Sarah is her trainer.
Jack loves her from afar.
Caroline is her buddy.
They have lots to talk about.
Caroline brushed Reese and put the hair in this old trick-or-treat bucket. She plans on saving the hair so we can remember Reese when she's dead.
Equal parts sweet and morbidly disturbing.
We had a dog growing up who would hide his rawhide bones and chew toys behind the curtains in our dining room. So I didn't think it was weird when Reese started doing the same thing.
But then when we started giving her rawhide bones or Dentastix (treats that supposedly clean her teeth), I noticed she wouldn't chew them. She would just start whining.
People have been over and witnessed this, amazed that she hadn't devoured the treats.
Because I would get tired of the whining, I put her outside with her treats. A few minutes later she'd come back to the door. Ready to come inside. Treat gone.
I figured she preferred to eat them outside.
Wrong.
She buries them in the sandbox.
I thought dogs who buried bones only existed in cartoons. Much like the dogs who retrieve the morning paper. Apparently that's not true.
At the farm, Kim saw her bury a big rawhide bone in the soft dirt next to the house. Not partially cover. Bury.
Why? So no one takes it? To save it for later?
She likes to smell her buried treasure when she's in the backyard. But she never unearths the stockpile.
It's a mystery to me. But I get a kick out of having what I consider to be a "cartoon dog".
Last night Jason stayed up late, working hard.
Around 1 AM Reese woke me up because she had to go outside. I hadn't walked her and that's the price for that mistake.
We have a door that leads to the patio from our bedroom. Reese and I headed that direction as Jason came into our room from the hallway.
Reese spun around, locked her eyes on this unknown shadowy figure, and let out the most guttural "WOOF WOOF WOOF"!
Her tail was not wagging. And she was not backing down.
Jason turned on the light. He called her by name. She still was unsure and barked.
Then he sat on the ground. She went to him and licked his face, finally recognizing him.
Then she peed on him. Remember... she needed to go outside.
But we praised her for being a good guard dog.
If Jason had been a stranger, he'd have run. Being familiar with Reese, her affront still almost made him pee his pants. :)
So the story on adopting Reese goes like this...
We met Gidget, a super sweet black Labrador that was likely mixed with a Weimaraner. She was a tall thing. Thin... so not beastly... but TALL.
She was awesome! Gentle and calm. She was about 4 yrs old.
PROS:
She was an owner surrender so we knew her history.
She was mature, past the puppy stage.
She was calm and so gentle.
The kids loved her!!
CONS:
She was an owner surrender because she had jumped the fence and bothered the cows next door and killed the chickens. Her fosters couldn't guarantee what she might do if she ever saw a cat.
She jumped her foster's 6 ft fence.
She conveniently forgets her name when she darts out the front door.
When she was spayed, something went wrong that made her incontinent...which can be managed with daily meds for the rest of her life or surgery.
....
Now we didn't write her off right away. We were going to save her and fix her. We just wanted to meet another dog to let the kids compare.
Enter: Mary.
Mary was billed as a 2 yr old chocolate lab with lots of energy.
Red flag?
We drove to Crowley on Saturday afternoon to meet her. She was living with a foster family who had 2 big labs of their own. It was hard to get a read on how she would be alone.
She had also just weaned a litter of pups. So her belly was still shrinking.
PROS:
She was petite.
She seemed like she had the potential to be calm and sweet.
She was definitely mixed with some other breed. She didn't shed.
She was fun to play with. She could catch a ball mid-air. The kids loved that!
CONS:
We know no history.
We don't know what she's mixed with. There are plenty of "lab mixes" that have pit bull mixed in.
We weren't very confident that she was 2 yrs old. Jason had a feeling she was younger than that. We don't want an overly energetic, chewing puppy.
....
After meeting Mary we went to dinner to talk it over.
The kids really wanted a dog. I did too but-- more than that-- I didn't want the kids to become bored or disillusioned by the process of meeting tons of dogs and not commiting to one.
To me, it was between Gidget or Mary. And ultimately size and health won.
Unsure of exactly what we were getting into, we went with a gut feeling and adopted Mary that night.
We renamed her Reese.
She was a stray, but we think she was in heat and was chased out of her yard by a boy. And then her owners never claimed her.
Boys are such trouble! ;)
After 2 days with her, we definitely think she's younger than 2. She chews and digs and has energy to spare!!
But she's lovable and teachable.
We are confident she is not part Pit. We think she has some Pointer in her.
She wakes up about three times a night wanting to be let out... but on the upside... she's potty trained. We think as she matures and settles in, she'll sleep better.
We are going to be in fantastic shape wearing her out. I ran two miles with her and the kids played catch with her right afterwards. She has yet to nap. She loves the activity!
The kids love her. They have each taken ownership in their own way.
We have a little way to go with her but I know we made a great decision!
A lab temperament without shedding? We totally scored!
Caroline INSISTS she's Reese's big sister.
They're spending a little quality time together tonight. ;)
So we drove to Crowley today and adopted this cutie.
:)
We named her Reese. (A play on the fact that she's a chocolate lab.)
I call "not it" on being the one who has to go to the backyard and pick up Reese's pieces. ;)
