Meet the Doggos of @humandesignfordoggos | Meet Joe 🐾

Joe came to me initially as a temporary foster from the same rescue organization I worked with to adopt Murphy. If you thought Murphy was in rough shape, BUCKLE UP!

Storytime: It’s November of 2021, almost Thanksgiving, and I received an email from the group that there had been an emergency, and they needed short-term fosters for several dogs. I replied and volunteered to foster a dog described as a 13-year-old healthy senior chihuahua. They replied right away and share that dog already had a foster lined up, but that he had a 10-year-old healthy chihuahua bestie named Joe who also needed a short-term foster, so I agreed to take him…

Meet the Doggos of @humandesignfordoggos | Meet Murphy 🐾

In Mammalian Design, Murphy is a Splenic Projector, which makes total sense. My guess is that his defined spleen and Gate 28 activation were probably an asset to him during his time as a stray.

Understanding that Murphy is a Splenic Projector has made so many of his behaviors make sense. He is a very safety-focused pup. For example, when he first came home, Murphy re-defined the term "velcro dog."

Meet the Doggos of @humandesignfordoggos | Meet Misha 🐾

Misha’s Mammalian Design chart is also SPOT ON. Misha is a Reflector, which is a super common type in canine charts and understanding that Misha has a sampling aura has been paradigm-shifting in our house.

Here’s an example: When we go on walks, Misha needs to sniff EVERYTHING, way more than his two fur brothers. At first, this could be a bit frustrating, especially as I walk him on a tandem leash with his fur brother, Murphy. But now that I know that he's designed to need to take in his environment in order to feel safe, I've intentionally built more time into our walks for Misha to explore our neighborhood, and because Murphy has a defined spleen center, he’s totally cool with letting Misha explore and even pick which way we go…as long as Murphy gets to cosplay Secret Service (more about that in another post).