our new doggie

For the last couple weeks we have really been missing having a dog. In June of 2008 we purchased a Dalmatian from a breeder in Florida and she came to us middle of the month via O'Hare airport. Lucy was a very smart dog, and took to basic commands and potty training really well. As she reached a year and grew to be 50lbs or so she was very hyper and a tad aggressive. She ate so many of the kid's toys I lost track, and she was constantly running and jumping on them. Zach got bitten twice to where she broke skin, and when she charged at the Brienna when she was 3-4 months old I knew she was not a good fit for our family. I had taken her to several different training classes, and to Gary and I she was great but just did not respect or listen to the kids which caused a lot of problems. I listed her in the newspaper and had a ton of calls. I warned everyone that called why we had to give her up, and recommended her to people with older kids. She ended up going to a couple, and the husband had had a one blue eye one brown eye dalmatian as a kid and had been looking for one for a while. Last I heard she was even bigger and still as crazy as ever.

When we approached the topic again about getting a new dog I said that I wanted to adopt because I didn't want a puppy. I wanted a calm tempered family pet. I started looking a month ago checking all the shelters in the area. Early last week I saw a cutie at the animal shelter in Huntley. On Thursday I picked up Zach from school and took him and Brienna over there to check out the pups. The one I had seen was gone, but I told the girl what I was looking for and on the third time they totally got it right. They brought me in Mia, who was named Dee Dee by the shelter, and we spent about 45 minutes with her. She was great with hyper Zach, and hair pulling Brienna. I knew I had to get Gary to come back and meet her. On Friday after he got back from getting Rylee from school we went over to the shelter. He totally agreed with her being a perfect fit and so we took her home.

We changed her name because it was obvious that she had no idea what her name was at the shelter. She has adjusted well with the kids. The picture of her with Rylee is a true testement of how great she is. Rylee would never have anything to do with Lucy because she was so crazy. We really wanted the kids to have a dog they could play with and grow up with and we feel really confident that we found that in her!