Saturday, March 29, 2008

And then..... there's Astro!




We've had Astro since he was about 6 months old and he's now just over 2 years old. Rick found him, hairless, starving and scared, running around in traffic near downtown Houston. He spent his first few days hiding under our bushes in the backyard. Now he's a bull in a china shop!!

Our first several months with Astro were a disaster. Rick has nicknamed him DisAstro! He dug in our carpet, like he was digging a hole, and put runs in our Berber carpet. He chewed everything in sight. He would bust out of his crate, even when we bungee corded him into it. I swear, he has Houdini in him. There were several times where Rick and I thought about giving him away to someone, but whom? We know what would happen to a dog like him. Things get better as time goes on and we love him dearly!!

Astro's favorite things are to dig holes in our backyard, be covered with as much mud as possible, play roughly with Allie and Lakota (who tolerate him some how), eat out of the garbage, get food off of the counter,chase the cats and bark at them... Should I go on? He loves to ride in the car and stick his head out the window. He trots like a horse as he goes around our back yard. When he's happy his tail wags in a circle. He loves to cuddle and will literally sit on you if he gets the chance. He is extremely gentle with children and when you give him a treat or piece of food he takes it so softly and tenderly. He has grown on us and we can't imagine life without him..... well, just a little! {sigh}

Astro is the kind of dog who sees an open front door and dogs playing across the street and will go berserk. He will first jump on the closed front door and bark madly. Then, when he sees his leash, he will jump up and down and try to grab the leash from you. Then, when he realizes that you're not going to put it on him until he's calm, he sits down quietly, but shakes with excitement all over. When the leash is on him he will jump up and down until he realizes that you won't open the door until he's calm. So, he sits quietly and quivers some more. When you open the door, you better brace yourself so your arm is not ripped off from the socket. As you jerkingly make it across the street, he's barking and howling. The neighbors and other dogs have a worried look in their eye. He sniffs the other dogs and paws them to play with him. It's quite a sight!

Oh, by the way, the picture on the right is of Astro licking the carpet. He's doing that because we ordered Chinese food and he helped himself to a barbecue rib when we weren't looking. He took it to the carpet and proceeded to eat it until I found him. I took the bone so he was forced to lick the barbecue sauce off of the rug for about 5 minutes. Carpet cleaner, here I come!

1 comment:

  1. Hi Beth, Leave it to Rick to pick up a "special needs" dog. Sounds like the doggie version of Dennis the Menace. I guess they do grow on you when they're like that :) Diane

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