Gunnar Blue

I suppose it's time to introduce the latest member of our pack.  I reluctantly admit that as our pack was plenty big before adding a real dog.  If you add up all of the little micro dogs we have adopted, they are the equivalent of one medium-sized dog, yet so much more work!

Many of you have heard of Gunnar before.  He came to us in Tucson first in September 2009 with a deep leg laceration and a serious case of wanderlust.  Bill and I both fell in love with this dog instantly and both wished we could have a "real dog" like this one. We went so far as to take him to the vet to have his legs looked at, bought him dog food, a dog tag with our address and phone number on it, and bought him a pretty collar.  We did this of course only after he had stayed at our house for four days.  But, Gunnar took off and started to show up every morning and every evening for a couple of weeks.  This allowed us to feed him his prescribed antibiotics and a little dog food. 

September 2009: Gunnar made himself at home on our front porch in Tucson

Bill also built him a fenced-in area in our side yard, but alas, Gunnar is the fastest digger in the West.  He couldn't be contained; we even bought a kennel for him, but he was determined to roam.

Long story short: Bill ran into Gunnar's rightful owner a few weeks after this occured, we got visitation rights and met some very nice people.  Gunnar continued to run loose three weeks out of any given month and we also got visits from him during these times.  He was sort of our step kid.

Right before we moved - as in two days before- I called Gunnar's owner and asked if I could come by to say goodbye to him--and them.  She said he was loose right now so she didn't know if he'd be back by then--Gunnar had gotten pretty good at returning on his own by then.

I was devastated that I wouldn't see him again.  As I pulled into my driveway after this phone conversation, I opened my car door and turned to grab moving boxes; something put weight on the leg that was swinging outside the door--it was Gunnar! Gunnar had appeared from in the desert and strolled right up to the car and put his paw on my leg. He was meant to be mine!

Bill and I offered to give Gunnar a good home up north on the fifteen acres we were moving to and gave Becky and her family a chance to think about it.  She agreed and that is how we proceeded up north with an extra fur kid in tow.

Gunnar had never seen grass before he moved here and he loves rolling in it. He also does other non-chihuahuahua-like activities such as wrangling snakes.  To my horror, Gunnar dove into a ditch five days ago and instead of grabbing a butterfly, he came back with a yellow and black snake.  I squealed like a cheerleader at half-time and probably scared my neighbors.  Gunnar had no idea why I was acting that way, and when I got him to release the snake, the poor little guy had a kink in his tail.  We slowly let him limp away, but had to watch and make sure the little guy would make it off of the road. I wasn't worried that it was a poisonous snake; it's just alarming.  Chihuahuas only bring you stuff like lizards--not snakes.  Had this little episode happened two weeks ago in Tucson, the type of snake would undoubtedly been a rattler, with a much more grim outcome.



Gunnar in his new backyard: there's grass!

I would also like to announce to all of the deer in the Lone Rock area that I walk Gunnar every morning between 0530 and 0700: please don't show your white tails until he and I have passed your path.  If I get flung in a ditch one more time trying to chase you, I may not get back up.  I am starting to feel as if I need one of those Medic Alert necklaces for when Gunnar finally body slams me while trying to pounce on a grasshopper, I will be able to push my emergency button.