I got lucky... at the shelter!

This is Daisy a lovely dog we adopted from the shelter on Friday, June 4. We were told that she's two and a half years old and that she was a Labrador Retriever possibly mixed with beagle. I took her to the vet this morning for her checkup and shots and the vet told me that this dog was 100% Labrador Retriever, not a mix. Imagine my surprise! I did not expect to find a purebred dog at the shelter. Of course, even if she was a Heinz 57 dog I would still be so happy with our find. Now, part of this personality she has may be due to being spayed just on Thursday. It's possible that some of the drugs they used are still circulating through her system. However, I really remember her being this way at the shelter when we first met her so I'm really hoping that this is just her sweet nature.

Daisy is in need of some obedience training but she is so eager to learn. She really wants to please us and does her best to understand what "sit" and "down" mean. She is crate-trained, house-trained and just wants as much love from people as she can get. Somehow though, she knows that Doug is the type of person who loves to get smothered in doggie kisses yet I don't. Although she has mouthed Doug (with a very soft touch) she hasn't even tried that on me. She doesn't seem to bark as we haven't heard her make one yet. She is very sedate and gentle around the children and tolerates all their crazy, giddy behavior. I never expected that I would find this type of personality in such a young dog and one who was in a shelter. I can honestly say that I love this dog and, although I'll always be a crazy cat lady, I'm completely nuts over this girl.

Right now we're just working on getting her to feel more comfortable with all the changes that have occurred in her life this week. She was surrendered to the shelter last Saturday (the same day we went there!), had major surgery on Thursday, was brought to a new home with new people on Friday and, then, she was hit with a ton of vaccinations on Saturday. I'm hoping that as she gets more comfortable with us, and recovers more from her surgery, the need to pee every two hours or so will get scaled back to a more normal frequency. The vet tested for diabetes and she was normal so the vet thinks she will be fine in just a few days. In the meantime, it's like having a new baby in the house - Doug and I aren't getting much sleep! However, it truly does seem worth it already. Just having a sweet dog to take for walks and to have fall asleep next to me while I stroke her head and ears is so wonderful.