Welcoming A New Family Member

Anyone who has read my blog from the beginning knows I am a dog nut. Dogs have been a part of my life throughout my life, and I can't imagine it any other way.

So, it should be no surprise that the "new family member" in the title of this piece refers to a canine. My husband and I have wanted a second dog since saying goodbye to Rascal over two years ago. Unfortunately, circumstances kept preventing that. But recently we found a loophole, so to speak. We learned that our county animal shelter would allow anyone 65 or older (my husband fits that description) to adopt a dog for $1.00! So, off we went to the shelter and, by late afternoon, Shayla had been welcomed into our home.

Shayla is a beautiful 3-year old black Labrador, well behaved, loving, and, best of all, accepted by our 10-year-old hound, Molly Brown. More specifically, Molly is tolerating her at this stage, but each day brings new bonding between the two of them. Yesterday they chased each other around the backyard with playful glee; I haven't seen Molly exercise that much since Rascal was alive! Molly has taken to sleeping near Shayla for part of each night, and she accepts - most of the time - Shayla's attempts to play with her, although she walks away from such invitations so far. But Shayla's only been here for two weeks; I predict they'll be pals before much more time passes.

With the exception of two, all of the dogs we have owned have come from shelters or been abandoned and adopted by us. We promote this way of getting a canine to add to your family. There is just something about rescuing a shelter dog that adds to the love quotient in my heart. We're both winners in this scenario.

The best part of adopting Shayla is the added joy she brings to everyone in the family; she is that bigger dog that's been missing for so long. We know without reserve that we couldn't have found a better canine to fit that empty space. We know that her love and devotion will only add to our homefront blessings.

I'm sure you'll be hearing more about Shayla in future posts; about Molly's acceptance of her, about how she's fitting in to our routines, about her discoveries and our discoveries of her. So, welcome, Shayla, to the wild and wacky Ogren clan!

NOTE: I was felled by a virus in November that had me in bed for over two weeks and I spent the rest of the month recuperating. I hope to be back at my writing full steam beginning this week.