After our sweet Dallas died last September I told the family I wanted to take some time off from pets, maybe a few years. Tim begged, Tessa begged, I stayed strong...for about three months. I searched petfinder.org for the perfect dog for us and found lots (too many, sadly) that looked like wonderful animals. I printed out a few and we set out to meet some of them. Petsmart was holding an adoption event and a rescue had set up open pens in one area of their store. I found the pretty brindle pups I had seen online and they were adorable, but boy, were they hyper. I watched as they wrestled and barked and ran in circles, having lots of fun being very wild. I decided maybe we should keep looking, and spent a few minutes petting and visiting with the other animals they had brought that day.
I started to get interested in a gorgeous German Shepherd but had to move on when they told me that he was prone to running away. We got spoiled with Dallas, who loved to run around with the neighborhood kids in the cul-de-sac and never, ever ran away. I knew it would only take a day or two before Tessa would leave the door open and the dog would be gone forever.
Next, they praised the personality of another dog, maybe a chow mix, and really tried to convince us how wonderful she was. She was very calm and patient with the kids but didn't really interact with us and there was just no bond forming while we spent time with her. (Behind Tessa in the first picture)
The kids were getting bored, Tim was getting annoyed and claimed that he had no preference at all and I should just hurry up and decide if our dog was here or if we should move on. Walking back to the pens I saw another puppy that we hadn't spent any time with and I had to stop myself to think of why. She was alone in her pen, being a pretty calm little thing, and I remembered seeing her play in the store's training room with some customers who had come in with their own dogs for some socialization training. She had been running around chasing a ball and acting like a puppy but now, back in the pen she was calm and quiet. Hmmm. This could be a sign of a good personality. I picked her up and showed her to Tim and the kids, who all just wanted to leave, with or without a dog, at this point. She fit right into my arms, didn't act nervous or restless at all and I started to get a good feeling. I put her down on the floor and she walked under Phoebe's wheelchair and laid down. I just knew that this one would fit into our family. I think I skipped over her at first because she was a female, black with brown eyebrows, etc. I had even told Tim while we were searching that I would try to find him a male this time, so he'd have some company. I also thought it would be fun to have a white or yellow dog for a change. So much for making plans!
12 weeks old. Waiting for the rescue to fill out our paperwork.
Tessa is quite convincing as a puppy.
Wrestling with her fellow pup.
When she's had enough rough play, she sticks close to Phoebe. She seemed to understand the girls' personalities and environments right from the start.
After about a week of debate, brainstorming, and testing, we named her Charley Lou.
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