The problem with dogs

I love dogs. Big dogs, small dogs, hot dogs, (with mustard), but therein lies the rub, as they say. I have two small male dogs (neutered) that have been a part of my family for years. Both of them in dire straights at the time I rescued them, and both happy and healthy now. I recently took in another small dog that was having a hard time adjusting to his owner getting two bigger dogs, and slowly starving. Thankfully he and my granddaughter went full goose crazy over each other, and now he is living with her and happy and healthy also.

But.....

I am (eventually) moving out into the country, and spend a lot of nights out there trying to fix the place up. I like to keep a mutt with me to alert to coyotes and/or other varmints, including the two legged kind, coming around while I sleep. And my little half Chihuahua half Dachshund half stupid dog, Scooter, while being adept at barking at anything and everything, wouldn't stand a chance against a coyote, and I have seen them as close as eight feet away while I sit at my fire.

So I got a bigger dog. Addie. This one is an unspade female, who was literally being sucked to death by tics. When the folks giving her up met with me, they literally threw her at me and left. Then I noticed the ticks. Ears were covered. Her coat was muddy brown looking from all the bites and the blood. You could count every bone in her body.

Now she is healthy, putting on weight, and twice the size of when I got her. And that's my dilemma.

She is a normal, large puppy in every way. And she absolutely terrifies my wife's little five pound mixed breed terrier, and even though my dog will play tug-of-war with her, its not much of a battle when she weighs about 35 pounds, and Scooter weighs about 12. Plus, unless the rope they are pulling is over a foot and a half long, she cheats and steps on him. Then he runs away and the game is over. But she still wants to play!

SO.....

Now we have Penny. For some reason, folks around here don't much care for Pits. This little girl was dropped off out in the country, and the folks who she eventually found didn't want her, but were nice enough to put her on craigslist rather than take her to the pound. So I called the lady who put in the ad, and was told that she was still available, as a lot of people had called, but no one had actually showed to pick her up, and she was taking her to the pound that day at noon.
Our city immediately puts down any dog that shows signs of aggression or has any indication of Pit in its ancestry. This was quite honestly a death sentence for this dog. I told her that if she was going to drop the dog off at the pound, she could just bring her to my house instead, as it was actually closer than the pound from where she lived.

She agreed, and now I have FOUR dogs. Penny and Addie hit it right off, and chase each other, play together, and in tug-of-war it is a much more even match. Scooter still plays with Addie, but when he's had enough, Penny steps in and takes up the slack, so to speak.
And Petey, my wife's dog? He sits on the back of the sofa and watches all these goings-on content with the occasional scratch and petting. Harmony has been restored.