Felix

It's been a while since the last post. I don't intend to try to capture the last 5 months in one update; rather, I want to share the latest excitement in my home with all of you: the arrival of Felix the Lucky Dog.

Felix was abandoned on our School's campus last week; or maybe he was separated form a litter of dogs that live somewhere in the surrounding neighborhood. Either way, he spent several days scamping around, finding intermittent relief from his lonely, itinerant existence in the arms of cooing high school girls. Finally, last Tuesday, some colleagues scooped him up and created an ambush: Felix in arms, they waited until I was finished teaching my yoga class for faculty, and then set upon those of us straggling out into the waning daylight. It was all over.

I took him home and waited for Phil to arrive. When he came in and saw the pup on our kitchen floor, already snuggled into his new blanket, I explained that "we're just watching him for a while until someone adopts him." He was impressive in his nonchalance at this prospect and gave Felix the requisite reassuring pats and, most importantly, his name, which means "lucky" in Latin.

 

Exploring campus.

It's been almost a week, and no one has jumped at the chance to take him off our hands. Perhaps this has something to do with my half-hearted campaign to find someone to do so. While I have been advertising actively and doing research to find alternatives to adoption by colleagues or School community members, I have also been hoping, probably not so subtly, that my efforts fail. After all, if nothing works out, we're not going to toss him out of the house. Right?!?

You can see from the photos that Felix is an easy guy to love. We found him dehydrated, starving, flea-ridden, and possibly wormy. He has, in the space of a few days, had a full revival: he's a happy, healthy, and normal pup. He trots alongside me when we walk around campus, without a leash, and he loves playing with chew toys and chasing tennis balls (which are still way too big for him to hold in his mouth for long). He does the cute thing where he moves his legs in his sleep, as if running after a squirrel, which is mostly funny because he's not much bigger than one himself.

And they get along so well!

But the more frontal-lobe oriented members of our household argue, with good reason, that he is also a complicating factor at a time when life is about to get way more complicated; he magnifies all the limitations and challenges that adding a baby to the family will imply, not only because he, too, is a baby, but because he cannot be brought along on trips, nor is he suited for every environment in which we might find ourselves when we leave our current jobs. Touche.

But... he's so freakin' cute. And such a good boy. So, what could be so bad?

My new executive assistant. 

I guess I am putting this out there half hoping that people will tell me how great it is to have a dog, despite the certain nuisances that come along with caring for one over time, and half hoping that someone will see his cute little punnum and decide to adopt him. The latter resolution needs to be quick, as the longer he stays in our house, the less my emotional stability can be counted upon...