On Saturday, our little family grew by four legs, 101 pounds, and a whole lot of fur.
His name is Jake, and we are hopelessly in love.
Jim and I have been talking, off and on for months, about getting a second dog. In the past several weeks, those “someday” talks turned into “soon” … and then Lennox hosted a blue jeans day to benefit the Second Chance SPCA.
On Saturday, we visited the Second Chance SPCA, looking for a puppy. They had a litter of gorgeous lab mix pups, but when we met their mother – clearly a pit bull mix – we decided we didn’t want to chance it.
So we headed to the SPCA in McKinney, with Eddie in tow, to see if we could find him a friend.
First, we tried a gorgeous 14-week lab puppy. Eddie was unamused by its frenetic “puppy-ness”.
Next, we tried a 3-year old lab mix. It was extremely playful, and really rough. Eddie made it clear he wasn’t having any of it.
Then, as Jim played with the 3-year old out in the yard, I came back inside … and discovered a cage that had previously been empty now housed a beautiful pair of brown eyes that just stared up at me.
He’s a 6-year old white Labrador retriever whose owners surrendered him that day because they were moving. He was healthy and beautiful and, as we quickly discovered, had the basic obedience commands down pat. Jim was stunned when he responded to “sit”, “stay”, “come”, “fetch”, and “drop it”. And as they played fetch in the yard, it was clear Jim was falling in love with this beautiful boy.
We then did the socialization “thing” in one of the family rooms. Eddie was really interested, and once they sniffed each other all over, they both sort of went, “huh” and then did their own thing. No aggression, no growling, just sort of a peaceful balance.
But my heart completely melted when my Eddie showed some very sweet compassion in an unexpected way. Jim was filling out the adoption paperwork, and Jake was getting really anxious. Eddie came over and licked at his muzzle, almost as if to say, “It’s okay.”
We went straight to Petco to pick up all the essentials, and then headed home to introduce Jake to his new digs.
Thankfully, my Mom & Dad were spending the weekend with us, so we had the benefit of their expertise as we helped Jake to settle in. Of course, I promptly headed to Atlantic City the next day, so Jim is managing the transition on his own … but I figure that’s actually a good thing. By the time I get home, Jake will be completely bonded him Jim, and he’ll be HIS dog.
So, brace yourselves for lots of blog material and photographs about my new, handsome boy!
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