Flannigan!

Losing Fred, our dog for 16 years, was a big blow for the Cruz family.  We'll never forget him.  We had plenty of conversation on whether we were ready for another addition to the family.  It almost felt like we were cheating on Fred just by having those talks.  But after a while, we felt it was the right thing to do.  CJ's strong opinion on the topic had a lot to do with the decision.  He was going dog crazy.

So we started visiting the various animal shelters in the area.  Flannigan immediately caught Carol's eye.  I think he gave her a funny look and head tilt.  He was very cautious and shy in his cage and we never heard a single peep out of him - not a single whimper or bark.  The Humane Society folks said he came to them in rough shape.  He was either abused or involved in a serious accident.  They think he was burned or drug by a car.  He had no fur on the left side of his body and he was extremely skinny.  The good folks at the Humane Society did a great job of getting him well though.

Some of you have heard my pitch before on rescuing animals from shelters and humane societies.  There are some really good animals there that need homes.  The alternative for these creatures is not good.  Don't plunk down hundreds of dollars for purebred pets from pet stores or breeders.  Save a doggie life instead!

So here's good old Flannigan.  He's a little over a year old now.  We're picking Labor Day as his birthday.  Close enough for government work.  Best guess is he's part boxer, part border collie.  We don't care.  He's all Cruz now.


What an awesome dog he is.  We should've known by those first couple of looks he gave Carol that he was really smart.  With just a little bit of training, he's already picked up several tricks.  He knows sit, shake hands, down, stay, roll over and will fetch the ball all day long.  He's also housebroken.  Unfortunately, he doesn't know how to grab me a beer yet but we're working on it.

That dog loves his momma.

His best doggie friend is Daisy, a beautiful lab who lives next door.  They roll around like there's no tomorrow.  It won't be long before Daisy will be bigger than Flannigan.

So here's a quick video that shows some of Flannigan's quirkiness.  I don't know what he was doing with that tennis ball.  Pretty glad to have a yard for Flannigan to romp around in.  Have a great weekend.