The Dog Saga Continues....

Some of you may remember that back in early January our son found a stray dog and brought her home.  If not, you can read about that saga here. Our intention when he brought the dog home was to keep her until we could find her a better home.  Our family fell in love with her though, and she quickly wiggled her way into our hearts.  Unfortunately though, the dynamics that go on in "doggie worlds" didn't go so smoothly.  We soon discovered that she hated cats, which has put our poor Mr. Simba in a very difficult situation.  He began only coming in at night after we had put Missy to bed in our son's room.  The next situation that evolved was that Missy exhibited a lot of very aggressive traits.  She was very possessive of her food, and she and Annie squabbled several times over food.  She also was aggressive acting towards a dog that belonged to friends of ours, even after multiple times of trying to introduce them to each other, and hoping they would get along.  After an aggressive act by Missy over the weekend in which she attacked our friends dog without any provocation, we knew we probably had to find her another home where she wouldn't be exposed to other dogs or cats, and without an alpha dog issue.

Reluctantly this past Friday morning, my son and I took Missy to a local shelter.  My heart felt like it was torn in a gazillion pieces, as I had become so attached to her, but we couldn't take the risk of her hurting another dog, cat, or perhaps even a person.  She had become very protective of us and anyone who came around.  After the event where she attacked our friend's dog with an unprovoked event, we knew that it wasn't a good idea for her to be at our home.  She needed to be in a home where she could be the alpha dog, and not have to deal with people, and dogs coming and going - as we often have friends come to visit who bring their dogs with them.  Missy proved that she couldn't handle other dogs coming to our home, and that she wanted to be alpha dog, which wouldn't work with Annie.

Sadly, it was time to find Missy a better  home, even though I don't think she could have had a more loving home than ours where we loved her so much.  But our home wasn't the best for her, which made me so sad, but in order to do what was best for her, this was what we had to do.

As we traveled to the shelter, an overhanging fog was in the air.  Missy sat in my lap the whole way, and occasionally would turn around and lick me, just to tell me how much she loved me, and I petted and loved on her the whole way there.

I love you Missy!

What a precious sweet girl she is - most of the time!  It was so hard to hold her knowing I was giving her away!

When we got to the animal shelter, Missy was a ball of excitement.  All the different smells she was encountering at one time was almost more than she could stand.  As we walked through the door we were greeted by several workers and volunteers who immediately came over to Missy and began to give her attention.  We said goodbye to her as the workers said they would do some more work to try to reunite her with her owners, or find her a new home.

While we were in the shelter, we decided to take a walk through, which I should have known better than to do!  My heartstrings were tugged as we walked down the halls and stopped and visited with the dogs who begged to be let out of their cages and to visit with us.  At one point a volunteer of the shelter stopped to talk with us, and we told her our story of Missy, and Cosmo, and how Annie needed a friend, but it needed to be a dog with no alpha tendencies, but who liked to play, was house trained, and well behaved.  She directed us to a dog that we had seen earlier, but because of the commotion of other dogs around him that we didn't notice him.

She asked if we would like to take him out for a walk, and told us that out of all the dogs in the pound, he was the one who loved to walk, and was very gentle in nature, and very calm once getting away from the commotion of other dogs.

So, we took Roger for a walk, and my heart was melting as we began to spend some time with him. He was a border collie and blue heeler mix, a very handsome looking dog, and with the sweetest eyes and ears that perked up when looking at you.

After taking him for a walk, we came back into the shelter, and asked for more information on Roger.  Apparently he had been in the shelter since September, which is a very long time.  The volunteer said that most people passed him over because of the dogs around him that were so wild, but they didn't realize Roger was so sweet, which is what had happened to us.  As we began to visit with Roger more, I realized I couldn't leave the shelter without him.  So, even though my heart was broken about Missy, I knew she was in kind and gentle hands there.  My heart was reassured about the kindness of the people who worked and volunteered at the shelter, and my arms coming home weren't going to be empty after all.... Roger crawled up into my lap and cuddled with me on the ride home.

We wondered what Annie would think of all this.  We had left with Missy, and returned with Roger. She sniffed Roger at first, and then appeared to accept the fact that he was here now instead of Missy.  She was curious about him, and he likewise.  Soon, they were doing their "dog parring" thing - turning in circles, prancing around each other, and playing.

Roger was so happy to be in our house, and with freedom to run.  He was like a child let loose on a playground, and his joy was contagious.

He and Annie and our son romped around in the kitchen for a while, and there was a lot of joy in all our hearts!

We discovered that Roger could sit and lay down, and that was all the tricks he seemed to know. Our kids will be working on that with him.  He seems to be a very willing and eager learner.  He will be learning new tricks in no time, as both our kids enjoy working with Annie and teaching her new tricks.

We had a wonderful time playing with Roger and Annie, and he seemed happy as he could possibly be to become a new member of our family!

He has a very gentle, sweet soul, and very playful as well.  He seems to be the perfect playmate for Annie too.

I love this picture of him!  He is looking at me while carefully trying to get to a treat from our son's hand.  So cute!

We took the dogs outside for a playful romp, and Annie was thrilled to have a playmate to run and play with, and who wasn't aggressive, or barking at her.

So happy!

Freedom!  Roger was enjoying his new found freedom.

Even though my heart was so sad to take Missy to the shelter, after taking her there and seeing the kindness and love given to her and all the other animals there at the shelter, I knew they would work with Missy to find her the best home for her or even find her owners.  Consequently, we were able to bring happiness to our sweet Roger by bringing him home to be a member of our family.  I am so very thankful that the day ended as it did.  I had no idea I would be bringing another dog home in my arms, but the Lord knew just what was perfect for both our family and Roger.

But one thing has to change - Roger's name.  We just don't think the name Roger fits him!  So for those of you reading this - if you have any suggestions for a different name for him, we are considering all options.   Any suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks for stopping by today and sharing in our newest doggie adventures :)