Oooh! The Drama.

 

Well Mustang Sally has been with our family for a week now and it feels like she’s been here much longer. Sally has already integrated herself into our daily lives  and she’s a perfect addition to our family. She goes everywhere we go, and does everything we do, just like Dobbie Girl has been doing for the past 2 years since we adopted her, too.

I think that Sally’s need to be included in her family’s daily lives is what might have caused her past two homes to return Mustang Sally to the Animal Shelter. Sally is a dog that craves human attention and doesn’t like to be away from her human family. She is like a little shadow and wants nothing more than to be cuddled, taken for walks, for rides in the car and to be loved. This is why Mustang Sally fits in so well with our family. Just about everywhere we go, we take our dogs with us.

(Ranchman John immediately fell in love with Mustang Sally when he came home from Phoenix last week)

(And it’s safe to say that Mustang Sally fell in love with Ranchman John, too)

(Thanksgiving was kind to Mustang Sally, and she seemed pleased to have her own bone to chew on that night)

Something new to share: Mustang Sally is finally learning to ignore our 3 cats and doesn’t always bark when she sees them. But she doesn’t seem to realize that she is little, tiny Chihuahua, and wants to go head to head with our German Shepherd dog Zuni, when we are up at the barn. Thankfully, Zuni is mostly an outside dog, secured safely in her large paddock, with the important job of guarding our goats and llamas.

(There’s Zuni in the background running the fenceline, keeping an eye on things, while Dobbie keeps an eye on our gelding llama, Catlinite)

Zuni only comes inside at night or in bad weather to sleep in her crate. But I’m still surprised at how bold Mustang Sally has been when she stands up to Zuni. Doesn’t Sally know that Zuni could snap her in half if Zuni could get to her?!

She even stands up to our llamas and goats

Check out this video I took when we were up at the barn tonight:

The llamas were just being curious and friendly with her but Mustang Sally wanted them to know that, even though they are much bigger than her and outweigh her by at least 350lbs, she won’t be pushed around. Thank. You. Very. Much.

And Mustang Sally has a few strange quirks, just to keep things interesting.

She still does that endearing, but very weird behavior where she sucks on a stuffed animal while wrapping her paws around it tightly and every so often making odd little grunting noises. After a few minutes of this, she is fast asleep.

And the other day, I decided it was finally time to tackle the issue of her long toenails. Her last owner warned me that trimming Mustang Sally’s toenails can be quite challenging, but I’ve never had any problems trimming any of our dogs or cat’s toenails in the past and just figured, “She’s only 6lbs. How hard can it really be?”

(Dobbie says, “Sally’s screams freaked me out! She even refused to listen to me when I tried to convince her that nail trimming is no big deal and that my Mama will never hurt her!”)

Well, I’m here to say that trying to trim Mustang Sally’s toenails is like trying to convince a tornado to stay still and calm down. I swear! It was like Mustang Sally thought I was trying to murder her. I’ve never heard such shrill screams come from a little, itty, bitty dog like that before. And that was before I’d even touched the clipper to her toenails!

Finally after wrapping the Chihuahua burrito-style, in a fleece blanket, and squeezing her between my thighs to keep her from wriggling, I got ‘er done! All 4 feetsies, too.

But when I released little Miss Mustang Sally, she hightailed it underneath the bed, totally miffed that I’d foiled her opportunity to win the Guinness Book of World Records for the dog with the longest nails.

Finally after much begging, persuasion and slithering like a snake trying to reach her underneath the bed, I finally convinced Mustang Sally to forgive me.

So now I’m just hoping that Little Miss Drama Queen’s toenails are of the slow growing type.

(And here’s an After-Trim photo. Notice, too that most of her teeth have been removed on her right side, hence the sunken lips)

                                           Gotta love her!