Dahlia has arrived!
After dropping Coeby off at the rest stop near Fultonville yesterday, we signed all the adoption papers and took the wonderful Dahlia home with us. My gosh what an exciting moment! I was hoping to catch on video David's first meeting of her, but it didn't work out quite as planned. We arrived at the truck stop with Coeby and David decided to run in and hit the restroom. While I was getting Coeby out of the car for a little walk, I saw a woman walk swiftly by with a gorgeous black dog. And then I realized -- OMG that's MY gorgeous black dog! We rushed over to each other and exchanged leashes quickly. And then, quite suddenly, she was ours. David came out and took a second to realize I was holding onto a different dog. It was love at first sight with him. He bent down to her, she put her paw on him, and it was all over! We chatted with Trish (of the Bare Bones Rescue -- a wonderful, warm, kind-hearted woman who took in Dahlia, along with many other abandoned animals, and found her a home). We found out that apparently Dahlia had been pregnant when she was taken into the shelter, but was only at the beginnig of it, so they opted to basically terminate the pregnancy and spay her. Little Dahlias would have no doubt been wonderful pups, but there are already so many out there who need homes, so we're happy they opted to end things before they had really begun. We're still not entirely sure how she got to the shelter (they were apparently not very forthcoming with info) but it sounds more and more like someone just dumped her out on the streets shortly before they picked her up. I mean, she's 2 or 3 and had only JUST gotten pregnant for the first time. So she was clearly taken care of and not let loose for quite a bit of her life.
Dahlia seemed a bit confused about what was going on but then, as we were talking to Trish, she hopped into our car like "ok I'm ready let's go home now." We said goodbye to Trish and then we were off.
David spend the first part of the trip cuddled up with Dahlia in the back, just getting to know her. We needed to find ourselves some place to stop and find food for our poor little girl. Trish, in her rush to get out of the house, had forgotten the back with Dahlia's food. We managed to find a K-Mart and while it didn't have the best food out here, had something entirely adequate for our needs. We also picked up water as we still had no water at the place on Oneida LAke. In fact, as of writing this, we still don't have working water (he's supposed to come tomorrow -- *crosses fingers*). We swapped spots at that point and I got to spend the rest of the trip cuddling with her. And she IS a cuddler. She wants nothing more than to lean against you or lay across your lap getting attention. She's not forceful about it...a raised paw, a gentle resting of her head in your lap. Nothing more. No barks, no whines, no forceful falling upon you (like Jack, one of the deaf Aussies was wont to do). Just really sweet, calm, and quiet.
We arrived at the place on Oneida Lake and brought her in so she could get acquainted with her new digs. She wandered around for a little while, paced a bit. We fed her, got her some water to drink, and then kept getting her outside to go to the bathroom. I'd walk her around for a little while and then come inside. She'd pace some, cuddle up some, and then we'd repeat. She never did go potty and I was worried about going to sleep having a new dog in a new place who had eaten and drank a bunch of water without her having gone to the bathroom.
We finally gave up on the bathroom thing around 11:30pm and went to bed. At first she paced a little bit but then finally crawled into bed next to David. Huzzah! We hit a breakthrough! A little while later she got up, wandered to my side, and then finally crawled up onto the bed right between us!! Yay!!! She spent much of the night there, all cozy between her new mommy and daddy. Toward morning she shifted to sleeping at the end of the bed.
When we woke up in the morning, she again crawled up in between us and rolled over onto her back. We had no choice but to spend the next half hour ooing over her and rubbing her belly. Let me tell you, we were so utterly forced to do that. ;-) It was, ultimately, the perfect morning for us all.
David got up and let her go outside to do her thing. She did finally manage to and so we were both amazed that she held it for some 9 hours without even trying to get us to take her out! She's such a good dog. I headed off to Vella's to get some breakfast and hit a restroom and after we finished that, we took a nice long walk down the old railroad bed. She was so fascinated by everything there! Especially the fact that deer and rabbits and other little creatures were around. We only dealt with her strongly pulling on the leash a handful of times and that was when we were in an area where it was obvious deer had recently passed by. But otherwise she was very in tune with us, always looking at us and sometimes running in a circle around us (a testament to the possibility of border collie blood in her). We had a lovely time and then came back to the house to crash for a little bit.
