Lad

LADDAGE Born 2/14/1994

aka: Laddage, Puppage, Goofball

I got Lad from a PetStore where I was the bookkeeper. Lad was advertised as a "sheltie" when he was first brought in, but within a month, it was obvious he was NOT a sheltie. So I took him for my husband. Dan always wanted a sheltie, and I thought this was as close as I was going to get at that time, and besides, he was so cute and needed a good home. So Lad joined our family in June of 1994. Lad was a very timid dog when we first got him. He was terrified of collars and leashes. The first few days we had him he had to be carried outside to go potty. We had another collie named Allie, who he seemed to get along with . Lad took a lot of work. It took almost a year to housebreak him. He had a huge crate in the sunroom he lived in most of the time since he was terrified to go outside unless forced to do so, so this became his little piece of heaven. I had to drag him out of it most of the time to get him to socialize with us. Eventually I got rid of the crate when he was housebroken, but I could tell he missed it. Lad started to make himself at home, and that was when the incessant barking at anything out of place started. If you walked in the door with a bag of some sort, off he went. He would continue to bark until you emptied the bag and put it away. If you left a jacket on the dining room chair he barked at it until you put it away. No matter what the item was, if Lad thought it was out of place, he barked at it until it was put where it was supposed to be. If I accidentally moved a piece of furniture and did not put it back in exactly the same spot..he would bark nonstop until you put it back in EXACTLY the same spot it was in before.

Lad loved to taunt poor Allie. If Lad wanted to play he would run up to Allie and chomp her on her butt. Not playful nipping, but chomping. You could hear his jaws snap shut. Poor Allie was no spring chicken and this was not sitting well with her. When it got to the point where Allie had enough, then she would get into it with Lad. Lad not being the brightest bulb in the pack, thought she was being playful. He loved it, Allie got used to it.

When Duke entered the picture, poor Lad went nuts. I had moved and took Allie with me, so Lad was getting used to the idea of being the only dog in the house. He missed Allie, but the fact he had Dad and the house to himself overrode any feelings of lonliness. It was about 6 months after Allie left that Duke came into the picture. Duke is still a thorn in Lad's side...but he tolerates him. For a while things were ok for Lad...until Lucy showed up several years later. Lad was not impressed with Lucy's arrival, but now he seems to enjoy her company and at least she plays with him. Duke is such a deadweight, that poor Lad was mostly left to himself unless Duke wanted to play alpha.

Unfortunately I only have the one pic of Lad. When I get more I promise to post them