Dog v2.0
Abby right after her bath
Although I am in the middle of doing posts on our recent Peru trip, we had a major event today. We went to pick up our new dog, Abby. So I am inserting a special post for this. Tomorrow I will go back to posting about the trip.
Sandy picked out our new dog over a month ago. But because we had a lot of travel coming up, she asked the dog breeder to keep Abby for us until all of our trips were over. We got back from Peru almost two weeks ago, but Sandy still had one trip left. She was giving a workshop on Global Product Development at an Engineering Management conference in Chicago. As long as she was back there for a few days on business, she went early and spent a few days in Madison with her family. Then afterwards she spent the weekend in Chicago with Shannon. She was supposed to fly back on Tuesday and then we would immediatly go and pick up Abby. But she was getting anxious. She called me Sunday night and said that she moved her return flight up a day.
Shannon flew back with Sandy. She took a week vacation to come to Boise. She wanted to meet the new puppy and have a chance to spend some time with her. They had an early flight out of Chicago and I picked them up at the Boise airport around noon. Since I have an evening to cover this week, I took this afternoon off to balance my hours. We had a nice pizza and salad lunch at IPC (where else?), stopped at Fred Meyer to replenish all the groceries that I had depleted while Sandy was gone. Then it was time to head out to pick up the dog.
Abby already looks right at home on the patio
The dog breeder was out of town, so Abby was at her sister's house in Star. It was a nice place for a puppy, with lots of room to roam. The lady said that Abby and her sister Molly (who had been picked up the day before) spent most of their time roaming outside. Because of that she suggested a bath for Abby before we took her home. We took her in and threw her in the tub. Shannon took off her shoes and climbed in with her. Sandy helped too. With three ladies ganging up on her, Abby didn't have a chance. Although she whined a time or too she really didn't put up a fuss. Before long she was a clean machine.
Sandy wrapped her up in blankets and took her outside. After she had a chance to pee on the grass and to shake off to her heart's content, we bundled her up again and got in the car. I drove while the girls, Sandy Shannon and Abby, all piled into the back seat. She was really good on the drive home, sitting quietly and not making a fuss, although once she let out a sharp bark without warning. But she seems to ride in the car well. That was a problem with Laney in her later years.
Abby isn't too sure of the "other" dog in our yard
When we got to our house Abby made herself right at home. She was exploring the back yard. She was playing with Shannon and me, chasing us when we ran or running after a ball that we were throwing. It was funny when she noticed the dog statue in the back yard. She looked at it funny and barked at it and then approached it slowly, sniffing all the time. I was surprised that she seemed to think it was a real dog. I would have thought a dog would go more by smell than by sight. But she definitely reacted to it.
She took over the house quickly too. Sandy had a room set up downstairs with a kennel, her bowls and a soft bed for her. She quickly found the box with the dog toys in it, rumaged around and picked several out, and stashed them in her kennel. She had only been here a half an hour and she already had her space and toys organized.
Abby already looks like she is in charge
We have only had her for a few hours but Abby seems like a great dog. She is very confident. She is exploring, playing, interacting with people. There is no whining, no tentativeness, no acting afraid of anything. We'll see how she does tonight. But she seems like a happy and a healthy dog. And I am sure that she has a strong streak of puppy mischief in her.
She is certainly going to get a lot of attention. Sandy is at home and doesn't really have any work to do for U of I now (and doesn't have her contract yet anyway, but that is a subject for an entire post). Shannon will be here for a week and I'm sure will give her lots of attention. On Wednesday, Sandy's mom, sister Lynn, and niece Colleen come to visit for a week. I'm sure that Abby is going to be the star the entire time.
Although I will always miss Laney, it is nice to have a dog in the house again. Abby will not be a replacement for her - I'm sure she is going to be her own dog. But I think even Laney would agree that her humans need a dog to look after them.
