An update on Ollivander Rutledge Dellinger

Yup, that’s right Ollie’s full name is Ollivander Rutledge Dellinger and YES I do call him by his full name when he does something bad.

Like peeing on my carpet.

Or stealing Jack’s plastic screwdriver and chewing the end of it so that it no longer screws or drives.

Or sneaking up on me when I’m using the bathroom and LICKING the side of my butt during my private twosie time.*

But let’s start at the beginning so that this update seems a bit more updaty.

image_2 Ollie joined our family on August 14th so as of today he’s been with us 7 weeks. When he first became a part of our family he was really, really shy and pretty much scared of everyone. We think that he had been abused (yelled at and hit) by a man in his original home because he was most fearful around men and would cower at any slightly raised voice.

He has warmed up to us over the past month and a half and likes me best. Yeah, that’s right I’M the top dog so he wants to be by my side at all times. While this is extremely flattering, it can also be a bit annoying (such as the bathroom intrusion). We’ve been working on him becoming closer with Travis so that when I leave the house Ollie doesn’t just whine and whine until I come home.

For the first couple weeks, there was a huge jealousy issue between Ollie and Jack.image_3 Jack was quite used to receiving ALL the attention in the house and couldn’t quite understand why we felt the need to even look over at the little dog. So, he did what any toddler would do and try to smack the crap out of Ollie when nobody was looking. As you can imagine, Ollie was NOT cool with that. He was also not cool with the fact that his new mommy was pushing him aside to play with a giant child who enjoyed smacking him. Thank god that phase passed and now they are fine with each other. Jack likes to GENTLY pet the dog and Ollie feels confident enough to jump up on my lap while I’m reading Jack his bedtime stories.

Ollie also decided to test my love for him about a month after he joined us by running away. When the nanny was over, Ollie slipped out the front door and our short life together flashed in front of my eyes while I was waiting to hear if he had been found.

It’s pretty obvious that Ollie is spoiled at our house. Partially because I feel bad that his last family didn’t love him much and partially because we just like to love the crap out of our dogs (and each other). I’ve taken the big step and whispered the words, “I love you” into Ollie’s over-sized ears, but my husband is still on the fence about declaring his love. I can honestly say that I don’t love Ollie as much as I loved Potter… but Potter was with me for almost 10 years so I’m assuming my love for Ollie will grow.

imageOh yeah, and he’s not totally housebroken. He does really, really well but still has had a few accidents in the house. Most recently, he decided to pee in our office and when I (admittedly stupidly) caught him mid-stream and yelled “NOOOOOoooooo!” he did a crazy startled peepee dance that resulted in me scrubbing the carpet in the office, the hallway and 4 of the steps going downstairs. I was definitely NOT loving Ollivander Rutledge Dellinger in that moment.

Ollie-isms:

Ollie’s Biggest Dislike is Baths – Ollie is apparently part cat because if you try to bathe him, he fights you like a rabid monkey ninja. The only way I can get him clean is by filling the sink up and then trying to throw as much water on him as possible before he climbs up my arms to catapult himself back across the room. It’s a thankless job, but it has to be done because otherwise he gets kind of stinky. And frankly, I already have ONE stinky boy in my bed with me at night.

image_1
A typical weekday night: Jack has decided that he wants to sit on my boobie and Ollie is standing on my head.

Ollie’s Biggest LIKE is me – Yup, I’m Ollie’s jam. In Ollie’s ideal world I would wear him as a scarf and bring him with me wherever I go. That’s right… AS A SCARF. Because when Ollie is feeling the most excited to see me he pretty much would like to crawl up under my chin and stay there. I’ve also woken up in the middle of the night because Ollie has crawled up the back of my t-shirt. Let me just tell you, this is a very odd way to wake up because in your dream-state you have no idea what is happening and why there is a furry hot animal inside your shirt with you.

So there you go, a little Ollie update for y’all. He’s been with us for less than 2 months, so I’m sure that he’s just getting settled in. I’m hoping that he and Jack get closer (and maybe someday he can curl up in Jack’s bed instead of mine!!) and that he stops with having accidents in the house. Yup, that would be great if they could stop NOW because I’m kind of over it.