We headed out for lunch a little while later, ended up eating at Panera's. Well, I should ammend that. We ended up eating Panera food. David ran in and got his food while I stayed with Dahlia. Then I did that. We ate in the car and fed her ony litttle bits of chicken and bread. Then we wandered over to Petsmart, where we bought her a really nice bed (that we're still trying to get her used to), a new retractable leash, some treats (one of which she stole right out of a low bin...we felt obligated to buy it for her and she made quick work of it in the car afterward! lol). We also signed her up for basic obedience classes. We had been thinking about it and when they mentioned it, we decided it was a good idea. $109 for 8 weeks of lessons. It should be good for both her and us. If she does well in it, I might do the Intermediate and advanced classes as well...and maybe go for the Canine Good Citizen award. That might enable her to be a therapy dog. I think that would be a really nice thing!
After Petsmart, we stopped at the apartment in Liverpool to grab a few things and then headed over to my parent's place so they could meet her. Well, this was an interesting meeting. My parents ADORED her. She now thinks my dad is the "treat guy" because he kept giving her treats (the ones I made before and my mom now regularly makes). The real worry was Teri. Teri does NOT like other dogs. She usually barks at them or growls at them...or runs away scared. She ended up doing a little bit of the latter. Dahlia, for her part, was GREAT. She stood there and brought her nose down toward Teri, spent much of the time just sitting and waiting for Teri to come to her. She was calm and collected -- quite the little lady! By the time we left, Teri wasn't doing too bad with her. She wasn't shaking anymore and was getting closer to Dahlia. We made very sure to give both dogs attention so that Teri didn't feel too betrayed, but the whole thing just broke my heart a little. Teri is my parent's dog...but she's always been MY dog too. And so in some ways I really felt like I was betraying her just a little bit. But...hopefully...she and Dahlia will get along as time goes on.
The rest of the evening was spent getting some groceries (we left Dahlia alone in the car for a little bit and were so happy to see she did nothing more than wait attentively for us to come back...no crazy barking or anything), eating dinner, and now just relaxing. David has been grading some while Dahlia lounges on the futon next to him. And I've just been editing photos. As for Dahlia? I think we wore her out. She's pretty much sound asleep right now.
The strange thing about Dahlia is she still has not made a peep...not a bark (despite the dogs a couple doors down letting loose with a barrage of barking when they saw her) or a whine or anything. She has NO issues. I'm able to go near her bowl or remove things from her mouth that she's grabbed. I was able to put ointment in her eyes with no problem (she has a little bit of a goopy eye problem picked up from one of the other dogs Trish was fostering). She just wants to be loved. She's not a total velcro dog, but she does want to be close to you. She's just an all around great dog and we're soooo happy to have her!
Because my internet connection is really shitty here, I'm just going to provide you with a couple links to our flickr albums so you can see our pics so far!
My Dahlia flickr set
David's Dahlia flickr set
Dahlia seemed a bit confused about what was going on but then, as we were talking to Trish, she hopped into our car like "ok I'm ready let's go home now." We said goodbye to Trish and then we were off.
David spend the first part of the trip cuddled up with Dahlia in the back, just getting to know her. We needed to find ourselves some place to stop and find food for our poor little girl. Trish, in her rush to get out of the house, had forgotten the back with Dahlia's food. We managed to find a K-Mart and while it didn't have the best food out here, had something entirely adequate for our needs. We also picked up water as we still had no water at the place on Oneida LAke. In fact, as of writing this, we still don't have working water (he's supposed to come tomorrow -- *crosses fingers*). We swapped spots at that point and I got to spend the rest of the trip cuddling with her. And she IS a cuddler. She wants nothing more than to lean against you or lay across your lap getting attention. She's not forceful about it...a raised paw, a gentle resting of her head in your lap. Nothing more. No barks, no whines, no forceful falling upon you (like Jack, one of the deaf Aussies was wont to do). Just really sweet, calm, and quiet.
We arrived at the place on Oneida Lake and brought her in so she could get acquainted with her new digs. She wandered around for a little while, paced a bit. We fed her, got her some water to drink, and then kept getting her outside to go to the bathroom. I'd walk her around for a little while and then come inside. She'd pace some, cuddle up some, and then we'd repeat. She never did go potty and I was worried about going to sleep having a new dog in a new place who had eaten and drank a bunch of water without her having gone to the bathroom.
