Both ADOPTED!

Little Suzie made friends with all the transporters on her way out from IA. She is a real little sweetheart. She is a little girl, just 38 pounds at 2 years old. But full of play and fun,

Sally is full of kisses she loves to share.

She is doing well with the doggy door. She has not received a lot training, and is still a puppy, so make sure you have some time to work with her.

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We have happily survived week one with our new family members! And it has been a week of such excitement in our house with Annabelle and Dottie!

This first week saw a lot of couplings as all three dogs adjust to their new “pack”; Max and Dottie, Dottie and Annabelle, and Annabelle and Max (along with their interactions with us).  They are finally starting to become a group of three.  They readily lay with one another instead having an “odd man out” syndrome.  Their potty accidents are decreasing steadily.  Annabelle is down to averaging about one accident per day.  Dottie is much better and is slowly increasing her time in-between trips outdoors. 

We had some excitement yesterday!  The dogs all like to run out onto the deck and look out over the yard, woods and farm behind us.  The other morning while out there, they started barking like crazy and when we came out to find out what was going on , we saw a coyote running off in the trees!  So our babies are already doing some great protective “work”!

Annabelle (who we often fondly refer to as “the little demon child”!) is still working on getting used to living inside a real house. But we have found that her formerly timid behavior with us is typical of her reaction when she meets new people and is in situations she has never experienced.  She used to keep her tail tucked between her legs around here but now is wagging away almost constantly, and is very excited to see us when we return from another room, although she still does not at all like to be left in a room without one of us being there as well.  We took her along with us last weekend when we had to go to a busy art show event, and she reverted to her timid behavior, as many people stopped to ooh and ahh over her and wanted to pet her. She was very shy and cuddled even closer in our arms with so many strangers around her. Of course, at home, she has been the Tasmanian Devil!  Despite the many toys and Nyla Bones she has available and plays with almost constantly, she has managed to chew completely through two collars and the new harness! She also frequently attempts to make a toy out of just about anything and everything she has the urge to get her mouth on, including the corners of the coffee table, books, newspapers, slippers, rugs, throws, etc.!  We bought some all natural “Bitter Apples” spray which is supposed to taste bad to dogs (we shall see, mainly to deter her from chewing on her harness and the coffee table corners).  She definitely has been a handful, but her behavior also shows us that likely she never had a chance to live as a playful curious puppy or in a loving home situation before and everything is just so new for her. She is also so cuddly and snuggly with us, loves to rough house with Dottie, is so exuberant and excited to see us whenever we come into the room, and is very curious and so cute in her puppy like expressions. Tonight she cuddled up in a chair with Max for the first time and they took a nap together, which we loved seeing! She will be a bit more of a challenge to get settled and trained, but we believe that she is very smart, loving and lovable,  and has already improved her behavior and understands more every day.

Our little Dottie is such a sweetheart!  The other day, they were all in the car waiting with me while Laurie was in a store returning something. I was reading and listening to some Classical music (a song from Lord of the Rings) as they rested in the back seat.  During a song where a girl was singing in a high voice, Dottie suddenly proceeded to howl beautifully with a long, rolling sound, her lips pursed in a circle!  Surprisingly, both Annabelle and Max soon joined in (both of whom are normally nearly silent dogs!). 

I played the song at home to show Laurie and they all did it again numerous times! It was so adorable and it makes us wonder what exactly they are hearing and thinking to make them howl along to just that particular song like that! She is always ready and imploring us for a belly rub, and loves to snuggle and give kisses. She is so content to just be wherever we are, and is very tolerant of Annabelle’s often rough play. She also gets Max going in playtime sessions several times a day and that is so good for Max to be more active!

Both dogs are beginning to grasp a number of commands and tricks such as sit, paw, speak, stay, come, up, down and kiss so far.  Dottie has more attention to doing this because food seems to be much more important to her than to Annabelle, who often has the attention span of a gnat!  She will run into a room and play rough and hard with Dottie, and then suddenly she is in the other room chewing on a bone, then she will collapse in a chair and fall asleep for 10 minutes, then she’ll jump up and go scratch on the sliding glass doors to let us know that she wants to go out on the deck (“rinse – repeat”!). They do take several hour or two long naps during the day and usually conk out for the night by about 9 pm.  Max is helping them learn too, since he is slow, patient and very good with his commands.  They watch him and are learning by example. 

At night, they are all sleeping upstairs in our room (just because we don’t think that Annabelle could be trusted downstairs without adult supervision overnight).  They are sleeping in their beds for most of the night.  They have gotten into a routine of waking around 7 am to go potty outside, and then they all climb in bed with us for a bit more napping and snuggling time before getting up to eat their breakfast. They absolutely love sleeping in “mommy and daddy’s big bed”, and it is so heartwarming for us to see them so serene, relaxed and secure with us.

We also discovered the good news that a specialty pet store on our street sells that dog food you sent home with us! We plan to buy a big bag as soon as their current supply is gone, which will be any day now!  Also, we were looking over their paperwork the other day and noticed that we skipped over the shampoo topic. We want to ask your advice about what you use/ would recommend.

All in all, we can see many marked improvements in their behaviors and feel they are acclimating to their new life here with us and Max very well, and we are so greatly enjoying watching them learn and grow more comfortable and secure with us. They are both such good dogs in their own different ways, and we love them both very much already! We have included more photos for you too!