A New Chapter in My Life With Dogs

I received a call last Thursday from Julie, my fellow yoga teacher and occasional commenter/frequent lurker/loyal reader of this blog.  She was calling to tell me that some people her family knows found a boxer puppy and wanted to know if they were unable to locate the puppy's home, would Swanny & I be interested in taking her.

It's been just over 3 months since we lost our big sweetie Leia.  I know that I think of her just about every day for one reason or another.  More often than not it's because Swanny Jr. is frantically chasing a ball around the house.  Swanny swears that a little bit of Leia stuck around in Swanny Jr. as his affinity for any ball has grown so much in the past months...nothing made Leia happier than a ball.  

Anyway, when I got Julie's call, my gut reaction without thought, deliberation or weighing out of consequences was yes--we would be interested.  I called Swanny to check with him and his response was pretty much the same.

It turns out that the puppy may have already found a home, but it got us thinking we just might be ready for another doggy in our house.  Well, that night Swanny looked on Pet Finder and discovered a 1 1/2 year old Boxer named Blaze who was at the Animal Control Shelter in Grundy County.  Blaze was as Pet Finder explained, a "victim of the economy" whose family couldn't afford to keep him.  We called about Blaze on Friday.  Animal Control in Grundy County was closed for the holiday weekend.  

Swanny and I talked about the dog off and on all weekend.  We liked the idea of a slightly older puppy, since it's not yet summer break and I'm working instead of  home during the day when I could work with a puppy.  As we talked, I realized, I really am ready for another Boxer in my life.

When he called again this morning, Animal Control told him they had had a lot of interest in Blaze over the weekend.  Swanny headed over to the Animal Control Shelter today and met not just one but two Boxers looking for homes.

He came home with this:

Her name is Penelope.  We'll only be calling her that when she's in trouble though--it's Penny.  Penny, who is sleeping next to me as I type this, is about as sweet as she can be.  She follows Swanny around the house non-stop.  (Just what we need, another Daddy's girl....Peanut has competition!)  She is responding to her name and some basic commands.  Penny is already potty-trained and has been running and jumping in the back yard.  She's already cried in her kennel, had a bath and her nails trimmed.  She's tried to jump the gate we put across the stairs and she's discovered the dog-toy-box.  Maggie is holding up pretty well.  She went with Swanny to meet her before he brought her home, just to make sure there were not issues between the two of them.  I think Maggie will enjoy having another dog to keep her company.

Surely, there will be more photos and video to follow of the latest addition to My Life With Dogs.  I especially look forward to the looks on Peanut's and Swanny Jr's faces in a little while when they come home from Rikki's house!