How Our Pet Chihuahua, Rufus, Came Into Our Lives

In June 2002, my 2 children and I went out to find a new pet dog. We already talked about what we wanted to get, and we were looking for a chihuahua.

After making several phone calls and seeing one litter we headed out for a 1 hour drive from where we lived. We ended up at a pet shop and they only had one 4 month old male that was cross eyed and about 3 times the size he should have been. Needless to say we fell in love with him even if he was not what we thought we would find.

Most dogs his breed would have weighed 1 to 2 pounds. He was already more than 5 pounds, so if you wanted to show him you can't. He was too big for his breed. Also with crossed eyes he was not the perfect specimen for a chihuahua dog. He is tan and has the bug eyes and an apple head to boot. And really looking back at it he did not stand out in his personality either. For a Chihuahua he was a bit timid.
But the one quality he did have he was very quit. He did not bark hardly at all. Chihuahuas normally can be very noisy. After we got him to our home he looked around for only a short time and then laid down to go to sleep.

We got a small crate to put him in during the night so he would not relieve himself all over my house. It only took about 1 week to house break him. He to this day goes to the door if he needs to go out when we are home. My wife and I both are gone during the day for work and Rufus has free run of the house. He has only had accidents only a few times when we are gone longer than usual.

He has turned out to be a very good pet in our home. In the beginning when some one Rufus did not know would come over he would just hide or stay in his chair and be very quit. He stayed that way for the first 2 years we had him.

Then he gradually started to turn in to a real chihuahua. When I brought my wife home with me from Thailand Rufus would bark at her. He never tried to bite her but it did take about 2 or 3 days for him to get use to having Ning in the house. Now Rufus and Ning are best of friends.

If some one comes over he has not seen he can get very loud barking at them. He has to be watched very close when they go to leave because the little guy will try to nip them. This will get him cracked with a paper. Believe me this is just to scare him, not hurt him. He has learned not to do this any more, but we still watch him close.

Our mailbox is on the front porch, and when the mail man drops mail off, boy, you would think Rufus would chew off his leg. He will even stand on the back of the couch and sometimes bark at anyone walking down the side walk. Is is good that he has not made a habit of it, though.

I will say now that Rufus is and has been a very good pet to have in our home. He is truly one of our family. If you ever get a chance to own one of these little dogs go for it. They are really easy to take care of. They do give back a lot of love that you give them.