Bowser the hound

So the day after we moved in the kids were exploring in the backyard.  Roger and I were in the house unpacking.  Adaiah came running in saying "puppy!" The neighbor has two dogs, I figured they were just at the fence and she didn't like it.  A few seconds later the three older kids came running into the house screaming "A dog!  A dog jumped the fence!" I quick ran to the back door and slammed it shut (because the children apparently forgot that when running from a dog to CLOSE THE DOOR!).  The neighbor has a great dane and a doberman looking beast.  The dog that I was looking at was neither. And it was staring at me, wagging its tail. I opened the door and he ran away, jumping the fence to escape our yard. 

Fast forward a day.  The dog is back.  Wagging its tail.  I think he's kinda cute. 

Seeing that he wasn't a fierce gnarly dog, the kids decided to pet him.  Petting him led to naming him. (They decided on Bowser. Both after Bowser the Hound -from a book we are reading and after Bowser - from Super Mario) Naming him led to calling for him...every single time we go outside. He doesn't come when you call "Bowser" but he does often come when you whistle.

One morning I woke up to the sounds of dogs fighting outside my bedroom window.  I shot out of bed to see Bowser in a fight with a a mean looking dog.  I was mad!

This is the point where I became a sucker.

I got dressed and went outside to find Bowser.  He was hurt.  He had blood on his head.  My heart broke for him.  He's a stray, I know he's a stray.  But he is the sweetest stray I have ever seen! The one and only time I heard him bark was when he heard a coyote. (Yes, we have coyotes.) He is just happy to have attention and to have someone pet him.  He had a collar on him when we first saw him but I took it off after a few days because I realized it was very tight.  So he must have been a stray for awhile. Anyway, I did what you should never do... I fed the dog.  I tried to be discreet so the neighbors wouldn't notice.  I mean, hello, I've been here for like a week and I'm already the crazy lady that feeds the neighborhood strays?!

sigh

So I fed Bowser for a few days.  Adaiah is even warming up to him. We talked about keeping him... but since we already know that he can jump our fence, we aren't sure if that's something we can really do. I stopped feeding him because I don't want to feed a stray, but I am more than happy to feed him if he stays.  I was hoping that if I started feeding him he would stick around our house a little more.  He's an eat n' run kinda dog. Oh well.  We'll see what happens.  The kids get so excited when they see him.  And Bowser's little tail just can't stop wagging when he sees them.