Meet Taco

Yes, he's super adorable.

No, he's not what we expected either.

Earlier this week, our rescue group, All Dog Rescue, learned that the Animal Control Officer in a neighboring town to Dave and I was basically shutting up shop, effective immediately, and had 5 dogs that needed places to go.  Dave and I agreed to help, first by Dave offering to help with evaluations and transportation, and then deciding to foster one of them. 

Yesterday Dave went to the kennels and helped Donna, the evaluator, determine which of the dogs were suitable for our organization and the fosters who had space in their homes.  Ultimately 3 of the 5 dogs were taken into our group--Apollo, a young male yellow lab; Bo, a young male pit bull; and Taco, a young male chihuahua mix.  We thought we'd take either Apollo or Bo.  Another foster showed interest in Apollo and Dave was comfortable with either Bo or Taco.  Donna suggested that we try Taco since we'd never had a small dog and the other open foster home wouldn't have any problem taking a pit bull.  And that's how we ended up with this little guy.

After a little research, we figured out that he's part chihuahua, part dachshund.  Also known as a Chiweenie.  Also known as a Mexican Hot Dog.

And before you get all bent out of shape, we didn't name him.  He was already named Taco.  We are just choosing not to change it because it's awesome (although if he were female, I might opt for Chalupa).  I am considering renaming him Jose Hector Rodrigo Dominguez Silva and just calling him Taco for short.  But I think Dave will say no.  Plus I'm not sure the PetFinder entry will support that many characters.  When he talks (read: when we say things to pretend were reading his mind), he does have a Spanish accent, though. 

Taco's a really good boy. He settled in nicely and is enjoying having us as his people.  He doesn't know many commands--we have to work on sit, down, come and stay.  But he does want to dance and will do so willingly.  Eventually I'll get some good video of it, but until then, enjoy this cuteness.

He does this thing were he walks upright on his hind legs and just bounces around  He'll do it when he's really interested in something you have.  I call it his meerkat pose, but it's hard to get a photo of.  I'll keep trying.

He loves to play and enjoyed picking out his toys at Petco last night.  We got him a little blue dog (like Panda's yellow one, but smaller) and he was very friendly with the other people at the store and on his best behavior.  He crates well, and although he whined for us to come back last night when we went to bed (for about 20 minutes), once he stopped, we never heard another peep. 

Dave and I certainly never considered ourselves small dog people, but having this little guy snuggle up next to you on the couch or in your lap (all 10 pounds of him) was pretty nice.  There's no way any of our other dogs would have gotten away with this.

Taco should be able to find his forever home very soon--small dogs, especially healthy, tame ones like this one--tend to go quickly.  Until then, we'll enjoy being a part of small dog rescue.