Do you have any Ollie-related questions? Have you ever adopted a shelter dog and realized that it would be happy pretty much living inside your skin?

*Ok, that’s not so much BAD as it’s weird and inappropriate.

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15 thoughts on “An update on Ollivander Rutledge Dellinger”

  1. Shelter dogs seem to be very appreciative of their new loving homes! Almost every single one I have ever met has adopted one person in particular, much like your Ollie had decided you are his person!

    1. Yes, I am definitely Ollie’s person. So expect more pictures of me wearing an Ollie scarf…. =)

    1. I’m sure that there is another yorkie/chihuahua mix at a shelter near you that needs a home! Apparently shelters are FILLED with chihuahua mixes right now because as soon as they are no longer ‘cute puppies’ the owners don’t want them anymore.

  2. We have had 2 dogs in our married life– Pep, a Border Collie-Lab mix who we took from the SPCA when he was between 1-2 years old. We had him from October 2000 until July 3, 2012. He was instantly attached to my husband. I am not kidding when I say that Pep would have liked to have been surgically attached to Tim. Pep loved all of us, but he was Daddy’s Boy. When we lost him, which was the worst thing ever, we knew we needed to get a new dog pretty much right away. We could not function without a dog in the house. (Tim and I often joke that we are part dog and that’s why dogs love us and are pulled to us in a magnetic way.)

    A week and a half after we lost Pep, we brought home Louise, a 14-week old Yellow Lab-Standard Poodle mix. (3/4 Lab, 1/4 standard poodle). We took her from a small rescue group that had brought Lu and 3 of her sisters up to Western NY from rural NC. They were 4 of 11 puppies born on a hog farm and needed homes. I am a teacher so I was off for the summer. Training the puppy became my job. All of my dogs had been 1-2 year old shelter rescues, so I had never trained a puppy before. I was a nervous wreck. I basically didn’t eat or sleep for a week, I was so consumed with following her around and dreading her having accidents around the house. Within a week she had gotten the hang of it, and she was pretty reliably trained within a month. I also taught her “sit”, “stay”, “leave it”, “down” and she was fetching and dropping the ball at my feet within a week.

    She is now 1 1/2 and while still very much a puppy (Labs seem to mature slower), she is 75 pounds of boundless enthusiasm and sheer happiness. She is very attached to me, and when I am mad or yelling she knows to take me seriously. She loves us all differently– Mama is for loving and food and cuddles, Daddy is for fighting (they roll around and fight and scrap), Evan is for playing and Alex is for lavishing kisses on. It’s a really nice dynamic.

    1. Your house sounds like a really fun place to be! Good job on training your puppy… I remember when I trained Potter years ago how hard it was. And we were totally puppy kindergarten dropouts too (for real, we dropped out because the instructor made Potter feel bad about himself)….

      1. It took a lot of hard work and determination, but Lu’s also really smart. I never took her to puppy school, but a friend of mine did tons of classes with her dog and she taught me a lot of what she learned. We made it work.

  3. My cat’s a rescue and although he was still a baby when I got him there was a decent amount of settling in to be done. Quite a few things got chewed, scratched during those first few months. It’s just one of those things pet owners deal with for their fur babies.

    I’m glad that Jack and Ollie are getting along better.

    My cat Jasper also likes to try and be the kitty version of a scarf. If I pick him up he will actually climb up onto my shoulder and settle in. This usually leads to him trying to groom my hair which is cute but kinda ick.

    1. lol to the cat grooming. When I get out of the shower Ollie tries to be helpful and lick the water off my ankles. Um, no thanks… I JUST washed them!

      1. Jasper does that too! Or better yet, he’s learned how to pull the towels down from the rack and will nap in them while I shower. Nothing like trying to dry off with a towel covered in cat hair.

  4. We used to give our dogs full names so I love this.
    Oh and once, my puppy brought my bra out of my room in front of my then new boyfriend,
    Yay me!

    1. Oh geez, that would be super embarrassing!

      Potter’s full name was Potter Pot Pie Harman Dellinger. Somehow it fit him. =)

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