She is the newest addition to our family. We didn't know much about training a dog or our kids because Hurley has had us spoiled. He is a piece of cake. The chillest guy I know. For real. Her, not so much.
When we got her, she was called Zoey and she was a trainwreck. Matted from head to toe. Smelly. Loud. Hyper. Her crate had scratch marks all inside that made us wonder how she had lived. The family who had her before had gone through some really hard life-changing stuff and weren't able to care for her anymore. Jode and I brought her home and bathed her, then immediately called Ali to get her groomed. She had to shave her pretty close, but we could tell she felt better. She had a new life and we felt a new name was in order.
She terrorized Hurley. He hated her. Feared her. We all did. She took over his bed and he didn't dare ask her to move. She nipped at us all a few times. She was protecting her stuff. She was getting used to us.
Each day I could see her relaxing a little more. I knew she loved us from that first day, and we really loved her. Still, it took us some time to adjust to each other. She came from a family with one child to one with 4. None of us knew that it takes a dog about 6 weeks to adjust. We had given her 2. I was struggling with the commitment I made to her previous owner and my fear that she would really hurt one of my children. The boys are 5 and 7 year old rambunctious boys. They have that right.
I talked with Ali. She has a lot of experience with dogs. She encouraged me that these behaviors could be changed, but I didn't really know what to do. We waited with our breaths held until another incident occurred.
So we put an ad on craigslist for about an hour and a half, and I talked with a few candidates. I also told most of them I didn't feel it was going to be a good fit. I hated giving up. And we loved her. On the day I was supposed to meet a possible caretaker, the light in the truck came on and we needed to take it in. Jode and I talked. We researched and learned that we needed to learn each others boundaries and teach these to our kids. Duh! We decided to make it work. I called the lady and told her it wasn't going to work out and what we had decided.
From that moment, something changed in all of us. She became a true part of our family. She and Hurley are the best of friends. Now, she lays in my lap at night for a belly rub, something her brother has taught her. We are still working on boundaries. She has a permanent place in our household. She is a wild child. And she is fabulous.
XOXO
Stef
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