a. Amicus! Weird how his first initial is already A, eh?

Yup, SPCA just called like minutes later and they’re coming to check out my abode at 4:30 today!

He was found as a stray in Abbotsford, he got picked up by the Abbotsford dog pound which is a “high kill” pound; Rick, the Cowichan SPCA guy, read about him and another stray online and phoned up the pound and convinced them to send the two dogs to Cowichan and the other dog has already been adopted and A.J. is probably about to be, by me! So he was probably days away from being euthanized for no good reason except he was “superfluous.”

Well, the SPCA just did their home visit and seemed impressed with my fence so far; and so I’ll be heading over to Cowichan on Wednesday and probably coming back with Amicus.

I just bought a huge dog bed, a Kong toy, a tennis-ball-throw thingie, some cans of food, some dry food, and a bag of treats.

Heading out for a double-double at Timmy’s, then off on the first ferry to Comox, then down the old Island Highway to go get me my houndie hound! Yay!

We’re home safe and sound, extremely tired, must drink water, pee, then go sleepy sleep; these photos are the best I can come up with; Amicus Rules!

Thanks a million everyone for all your support and love throughout this quest and AJA says, “Arf, woof, grrr…, yow, bark, yip grrr…,” which I believe means, “Why the hell do you keep tapping those weird black things and making annoying clickity clack sounds, just shut up and give me another snack, you colossal wanker.”

It’s going to be so refreshing for once to work on someone else’s issues.

He’s lying down right now and his nose is on my big toe.

Sorry had to go do a bunch of stuff and get A licensed with City Hall. He’s number 776.

It’s not so much he slept well last night ’cause he slept all the way home pretty much; what’s awesome about him is that he let me sleep last night ’cause I was exhausted. Every few hours, he’d come over and stick his nose in my face to make sure I still existed, I guess, but he was so sweet in letting me sleep.

No, he doesn’t bark, he just sort of skirts around him; I think he has “men” issues, probably in his past life a man was mean to him; so we’re socializing him nice and easy.

I was comforting him when he was scared and saying no when he was defensive; both wrong, now for dad it’s totally no touch, no talk, no eye contact; I strayed unknowingly from Cesar’s path, but am back on track. Everyone over here is in major learning mode.

Once I really thought about it and how much I hate it when someone goes, “Awwww,” or says, “It’s okay, Layne,” or whatever when I feel vulnerable or uncomfortable and how I’d way prefer them to ignore me, its become quite easy to not do that anymore about him.

Just took Amicus off leash along the seawalk and he was awesome, playing or avoiding dogs depending on his mood, no aggression, stayed within 20 feet of me the whole time; what fun we had!

Now, he’s sleeping guarding my door while I work.

He made like a 30-foot avoidance circle around two little toy poodles as though they were killer werewolves; he cracks me up.

Yeah, he’s the swellest; he does have some fear issues we’re working through. He doesn’t like to be surprised and he is still scared of men unless they have cute playful dogs and treats and then he warms up to them.

He’s awesome with me on all counts. I have been testing to see if he has any food aggression issues and started with feeding him his first handful of food out of his bowl as I crouched right down by the bowl and this morning I pretended to eat out of his bowl first and let him eat out of it with me, and he was totally fine wagging and crunching away, so it’s not at all aggression for him, he just gets scared sometimes.

Just took Amicus off-leash in the forest, as well, and he is the most awesome off-leash forest dog you could ever possibly want; sorry, Kimba, Zach, Jethro, Brown Dog, and Farther, but the best off-leash forest dog I’ve “ever” seen.

So far Amicus has made these friends: Highway, Chica, Lulu, Peaches, Milly, and Barney.

Highway is a 12-year-old Australian something or rather; Chica is also an Australian something or rather, I guess Amicus has a thing for Ozzies; Lulu is a black border collie/lab/Akita/etc., I believe; Peaches is a sled dog who actually pulled a sled in Churchill, Manitoba, for two years; Milly is a Golden Lab who likes to bark happily a lot; and Barney is a Basset Hound.

I don’t really know much about blogging; but sounds like a really fun idea; I’ll have to research that and learn more.

I have to add Sally, a border terrier which I’d never heard of, and Max a Labradoodle to his friend list.

I have had more conversations with strangers in the last four days than I have in the preceding year; and I kid you not.

Seriously, how have I managed these many years without a car and a big dog to ride in it?

It amazes me that a huge strong creature with big sharp teeth who could easily rip out my throat and carry my head around chooses instead to give me happy sloppy kisses.

Amicus grabbed another dog’s tennis ball and then permanently lost it in the rocks; kind of embarrassing.

Thanks, Terri and Simon, I’m actually checking out that site Terri and I think I will start a blog about Amicus, WTF. I’ll keep you posted. I just want to do a bit more research. I love this idea!

note to dog: in future, no peeing on the commemorative benches.

I have taken some advice from two excellent pals and have started an adventures of Amicus blog: https://amicusblack.wordpress.com/