We finally did it. We got another dog. We wanted a playmate for our dog Banjo, who spent most of his time lying on the floor in the great room. He is only three. We saw him come alive around other dogs and just moped on days when he was alone. He needed a playmate!
We didn’t want “too much dog” in the house. When a friend brought Alfie, a 19 pound terrier to visit, we had them both on the bed and both of them played well together. When we were watching TV, Alfie would snuggle between us and Banjo would lie at the foot of the bed and I thought “This could work!”
I started looking for a small dog and found one at a place in Texas – she would be transported to NJ in July – and we picked her up after waiting about 2 months for her to arrive. She was adorable, sweet and cute as a button. She was the perfect dog – except she wouldn’t play with Banjo. They would play for about 5 minutes in the morning and the rest of the day Banjo would beg her to play. I knew in two days that she wouldn’t work out but we gave her another few days to perhaps get a little more playful.
I started looking for another dog and found a one-year-old, small (17 pounds) dog in Ambler PA. A Patterdale terrier (I know, we hadn’t heard of it either.) On the day Paul took the first dog back to another family waiting to adopt her, I drove to Ambler to pick up our little Tugger.
(If you look at the picture in the link above or several pictures that we took of him, he looks like a much bigger dog – his proportions are those of a young Labrador retriever. But he is tiny.)
Tugger plays with Banjo day in and day out. They tumble about and play tug-of-war and chase each other all over the house and yard (the fence in the yard is another story for another day.) Tugger is a big dog in a small package.
So we have our new dog, and Banjo has a new playmate! …and all’s right with the world.