Double dog daring

We have another dog, Autumn. She's a 5-month old something-or-other, from the shelter again, but this time, young enough that she hasn't been near-ruined by a previous owner's neglect.

She has seen trouble though. Roughly a month ago, a cop found her in an alley in north Philly, her left eye huge and distended. She's still kind of bug-eyed on the port side, but heavy doses of antibiotics have reduced the swelling from gross to merely unsightly.

She'll probably always be blind in her left eye. Nobody knows what happened, but the consensus seems to be "trauma", i.e. someone poked her in the eye. When we took her to have the shelter vet check her out last week, some thick dude with armloads of tattoos saw her and said, "I think I recognize that dog. I think she used to be near where I live. I'm glad you've got her." Words dense with meaning.

Dylan is less afraid of Autumn than he was Merit. She's more his size, and shows him respect -- especially since he's nipped her a couple of times to get her to back off. Merit drew blood from Dylan (and from me). We don't expect those problems again.

Autumn is spazzy and mouths things and pees indoors like you'd expect from a puppy. But she seems to be learning and fitting in. I think we've got a keeper.