Dixie and Jack, originally uploaded by daveronku.

Dixie seems to be getting over her skittishness pretty quickly. She had her first day in the office with me yesterday and did very well.

We parked in front of the Chamber of Commerce, right around the corner from my office. The three of us went in to say hello to Stephanie, a big dog lover and a fan of Riley’s. She’s been anxious to meet the new girl. After a few minutes of tearing around checking the place out, Dixie went to Steph and made her first new friend of the day! She had a couple of treats and allowed Steph to pet her. We stayed for about 15 minutes and by the time we left she was getting full body rubs (Dixie, not Stephanie).

Next she met Steve and James, the two guys I share the office with, as well as the postal carrier and the window washer guy. It took her just a few minutes to warm up to the guys. By the time the mail came and the window was being washed, she was getting the hang of it. When the door opened, she’d bark once or twice, and both dogs would charge to the top of the stairs to see who was coming in. Riley would act all cool and race halfway down the stairs to show Dixie how it’s done. They both said hello with licks and pets. So it seems Dixie’s really taking her cues from Riley, which is great.

Last night, Jack stopped by to meet Dixie. Again, after a few minutes of shyness, she was ready to make yet another friend. As you can see from the photos, it didn’t take her long to nuzzle up to him and get all the rubbin’ she could get.

Other than a couple of accidents in the office, I’d say Dixie had a fantastic day. The vet called to say that her lab test came back; she has Giardia. That would explain some of the urgency she had yesterday. She’s not quite housebroken yet, so we still have to deal with that.

Beauty shot, originally uploaded by daveronku.

Say hello to 62.5 lbs. of fun: our new Fox Hound-Boxer girl, Dixie!

Dixie came to us via a pretty circuitous route. A few weeks ago, Julie checked petfinder.com to see the dogs currently being fostered by the group that had Riley. She found a boy dog, Metro, a 1 1/2 year old mutt who we thought would be a good match. We met him a couple days later and liked him enough to arrange a meeting with Riley.

That week, Metro and another dog, Dixie, were featured on Dick Goddard’s ’save our pets’ segment on the local news. We asked the foster organization to bring both dogs to our meeting.

We met on neutral ground at a house in Euclid. It quickly became apparent that it wasn’t going to work out between Metro and Riley. Metro definitely wants to dominate, and at half Riley’s size that was going to be an issue. Our boy just wants to play with every dog he meets; when challenged he usually just projects an attitude of ‘whatever dude, I’m outta here.’

Riley and Dixie hit it off immediately, tearing around the back yard and wrestling. We decided that it’d be a good idea to meet up again, this time at our own house. Again, they got along well, and we decided to take a chance on this little lady.

Here backstory is rather sad. She was dumped a couple of years ago by an unknown person at an animal clinic on the west side run by a terrible vet who’s been in the news around here for her unprofessionalism. She kept Dixie confined to a crate for the better part of a year. The poor dog was only allowed out a couple of times a day to do her business. Eventually, she was condemned to be put to sleep.

Our rescue people heard about her and took her to a trainer who owns a rehab kennel out in Chesterland. He’s a former Sheriff’s Deputy with extensive experience in training police dogs. Since breaking a hip during a drug bust, he’s retired from the Sheriff’s Dept. and now makes a living rehabilitating “death row dogs.”

Dixie spent nine months in that kennel, going from a frightened, skittish dog who could not be approached without her lashing out, to a sweet gentle girl who loves to snuggle and be petted. The trainer did an amazing job of bringing her back from the brink, and we thank him for his efforts.

Riley enjoys playing with Dixie, but he seems to be a little put out by this usurper taking some of our attention. But they’re getting along so well after such a short period of time that we’re confident they’ll become the best of friends. Wish us luck!

“Texas Republicans have worked overtime to make it harder for key Democratic voting groups to vote and be represented fairly. The redistricting games they’ve played are infamous. And for the Prairie View A&M University precincts, they put the early-polling place more than seven miles from the school.

So what did the students in this video do? They shut down the highway as they marched seven miles to cast their votes on the first day of early voting.”

Okay, there’s more to the story than that. Both sides of the aisle mess around with gerrymandering; the Dems are no more saints than the Republicans. The problem at PVU had more to do with the local county officials believing the students should be voting in their home counties rather than at school. Texas law says otherwise, but why should they let that stop them from making it difficult for those students to vote at an early-polling place?

I need a little help with my morning crossword. Any ideas?

What?