A New...PUPPY?!

Sometimes life can surprise you!

Since moving into our house, it's true that Arik and I had been looking at adopting a third dog, and we'd talked about it for many months prior. As I've mentioned many times, I love my greyhounds, and expect to always have at least one around in the future :). But for an all around family dog and for me wanting to potentially get back into recreational training, we were hoping our next dog would be some sort of low-medium energy mutt with working lines.  A less fragile, fine with everything the future will throw at us, easy-peasy dog slightly more inclined to enjoy recreational obedience.

We had initially applied to a rescue group called Big Dogs Huge Paws that operates out of CO, TX, NE, KS, OK, WY, and UT. While I wasn't initially searching for a "giant" breed of dog, we were actively looking for a lower energy dog and thought we'd be more likely to find one if it were mixed with a "giant breed" but still being of similar size to Ferguson at 80ish pounds.  The group had a lot of promising dogs within their foster homes, so we inquired about several once we were approved and had a home visit conducted.  Comprehensive evaluations done on each dog we inquired for were sent to us, and we got learn even more in depth about the dog's personality and behavior traits within their foster home. We had gone through a few, and none seemed quite right; some were very high energy, some had possession issues, some were barkers, and some had separation issues (NO MORE PLEASE!).  We were fine waiting for the right dog though, so were not trying to be impatient.

We had looked through most of their dogs, and on a whim, I saw the youngest dog they have in rescue, with a pretty typical bio about her general behavior (essentially that she is learning positive behaviors in her foster home and has a good attitude). She was listed as a "Maremma Sheepdog", which did make me apprehensive; that breed is one of the rarest in the world, and is not known for being a particularly good pet due to their overpowering drive to watch over livestock, roam, and bark.  However, understanding that this is a rescue and they are likely doing their best to "guess" her breed, I decided to inquire further about her and request her formal evaluation, since she had no obvious deal-breakers listed for us.

Her eval was fairly impressive. Her foster home sounded like they were doing a good job of being consistent and that she seemed fairly low energy for a 6 month old pup.  We decided to request an interview with her foster mom to get an even more comprehensive profile.

As it turns out, "Sophie" sounds like quite the opposite of a "Maremma Sheepdog," and to me, sounds much more like a Golden/Samoyed/Pyrenees/St. Bernard cross (which is great, as I enjoy both of these breeds!). She is just 45lbs, described as being extremely low key and mellow, and the easiest pup her foster mom has fostered over the course of several years.  She said "Sophie" is very submissive and wonderful with her older great danes, and very respectful of boundaries. She LOVES her crate, and just likes to be nearby, but is rather humble, yet friendly and affectionate to everyone she meets.  She spends most of her time lazing around, but is always open to play if you start it.  Apparently, no one knows why exactly she is so sweet, gentle, and easy-going for her age, but she's had a clean bill of health and is ready to go to her new home. It might have to do her background of being dumped in the middle of rural OK, being covered in 100+ ticks, and found at the age 4.5 months (also making me doubt that she's this 8k priced, rare breed of a dog)  Who knows what happened to her before then, but she was certainly a dog in need of rescuing!

So, after some discussion, we decided we'd like to move forward with "Sophie's" adoption.  Unfortunately for us, she is being fostered in OK City.  The group does have volunteers that would drive her a few hours, one at a time, to get her to us in CO, but to do would take another two weeks in trying to coordinate.  Arik, very excited at the prospect of our new little one, said, "Well, I'VE never been to OK! ROOOOOOOAD TRIP!"

We leave tomorrow evening after the hounds have been walked and fed, in hopes of making it to Salina KS by 1am. We'll then make the rest of the drive Saturday morning, to pick her up and head back to CO and get there by midnight, and have Sunday to recover!

What a whirlwind!

We'll be sure to post some great photos of our trip, as well as our new addition as soon as we have them :). But, here is a photo from her profile, as a preview:

Look at that smile!