The Experiment

Allow me to introduce Jules (more on her name later in the post).  Jules is the much loved dog owned by my mom until her death.  When Mom died, I thought that we would naturally take ownership of Jules.  She lived in a house with three other dogs (four dogs in one house is a story in and of itself) and was the weakest link in that crew.  Though sweet, any attempts Jules made to enjoy human affection were thwarted by her diva-ish biological sister who has actually drawn blood on Jules.  The humans in the home were not anxious to give up the dog so loved by Mom.  Honestly, I was not in the market for a second dog.  Think kennel costs, vet costs, and for this dog; grooming costs.  None of which really fit in our family budget for now. Tessa plans to continue to pick up the tab on all these things...love her!

Today I brought Jules to my house, a temporary (maybe) experiment to see if she can be happy here and if she can get along with Shiloh.  In the hours since she has been here, she has hissed (yes, a dog hissed) at Shiloh a few times.  Her tail remains between her legs as it has most of the time at Dad's house.  Shiloh has not been mean to her, more like intrigued by her.  Jules had a bath and was fairly good for it.  The only real glitch was the fact that she was so scared that she threw up in the car by the time we got two houses away from my dad's house, and she shook all over for most of the ride here.

So, she is here, and so far, so good.  We will see what the next few days bring.  I am still very intimidated by becoming a two dog household but am convinced that this may be the best fit for Jules. 

Now about her name.  Yes, we have a little girl in this house with a very similar name.  Yes, I do call that little girl Jules quite often.  Jules was already named when Mom got her.  Because of Julia, Mom had every intention of changing the name.  I told her to leave it as it was because Julia would get a big kick out of it.  I was right. Julia loved it.  However, I did not expect that these girls would end up in the same house.  Yes, changing Jules' name has crossed my mind.  Honestly, changing Julia's name used to cross my mind.  I considered changing it to Kylie a few years ago.  Kylie means boomerang, and that seems to be a perfect fit for our Julia.  I do think that we will not be changing any names.  The kids would be too upset to change the name of their Grandma's dog.

We will see how it goes.

Note: No animals were harmed in the production of this post unless 8 or so takes to get a good picture counts as cruelty to animals.  No harm intended.