Our initially shy and tentative Bud has settled in morphed into what people in Boston (where Boston Terriers were first bred) used to call “The Irish Terror.”

We are seeing why. Bud is different from Gus. He has a touch of the Demon Dog.

Bud is doing all sorts of things now that he never had the chance to do before: digging up Fate’s hidden treasures and hiding them again, picking up our shoes and moving them under the dining room table, marking dog food bowls, and the latest, digging holes under gates.

We’ve had the pasture gate above for five years, and no dog has ever thought of digging under it, not even the supposedly brilliant border collies, who would do anything to get to sheep.

Yesterday, Bud undertook a tunnel project worthy of Mexican drug cartels, he was digging a path into the pasture for reasons known only to him. Probably, because it is there.

We have a counter terrorism plan in effect as of today.

Maria went to work today putting tough chicken wire beneath the gate, and  heavy logs on the other side. I don’t think a bear could get through that, let alone a 27-lb Boston Terrier.

We’ve moved all the shoes into closets or in a dining room corner Bud avoids, for reasons known only to him. We’ve collected all of the revolting rawhides and toys that Fate had dutifully hidden all over the back yard. We’ve thrown out the grossest stuff and given them new things to hide and steal from one another.

We take the food bowls up after meals, and sometimes, I watch to see if he goes near them when they are still down, and if so, I give him a hissing spray from the “Pet Corrector,” a can that emits 50 hissing noises dogs hate. It works, too, But is very respectful of anything that has hissed at him.

Carol Johnson warned me that  Bud doesn’t like wet or warm weather. But Bud wants to be outside in all weather here – hot, cold, wet – especially if Fate is out there, the two of them make me dizzy running back and forth and wrestling.

He has incredible speed and stamina, he can run with the border collies and rarely, if ever tires.

So we are having fun with the new Bud, and rising to the challenge. He has a lot of personality, and it is coming out more and more each day. I don’t think he’s finished yet testing his new world and seeing what havoc he can wreak.

Bring it on.