The boys have been running around nekkid for the last few days. When dogs play they like to chew on each other’s necks. To avoid them getting caught on each other’s collars I took the collars off until their new break-away collars arrived. The KeepSafe breakaway collars were invented by someone whose dog strangled when he got his collar caught, so they developed this collar which will break apart if enough pressure is put on it. It can be re-latched after it breaks away, and it has a special hook up for the leash so it won’t break off while on a walk.

They were ridiculously excited while I adjusted the size on the collars – I have no idea why they thought that was so great. Here’s Barclay sporting his. I swear he poses when he sees a camera now.

Jack got a new collar too, and I put an old tag on it with our phone number in case he gets lost. It has Jasper’s name on it (a rescue dog we had briefly), but it’s close enough for now. Look at his tail – he’s so happy it’s just a blur!

Meet Jack! We have been quietly looking for another dog to fill the hole Chester left behind. Barclay would love to have someone to play with again, and we know Alki is running on borrowed time. So I would check out craigslist and petfinder regularly hoping to find a nice dog who needed a home. I didn’t want a dog that had been abused and neglected, like Chester was. I was hoping to find a dog who was just a nice, normal dog who needed a nice home, and didn’t come with a lot of baggage. I saw the ad for Jack and he sounded like just the pooch for us. He is a 4 year old Beagle. I emailed back and forth with his family, and they seem like nice people too, just looking for a good home for him with room to run and someone to keep him company so he won’t just be stuck at home alone all day. Doesn’t that sound like the perfect match?

So they brought him over to meet Barclay, and after the initial sniff and bark, they were playing and running, chasing each other all over the yard. Jack saw the chickens and thought about them for a second, then shrugged them off and went back to playing. He met Alki and they sniffed and ignored each other (I think Alki was giving off her ‘bug off’ vibes). The cats went into hiding, so he didn’t meet them. Jack and Barclay played until they were just laying on the grass gnawing on each other, with their tounges hanging out the sides of their mouths. Happy happy happy dogs!

After they left, Barclay spent 20 minutes looking for his new buddy – then he napped the rest of the afternoon! Jack is staying with his family a few more days because we have a very busy weekend while Dave finishes up the current play he’s in. We’ll go pick him up this week on our day off so we can closely supervise his first days at home. We’re very excited about it, he seems like a really nice dog!