ontheedgeofeverything

Back in February, Blaine and I welcomed our lovely little pupper, Lenny, into our family. When we first brought her home, she was about nine months; she turned one in May, and while she is still a young dog, we have already had the pleasure of witnessing her mature, grow and show her intelligence, which has been truly fantastic.

We adopted Lenny through the Brantford SPCA, but she is actually a rescue dog hailing from North Carolina. We weren’t able to find out too much about her history prior to adopting her, aside from the fact she is an Australian Cattle Dog and a Boston Terrier mix. Some folks refer to this mixed breed as a Boston Cattle Dog from what I could find online.

The bond I have forged with Lenny is truly incredible. She is my little buddy and accompanies me just about everywhere, and her quirks are absolutely hilarious. She is so friendly, and while she hasn’t yet met too many other dogs, we are working on that together.

About a week ago, Lenny snapped at one of our cats. She had never done this before, and it honestly kind of shocked Blaine and me. It wasn’t a subtle snap, either, just to give you an idea. We separated them and gave Lenny a little talking to, and while she hasn’t shown this behaviour again, thankfully, her little outburst prompted me to consider that when we adopt rescue dogs, we really have no clue about what they have seen, endured, experienced, etc.

When Lenny snapped at our cat, it was over a piece of food. I thought to myself, perhaps Lenny came from somewhere that required her to literally fight to eat – we don’t always know the background of rescue dogs, hence why they require a little more patience, understanding, and love. That isn’t to say I condone her behaviour, because I don’t; rather, it’s a matter of figuring her out as thoroughly as I can in order to prevent things like this from happening again.

Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash