The Newest Member of Our Family

Ryan and I have talked about having a dog, off and on, for years. Our old house didn't have a fenced-in yard, but our new house does. Ryan has pretty severe allergies, so he was never allowed to have pets as a kid. I did have a dog when I was growing up, but she was an outdoor dog. The idea of having an indoor dog was pretty intimidating. (I hate having fur over ever inch of my body.) Our new house, though, was obviously home to an indoor dog before (as indicated by the scratched up wood floor by the front door), and it turns out it's a great place for a dog. The whole downstairs is wood and lineoleum, and only has carpet in our living area attached to the kitchen.

We checked out our first dog shelter on Tuesday on our way down to the Little Grand Canyon. Yesterday we decided to take a trip to the Missouri Humane Society and see what they had. Since Purina is based in St. Louis, there was a great big adoption center funded by Purina. There were a lot of dogs (and rabbits and cats), but most of the dogs (and I mean probably 75%) were Pit Bulls. They had probably been reclaimed from dog rings. (Missouri has one of the worst records int he country for dog rings and abusive breeders.)

Most of the dogs were brown or black. When I saw this dog, it reminded me of my childhood dog, Princess. This dog had the exact same light colored fur, a fluffy, "pet-able" coat, and maple ears. Ryan and were given the opportunity to spend some time with him in a room, and we were impressed with his calm and friendly disposition. He's 6 months old, so he's still got the puppy energy, but he's not disrespectful or hyper. He's a mix of labrador retriever, so he loves to fetch, and he's also part German Shepherd, which means he's very bright. It's fun to watch his eyes and ears, because you know he's alert and aware of everything going on around him.

It didn't take long for us decide he was the one for us, so we took "Benji" home with us and renamed him "Duke". (Believe it or not, that was Ryan's idea, not mine!) He is incredibly well-behaved. When he's about to do something new he looks at us first.
If we say "no", he backs off. That means he hasn't tried to jump on sofas, eat shoes, or go upstairs yet. It's unbelievable. (Do we sound like proud parents or what?) Apparently he just chowed down on some baby rabbits we didn't know we had in the back-yard, so there's that, but he's a dog and that's what dogs do, unfortunately.

Ryan is in 7th heaven. He loves this dog. I think the two are going to be insperable from now on. (Amazingly, he hasn't had any allergy issues with him.) I just saw Ryan tearing around the back yard, and I think he's getting more exercise than the dog!