We finally gave up on the bathroom thing around 11:30pm and went to bed. At first she paced a little bit but then finally crawled into bed next to David. Huzzah! We hit a breakthrough! A little while later she got up, wandered to my side, and then finally crawled up onto the bed right between us!! Yay!!! She spent much of the night there, all cozy between her new mommy and daddy. Toward morning she shifted to sleeping at the end of the bed.
When we woke up in the morning, she again crawled up in between us and rolled over onto her back. We had no choice but to spend the next half hour ooing over her and rubbing her belly. Let me tell you, we were so utterly forced to do that. ;-) It was, ultimately, the perfect morning for us all.
David got up and let her go outside to do her thing. She did finally manage to and so we were both amazed that she held it for some 9 hours without even trying to get us to take her out! She's such a good dog. I headed off to Vella's to get some breakfast and hit a restroom and after we finished that, we took a nice long walk down the old railroad bed. She was so fascinated by everything there! Especially the fact that deer and rabbits and other little creatures were around. We only dealt with her strongly pulling on the leash a handful of times and that was when we were in an area where it was obvious deer had recently passed by. But otherwise she was very in tune with us, always looking at us and sometimes running in a circle around us (a testament to the possibility of border collie blood in her). We had a lovely time and then came back to the house to crash for a little bit.
We headed out for lunch a little while later, ended up eating at Panera's. Well, I should ammend that. We ended up eating Panera food. David ran in and got his food while I stayed with Dahlia. Then I did that. We ate in the car and fed her ony litttle bits of chicken and bread. Then we wandered over to Petsmart, where we bought her a really nice bed (that we're still trying to get her used to), a new retractable leash, some treats (one of which she stole right out of a low bin...we felt obligated to buy it for her and she made quick work of it in the car afterward! lol). We also signed her up for basic obedience classes. We had been thinking about it and when they mentioned it, we decided it was a good idea. $109 for 8 weeks of lessons. It should be good for both her and us. If she does well in it, I might do the Intermediate and advanced classes as well...and maybe go for the Canine Good Citizen award. That might enable her to be a therapy dog. I think that would be a really nice thing!
After Petsmart, we stopped at the apartment in Liverpool to grab a few things and then headed over to my parent's place so they could meet her. Well, this was an interesting meeting. My parents ADORED her. She now thinks my dad is the "treat guy" because he kept giving her treats (the ones I made before and my mom now regularly makes). The real worry was Teri. Teri does NOT like other dogs. She usually barks at them or growls at them...or runs away scared. She ended up doing a little bit of the latter. Dahlia, for her part, was GREAT. She stood there and brought her nose down toward Teri, spent much of the time just sitting and waiting for Teri to come to her. She was calm and collected -- quite the little lady! By the time we left, Teri wasn't doing too bad with her. She wasn't shaking anymore and was getting closer to Dahlia. We made very sure to give both dogs attention so that Teri didn't feel too betrayed, but the whole thing just broke my heart a little. Teri is my parent's dog...but she's always been MY dog too. And so in some ways I really felt like I was betraying her just a little bit. But...hopefully...she and Dahlia will get along as time goes on.
The rest of the evening was spent getting some groceries (we left Dahlia alone in the car for a little bit and were so happy to see she did nothing more than wait attentively for us to come back...no crazy barking or anything), eating dinner, and now just relaxing. David has been grading some while Dahlia lounges on the futon next to him. And I've just been editing photos. As for Dahlia? I think we wore her out. She's pretty much sound asleep right now.
The strange thing about Dahlia is she still has not made a peep...not a bark (despite the dogs a couple doors down letting loose with a barrage of barking when they saw her) or a whine or anything. She has NO issues. I'm able to go near her bowl or remove things from her mouth that she's grabbed. I was able to put ointment in her eyes with no problem (she has a little bit of a goopy eye problem picked up from one of the other dogs Trish was fostering). She just wants to be loved. She's not a total velcro dog, but she does want to be close to you. She's just an all around great dog and we're soooo happy to have her!
Because my internet connection is really shitty here, I'm just going to provide you with a couple links to our flickr albums so you can see our pics so far!
My Dahlia flickr set
David's Dahlia flickr set