Good News

Lily is a healthy girl! The vet thinks she's about 7. Her teeth are in need of a good cleaning and she needs to be spayed, but otherwise, she looks great! I think I will see if they can give her a good teeth cleaning when they spay her. She got a cough and was a bit sick for a few days but she's all better now. What a great dog! It's like she's always been with us.

Oh and more good news! **Warning, potty training talk forthcoming**
Quinn pooped on the potty today!!!! John happened to be home for lunch and Quinn was playing by his feet and she squatted down, assumed the position and made a grimace face. So I suggested that we go to the potty and read a book. She agreed so off went! We weren't even through the first Winnie the Pooh (appropriate, huh?) when I smelled the smell and asked her to stand up. And there it was, like two little prize nuggets. Oh we were so excited! Jonah, Dylan and Dad all came in to see the masterpiece(s). We ceremoniously flushed the poo and then we all did a celebratory happy big girl dance in the living room! She is getting so big!

A changing of the Guard-dogs

Poor little Wendall-the-not-so-wonder-pup. As it turns out (and it's always a risk when you adopt from the pound), Mr Wendall was not socialized as a young pup which has lead to lots of behavior problems in the poor lad. He has spent the past 5 weeks with a professional trainer and while it is clear that he would not be well suited for us (he's super spooky and scared of just about everything, although he is getting better), we think he will make a good pet for someone. I think in all reality we saved his life. He had the best chance and the best training possible and if he had landed in a different home, he might not have lasted long and possibly met a sad fate. But he is getting better. We are very sad to have to find a new home for him because we love him, but it really is the best way to have a chance at him being a happier and calmer dog (we aren't very calm around here).

But I still wanted a dog. Wendall taught me a lot about dog ownership (I thought I knew a lot, but alas, there was yet more to be learned.....as is usually the case). And being the softie that I am, I may have done a really stupid thing, but I at least think it's going to pay off.

We thought about getting an Australian Shepherd puppy (at Dad's suggestion, but I was already interested in the breed). Dad did a ton of footwork for us and found several breeders. We checked out the two that were the closest...one was only 5 miles away! and came to the realization that while the puppies were all adorable, backyard breeders weren't the way we wanted to go. Another breeder he found was a hobby breeder up West of Portland. They look like a fabulous outfit (Neely Ranch). I was all ready to go up and pick out a puppy and John shared with me that he thought a puppy would be too much work at this time in our lives....you know, homeschooling 2 kids in a tiny 800 sqft house while trying to study midwifery w/ a toddler underfoot? ....gee, he might have a point there..... so after I pouted for a while (after all, puppies are SO DARNED cute! and I am such a softie and romantic) we decided to check the classifieds to see what came up.

We looked on Friday....a bunch of labs....very nice but we've been down that road. That was it.
Saturday I walked down the drive to our paper box (if you live in town and you get the paper at your front door, be very thankful when it's only 20 degree out, brrrrrrrr!!!!!!!) and opened up the classifieds. It was peppered w/ adds on Aussies! I circled several, as well as a couple interesting looking mixed breed ads, and started making calls. First on my list was an adult female red tricolor, "good with kids." Aha! That sounded good! I called. No answer, just a very outdated Christmas greeting on the voicemail. I left a message.

Then I called about a mixed breed which turned out to really be a pound dog that the volunteer dog walker felt sorry for so she took out an ad to try to get more visibility on her. Did I mention I'm already on my second strike-dog wise- with my kids? Wendall is the second dog we've had to give away. So now when there is talk of getting another dog they say, "will we have to give this one away too?" OUCH So I needed to be careful and I didn't want to go the pound route again. So poor Daphne at the pound is a bit too late for this poor shmuck.

My next call was a promising one which sounded better by the minute to a local breeder (most likely of the backyard variety). She had three puppies, 11 weeks old, one male who sounded promising, and while I was talking to her, a call beeped through and I recognized the number as being the first one I made to the owner of the red tri. I made arrangements to meet to see the puppies later in the day, hung up, and called back the owner of the red tri.

She was funny on the phone....no funny ha ha....but a bit odd. I gave her the benefit of the doubt (don't I always?) and I asked a lot of questions. Oh my, with every answer this dog sounded better and better...calm, great with kids, no chewing, no excessive barking (no barking at all as it turns out), completely house trained, obedience trained, and on and on....the lady also said the dog was purebred with papers, had had one litter, 6 or 7 years old, and was certified as a disability dog. WOW! I obviously wanted to see her so we made an appointment ... in a parking lot ... for just after lunch.

I called Dad on the way to see the dog. "Make sure you see the papers." yeah, okay.

And that's when I met Lily. I was trying to steel myself from making an impulsive decision ... but either I am very very weak, or else I am very very lucky and took an opportunity when it came along. I tend to think it's a little of both. But Miss Lily was wonderful with the kids, who were in rare form (not in a good way), and I could tell she was well trained. What a loving gentle dog! A real sweetheart. No papers. No documentation of breed, shots, nada. But a darling dog who I could tell would be awesome with the kids. The lady said she had a ton of calls and I believe her. And someone else would have snatched this dog up in a second, so I bit the bait. And now we have Lily. I realize I may never get papers, and the dog might be older than 6 or 7, and might be in ill health (although I don't think so), and I don't really know. I'll have her checked out by the vet on Monday. But I really think we lucked out here.

She is an awesome dog. She is already very loyal to me. I can tell she had a female master before because she prefers to follow me around. She is always at my side. She needs some more work on the "sit" command (I noticed the owner didn't really enforce compliance on that command), but she's excellent with "down," "stay," and "come." It's true she never jumps up, chews, etc. She's really a fabulous citizen. I hope her health checks out because I am becoming very attached to her. She's the perfect dog, really. And it doesn't hurt that she is so pretty.

So here's a picture of Miss Lily.