Finally, after graduation, I was in a place in my life where having a puppy might again be possible. I managed to convince my lovely boyfriend (more like badgered, pleaded with, and annoyed). One weekend I decided that it would be a good day to look at dogs at the shelter. Boyfriend wasn't so sure.
"If we go look at dogs, we're probably going to come with one," he said wisely, "and I just don't think the house is quite dog proofed yet."
"Is that your only objection, that the house isn't ready for a dog?"
"Pretty much."
To this day, Boyfriend jokes that he has never seen me clean the house so quickly. He likes to say that now he knows how to motivate me to clean: dangle the prospect of a dog over my head. I like to think of it as proof of how serious I was about getting a dog.
So, we went to the shelter.........aaaaaaaand we came home with a dog. Boyfriend was totally right, but I would like to point out that I was fully emotionally prepared to not adopt a dog that day. I knew he wanted to think over any dog he met and Boyfriend is consistently practical.
He says he knew once we met our puppy on the very same day she was available for adoption, that she wouldn't be there at the shelter the next day.
I almost cried when he said we should get her. Seriously. I was ecstatic.
I love this little dog. She is so sweet and goofy and wiggly.
Holly is a Catahoula Leopard Dog mixed with something else. Feel free to look that up, we definitely had to.
She's a southern gal and we have no idea what her history was. We think she was somebody's pet based on the fact that she was pretty much house broken and knew a few commands. Our guess is that her energy was just too much for her previous owner.
It breaks my heart to think of somebody not wanting Holly. Clearly this has affected her too. She has some separation anxiety and when we're home she has to be touching one of her people. I think it reassures her that we're not going anywhere. If she's outside when one of us leaves, she hops in the open car door and refuses to get out.
She loves to snuggle. Specifically, she loves to sleep on or next to my legs at night, thereby locking me into one set sleeping position for the whole night.
She's not perfect, but she's mine and I just adore her to pieces.
I am such a nervous first time mom though. When we first got her she didn't want to eat dry food and I worried after she lost a pound. My worrying hasn't gotten much better (though she did start eating soon after we got her). When I took her Petsmart to get her nails trimmed for the first time, my eyes bulged when the nice lady told me they'd call me when she was ready. You mean I couldn't stay and watch her and make sure she was okay? I settled on circling the aisles directly in view of the salon window, trying very had to be subtle. "Oh I'm just going to look at these cool interesting....things right here. Nope, definitely not spying on my dog. Not at all."
She was perfect and the groomer complimented me on how happy and wiggly and sweet she was.
I was and continue to be such a proud momma. :)
