Sweet Dog

 A sweet dog adopted our family 2 weeks ago. Matt had left the side gate open after mowing the yards on Saturday, and Sunday morning a mid-sized dog showed up in our backyard and seemed content to stay. We gave her water (she was very thirsty), and then got some dog food from our neighbor. She was so well-trained and obedient that we thought surely the owners were out looking for her. (She had a collar but no identification tag.) Instead of shooing her back out of our yard, Matt thought it would be better to keep her in one spot so that the owners could find her easier.

We reached out through our neighborhood website, but heard nothing the rest of the day. Monday morning came around and I dragged 4 kids to the store just for dog food. Tuesday morning Matt went in late to work so that he could see if she had a chip. No luck. The response from our neighborhood site was plenty of people offering to help with dog supplies, but no one willing to take her off our hands. Most encouraged us to keep her since taking her to the pound would likely result in her death. 

As far as dogs go, she was pretty great. I took her running the 2nd day we had her, and she was able to keep up pretty well on my 3 mile run. Because we weren't sure of bugs/diseases and also due to her shedding, she spent the days on the patio under the ceiling fan. The first night she started barking at 3am; I didn't want to disturb our neighbors so I invited her into the laundry room and she did great the rest of the night.

As I mentioned previously, she was obviously well-trained. She would not come into the house unless invited in. She would sit on command and also did well at lifting her paw at the command "shake." She soaked up any attention we gave her running around the backyard, going for walks, or just sitting next to her and petting her. She only seemed to bark when she needed something or if she was scared.

If we were to get a dog, she is what we would look for! The problem is, we don't want a dog. I grew up with a dog, I worked in a dog kennel in high school, and I love dogs. BUT the reasons we don't want a dog outweigh the reasons why we might want one. A big factor right now is timing. I can tell you that it was not pleasant to be woken up by the dog in the middle of the night 4 of the 5 nights we had her. Sleep is too precious of a commodity with hoping all 4 kids make it through the night without waking us up. Finding someone to watch the dog during vacations is another big reason, and I can't handle a dog who sheds a lot of hair, which unfortunately she did. A clean floor is pretty important to me, and I get grossed out by pet hair all over the floor or collected in corners of the room.

It was a stressful 6 days/5 nights figuring out what to do with the dog. The boys enjoyed having her, and we didn't want them to get too attached. After 3 days of not hearing anything from owners, we then proceeded to reach out to people who might want a dog. We struck gold when one contact worked: Matt's newly married cousin who had permission to buy a dog for her birthday. Things seem to be going well and hopefully continue to do so!

Carter could often be found sitting next to her in the grass just petting her.