Dog Days with Fritz and Pansey

In January of 2009, Afton Mountain Bed & Breakfast became a livelier place with the addition of two canine companions.  Seven-year old Pansey and four-year old Fritz were roommates at the Nelson County Almost Home Pet Adoption Agency (and in fact, Pansey was  one of the first dogs to live there at the agency).

Although Fritz and Pansey are similar in appearance, they are different in almost every regard. Fritz, as a half Chow, half Shiba Inu, is curious, craves attention, and wears his emotions on his…uh…tail. (And yep, he’s a 100% Asian dog with a Germanic name.) The Shiba Inu is a Japanese hunting dog, so walking Fritz is quite a challenge with all of the deer, rabbits, and squirrels around our B&B property. He’s also definitely the more outgoing of the two. Despite our best efforts, he manages to sneak into the dining room most mornings and introduce himself to our guests and sniff their shoes.

Fritz

Contrarily, Pansey is half Lab and half Pit Bull. She has the absolute sweetest personality and is reserved, enjoying time to herself and displaying only subtle emotions. She’s definitely a mama’s girl, and one can almost always expect to find her cuddling with Orquida on the couch just before bedtime. Pansey’s quiet demeanor certainly doesn’t make her a pushover, however! If Fritz is playing with a toy, Pansey will suddenly decide that she has to have that toy, and, like the majority of siblings, she will retrieve that toy by any means necessary.

Pansey

Despite their differences, Fritz and Pansey adore each other.  For the most part, they’re a quiet pair, with the exception of the arrival of the UPS truck anywhere in the neighborhood.  The dogs’ ability to single out the sound of that truck among the passing traffic is remarkable. (They don’t have the same reaction to the FedEx truck, though, so we figure they might be anti-union.)