Thank you for volunteering with the Humane Society of Burnett County; pets between homes need people like you.

I am settling into my new home with Fred, Shelley, El Dorado, Sprite and Spunk – the last two are adorable little cats that my new pet parents are trying to teach me not to get too excited when I see them. Sometimes I can’t help it. They are so cute and so small, but Shelley says I scare them. They do hiss a lot when I want to hug them so I mostly see them from afar right now. Shelley says when I stay calm, they will come closer, but so far they haven’t. They either hiss or run away, but I think Spunk is warming up to the idea of playing with me.

El Dorado is my 3-year-old yellow lab brother and he’s a lot of fun to chase, chase balls with and just run around the yard. We play tag and hide-and-seek and sometimes just race around the yard now that there is a fence. Fred and Shelley had it installed a couple weeks back. At first, the strange guys walking around the yard made me nervous. El Dorado too. We tried to chase them away with our fiercest barks until Shelley said they were going to make our world better. I wasn’t sure if I should believe her, but it turns out she was right. When they left, Fred walked around the yard, then came back and opened the door and let us both run without a leash or tie out. We get to do that a lot these days and I love it. I think El Dorado does too because no matter how tired we are afterward, he doesn’t always want to go back in the house.

And it’s building my confidence. I don’t bark as much at people walking by on the sidewalk, even when I’m in the house. When I’m outside and can smell them from a distance, I don’t get too nervous so I don’t bark. I did get nervous when the neighbor stopped by, but Fred knew just how to calm me down while El Dorado soaked up the extra attention from the lady named Veronica. Her dog Rocky is a friend of El Dorado’s but I haven’t met him yet. Fred and Shelley worry a bit because I got anxious about Veronica.

Fred and Shelley say I’m a good dog, and I do my very best to do what they ask. The cats still worry them, but they are willing to work with me to settle that out. Shelley seems to think it will happen.

Sometimes Fred and Shelley even say I behave better than El Dorado, the dog they had for two years. I walk better on a leash and come better when called. That’s why they kept my name, Loki, because they know I like it and respond to it. Well sometimes Fred and Shelley do call me Wiggle Butt, but that may be because when they come home, I get so excited to see them again that I can’t help but wiggle around while I lick their faces.

LokI

P.S. That’s me and El Dorado playing in the yard over the weekend in the photo. El is the best little brother.