Little Joe

Cristene J., who adopted Shep -- our blind German Shepherd from Afghanistan -- last month, emailed us these photos last week.  Cristene and her husband Duane have renamed Shep "Little Joe," which we thought was a perfect name for our "pocket Shepherd."

We all kind of figured Cristene and Duane's other Rolling Dog Ranch adoptee, three-legged Kasha, would shepherd (so to speak) the newbie around their place, but guess who attached himself to Little Joe instead?  None other than Arnold, the family's miniature Dachshund.  That's Arnold resting his chin on Little Joe's back in the photo above.  Cristene says Arnold has fallen in love with this blind boy.

I've posted before on an odd phenomenon we've seen a lot of here, which is large dogs preferring to sleep in ridiculously small beds.  I don't know if Little Joe picked up this habit at the ranch and took it with him to his new home, but here he is commandeering a cat bed as his own:

Judging from the number of people who have read our blog posts about this behavior and told us their dogs do the same thing, it is clear we are not alone in witnessing this canine preference for undersized beds!

Comments

[Kylie]

The other day I went out and bought my dog and my 2 cats each a new bed for an early Christmas present,
Well my dog decided that he liked the cat bed, so both my cats now have 1 cat bad to share. They refused to sleep on the dog bed ::PP

[Lisa Simonds]

Somewhere in my vast collection of cat photos (why is it I have none of friends and family?), I have several photos of cats in shoeboxes. Kittens fit nicely into those small boxes; cats do not. One, in particular, looks like a loaf of bread that has set too long. Not only is it spilling over the top, the sides of the pan have bulged.

[gayle]

What a great ending.

[Margaret and Jasmine]

Jasmine, our 11-pound miniature dachshund, stayed at a friend's house last Christmas. Instead of sleeping in her own fluffy bed, she chose the ridiculously LARGE bed in the family room. Of course, this was partly an alpha-dog play--the resident dog was mellow and a bit submissive. The image of her, a tiny spec in this huge bed, is so precious...unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it!

[Colleen & Sweet Kitty Erin]

I love his new name! It fits him perfect. Arnold & Little Joe look so content together. Thank you for keeping us updated on his wonderful new home! Tickles me so much that the big dogs think they are really little dogs!

[Margaret]

Simply melts my heart. Perfectly wonderful, sweet success. So glad for special buddies in addition to a loving forever home!

[Angela]

Wonderful pictures! Little Joe hit the jackpot! I think dogs like to curl up in little balls in little places - especially, of course, when it's cold. I call my female "doodle-bug" when I see her like that.

[Lynn]

While looking at those two photos I could feel my heart swell. Little Joe has his toy and his best bud and life is good. Perfection.

[ginger]

What a precious picture of him with his new companion! I love seeing great things happen to these wonderful creatures. Thanks to his new family for sharing this with us.
Hugs to all,
ginger, Tobias, & Tlingit

[Debbie]

What a lovely picture of peace and contentment.

[Zan]

Awww...great story...as always, keep up the good work!

[Cora]

"Little Joe" is a perfect name for him. He did the same thing when he was in Afghanistan...found a little friend and often put his head on her body to rest. I see he found another little friend. He looks so healthy and beautiful! Thank you for taking good care of him and thank you new parents for giving him the best home ever.

[Shirley * James * Portland, OR]

So much good news on the blog lately--love it!!

[Jamie]

Little Joe has a minion!!! Sweet!