After two and a half years of the idea of adopting a companion dog for Abby we FINALLY got the call. When I heard the words "we have a dog for you" I was shocked at just how excited I was. I am not a huge dog person (don't burn me for this one), I really never have been. But the thought of having a (well-trained) dog that would help make my girls life easier made it all sound worthwhile.
After several impatient hours I got ahold of our contact and she told me about our match. He was a black lab mix who was two and a half. We "flunked out" of the full service dog program for being too lazy. A dog that was too lazy sounded like a dog that would fit in well around here. After two more days of waiting we got the paperwork in the mail including the "shopping list" of items we needed before the dog could come home. THAT NIGHT we got everything off the list. The next day we called and had a date to pick him up.
*The girls tried out every dog bed in the store
The excitement in our house was palpable. We had waited so long and spent so much time planning and talking about it that when it finally was happening it seemed surreal. The girls were ecstatic. I can still see their little faces when we told them they were getting a dog.
The day finally came and last week we went to meet Fulton, our dog. It was a long drive but we got there on time and met our new furry friend.
I haven't seen the girls that happy since we went to Disney World. He was a ginormous 71 lb beast of a dog. The girls were instantly in love. He seemed like a total sweetie.
We got to take him for a walk by ourselves to get to know him better. The weather was miserable and rainy but we went anyway. I had hoped to let the girls walk him but he was a little more skittish on the leash than expected. Brian did most of the walking.
The next hour was spent going over paperwork, his commands, vet records and details. The girls did their best to sit still but they were itching for more doggie time. We finally got to go into the training center and learn the hands on commands. He did well for Brian and I but not quite as well as I had hoped. He also didn't listen to the girls at all. We were told (over and over) that it would be a 3-4 week adjustment period and we would have to be patient.
After a few hours of prep we were on the road with our new family member.
This got longer than expected so let's call it a cliff hanger. The rest of the story tomorrow...
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1 comments:
I can't comment on your recent post so I'll do it on this one, that anon character is way off. The issue with this dog is a temperament/training one. One of its trainers greatly misjudged its temperament and/or dropped the ball when training it. Clearly the dog had not been properly acclimated to life with multiple children. My lab would never bite a child, and she's been through some stuff with kids, but she was raised around kids messing and playing with her. I recommend you get a lab or lab mix puppy, invest in some training classes with you and the girls, and start from scratch. Yes, create the boundaries, give the dog space and rest from kids, blah blah, but really, unless a dog like that is in great peril (or super old and senile) it should never use its teeth on a child. Bad training. Tailor a dog to your family's needs from the beginning. It's not easy at first, but worth it.
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