Tiki

After our dog Shorty died, Josh wanted to get another dog, and so did the boys. But I was not in favor of getting another dog. I did not want to go through the process all over again of training another puppy. The boys had seen some blue heeler puppies the week before, and were interested in getting one of them because they thought they were so cute. I especially didn't want another heeler puppy--a dog that nips and jumps.

Josh prayed about what to do--he wanted our boys to have a dog again, and he didn't want me to be upset by their desires, and he wanted to do the right thing. The dog-bite, dog-killing incident had been a shock to everyone, but very hard on Josh and he wanted to make things right again. He felt like we should go to the animal shelter, and he kept having the same thought over and over again. He told the boys we would go look at the shelter first, and if they didn't have any dogs we liked, then we could look into getting one of the blue heeler pups instead.

I was hesitant about getting a dog from the shelter (what if the dog came from an abusive home? what if it didn't like kids?)--but I thought it was a better solution then getting a new puppy. So, on a Tuesday afternoon in June (2 days after the dog-biting incident), we all got into the van and drove into town to the Animal Shelter. We told them we wanted a family-friendly, medium-size dog that would not bite. They said they had one dog that fit the criteria: a female dog with the name of Tiki. She was a Corgie/Border Collie mix, and they'd only had her for one week. She was a year old, and had already been bred once and fixed. When she arrived at the shelter the week before, she came with one of her puppies, but the Shelter had sent her pup to a Boise shelter just that morning. A worker went to get her out of the kennel and bring her to us. We all instantly liked her. She had the same coloring as Shorty, but her fur was longer & thicker, and she was a little taller. We took her on a walk around the shelter, and made a family decision to keep her.

This has been the best decision for us. Having her has helped the boys heal tremendously. Kanyon loves her so much, and has almost forgotten his dog-bite incident. The boys all love their new dog. She is super sweet, and follows them anywhere around the place. She rarely barks--only at animals that come around our home at night. She doesn't jump up on us, and she doesn't chew as badly as Shorty did. She doesn't run off or chase cars; she stays close to our home and runs up to greet us when we arrive after being gone.  I've never heard her growl, and she is so friendly with other people. She is an awesome pet. I'm so glad Josh listened to his mind & heart to go to the Animal Shelter, because she is the perfect dog for our family!

 

 

We weren't given much information about where she came from, only that her previous owners were breeders, and they said they had too many dogs when they dropped her off at the pound. The day we picked her up, right after we brought her home, we had to go back into town to soccer. Ammon tried putting her in the kennel, but she quickly escaped through the small hole that Shorty had created by biting through the wire. As we were driving away, she quickly started running after us on the road. So, we put her back in the car, and I drove into town, dropped the older 3 boys off at their earlier soccer games, then Kanyon and I drove Tiki back home to try and fix the kennel so that she would stay and wait for us. Edward came over and used some wire cutters to fix the kennel, and then Kanyon and I drove back into town for our soccer game at the later time (I was coaching his team). During Kanyon's game, Edward called to say that Tiki found a different way out of the kennel, and was following him around while he was doing chores with the cows, so he tied her up on the leash on our porch instead. As soon as we got home, we unleashed her. We discovered that first day that she doesn't like to be alone, and the boys wanted her to feel welcome with them, so that very first night, they all slept outside on the trampoline. She was hesitant to join them on it, but they lifted her up and carried her onto the trampoline, and she laid in between them on it all night. They've all been good friends since! She has never tried to follow us down the road in our car since that first day. She now knows we will return, so we've never had to put her in the kennel or tie her up again, either.

 

We quickly discovered she doesn't like loud noises. She doesn't like yelling, and will back away or hide when the mowers are going or kids are screaming. One night the pump in the backyard ditch was sucking a lot of air, and it was making horrendously loud belching sounds all night. It scared Tiki, and she hated it. That night, she made a large rip in the back screen door by yanking on the screen with her paws so she could come inside and lay by us instead. The next day, I sewed up the tear so that the screen door could still be closed at night to allow the cool night air inside. Unfortunately, there was a big thunder storm that night, with lots of thunder and lightning, and she tore through the screen door again, completely ripping away part of it. She only tries to come inside when it's noisy outside and she's scared! Now we have to keep the sliding glass door closed all night instead of the screen door, because it's an easy access for her to come in. Whenever she does come inside, however, she's very calm and just sits or lays down. One night, we actually let her stay all night inside and she laid by the boys and didn't run around at all, but when she started chewing on their things, we took her back outside.

Whenever we weed the garden or pumpkin patch, she follows us down there and she takes turns sitting by each boy as they work and weed. She does so without even being called, it's so cute. She's loyal to all 4 boys and loves to be with them. She's followed us on 4-wheeler rides, walks, and watches the boys as they play in the yard.

She likes to lay in her dog house on the back deck or on the dirt underneath the back deck during the days, and at night she lays on our front porch. She lays a lot, and sometimes I wonder if she's depressed or if she's just content to not be active. She only runs when she's chasing away another animal or she's trying to keep up with us on 4-wheelers. The workers at the animal shelter weren't even sure if she would bark, but we have heard her a couple of times at night to keep the deer, foxes, raccoons, and skunks away (she's already been sprayed a couple times by skunks). She's everything we wanted in a dog!