OMFG, He's so cute!

My kingdom for a camera. He's a short-muzzled ball of fur, coal-black except for a little tuft of white on his chest, whose combined paws probably mass as much as the rest of him. I do believe he's going to be rather large.

S&L showed up at about two, with two grandsons in the back of their truck, and loudly proclaimed that I couldn't have him; they wanted him. They put him back in his travel crate (where I noticed he was very happy to go) and I put him, still in his crate, in the Big Doghouse in Gitmo. My landlady and I have been trading emails, setting up a familiarization strategy. I sent Ghost off with S&L, because we're going to need a couple of days without Walky Time and while the old fellas don't mind that it'd drive Ghost nuts.

Then I brought Magnus into the BD, dusted off a chair, and opened the travel crate. The puppy decided he liked it in there just fine, thank you very much whoever you are. Magnus, all welcoming grin, put up with that for a few minutes and then decided the mountain should come to Mohammad. So he proceeded to attempt to enter the crate himself. He got as far as his ears and that's as much as would fit, and he refused to leave until I hauled him out. At this point, the puppy clearly decided he was never leaving this crate ever ever ever. So I put Magnus out of Gitmo, closed the gate, and that's where we are now. I figure I'll let him settle down, and then he and I can spend some time together, and then I'll try again.

UPDATE: He was hungry, poor baby. When I went back in a few minutes after writing the above, he was out of his crate and rather timorously exploring the Big Doghouse. I brought him some food and water and put my chair against the opposite wall; it didn't take him long before he was chowing down on dry kibble like he knew just what it was for. (It hadn't occurred to me to ask the previous owners what they'd been feeding him.) Magnus and Fritz prowled the Gitmo perimeter, wanting in bad. A little later on when I left him alone, he started exploring the outside; M&F came to the fence where he was standing and he didn't shy away and they didn't get aggressive. Looked good, they were sniffing at each other. And then...Magnus lifted his leg and peed all over the puppy.

Okay, see, I'm just gonna go ahead and interpret that as love.

UPDATE II: Oh, he's definitely not going to be named Trouble. This is the sweetest little guy! He started crying for attention, and maybe got more than he bargained for but definitely didn't seem to mind. I let Magnus into Gitmo with me; they'd been playing footsie through the fence for some time. Magnus went into full-love mode, with maybe just a little dominance thrown in for spice. I was so proud of him! He did the ritual ass-sniff, then proceeded to hold the puppy down and give him a whole-body lick, dragging him back gently when he got squirmy. The puppy bit him on the chin and rolled over and did all the proper puppy protocol things, and Magnus was smitten.

And so was I. Everywhere I went, the puppy wanted to follow. I was mostly showering attention on Magnus for being such a good boy, but Jeezus this little guy just makes you want to take a bite out of him all over.

I've got to get serious about a name. Spooner's kind of taken; who's a contemporary black freedom fighter sort? To Google and Wikipedia, go!

LAST UPDATE, I PROMISE!: Well, Magnus loves him; Fritz seems threatened. Fritz didn't even want to go into Gitmo with Magnus and the puppy, (what do you think about "Booker"?) and, once coaxed in, kept his distance and growled when the puppy approached him. He never offered violence, or indeed seemed to want anything to do with him at all. The puppy has decided this isn't so bad after all, and is already complaining about being confined to Gitmo when his new friends are outside. I'm not too sure I want to turn my back on Fritz, though.