Our Newest Family Member

His name is Benny. He's a long-haired Chihuahua mix and the newest member of our dysfunctional family.

We got him on Wednesday evening. Kim, of the Reno SPCA, called us to give us first dibs on him before he joined the general doggie population. We had been in the previous Saturday, and saw him. However, it was his first day there, so he wasn't available for adoption as he still needed to be checked by the vet, etc.

When hunky and I arrived at the SPCA, Kim recognized us and left to get Benny. She brought him out, and let us hold him. He was nervous, but thankfully not anywhere near as nervous as when we first saw him on Saturday. She then led us to the visitation room, where we were able to let Benny down to interact with us.

And interact he did.

He ran right up to us, and tried to climb into our laps (well, not both laps at the same time!). He seemed quite happy to be with us. We spent some time with him, and he wore us down.

The only thing I was worried about was that he had been turned in because he had been chasing his previous owners' kittens. They were scared Benny was going to eat them, so gave him up.

Hunky said he didn't think Benny would pose a problem to our cats. Lucy is relegated to her cat playhouse, and when she's not in it, she's in our bedroom behind closed doors. Purrscilla stays far away from all the dogs, and Benny wouldn't be any different. Schmutzy weighs more than Benny, and would probably kick his hairy little Chihuahua ass if they got into a fight.

We decided to visit with Benny one more time before making a final decision. Again, he climbed up on us, kissed us, and generally seemed quite content to be with us. Next thing we knew, we were filling out the paperwork and forking over the dough. (Correction from hunky: I filled out the paperwork and he forked over the dough.)

The only trouble we've had with him since he entered The Snuggle Ranch has been his propensity to mark just about everything. We're considering getting him a diaper, but want to first try to train it out of him. However, he seems to be getting along with the other two dogs. On occasion, Glindy will butt clock him when he gets too much attention, but other than that, no fights or aggression between the dogs at all.

He's on a 30-day probationary period, but it looks like he's going to pass with flying colors.