An Open Letter to My Family

Dear Family members,

I have some news that I am about to share with you before our big re-union next weekend.
Feel free to openly judge me, as I know some of you will, and I probably deserve it if history is any indicator.
We got Athena a pet. (I feel your collective eye rolls). I have been wanting her to have a pet for some time now, especially since we started homeschooling. I KNOW that I did not have the time nor the energy nor the inspiration to get her a puppy. Been there, done that. We had Parker, but alas, he has left us. He was last seen on the deck on July 1st.

Anyway, back to my story. Where was I... oh yes, I didn't want to get a puppy so I put an ad on Kijiji asking for an older, fully housebroken, gentle large breed dog. I got email after email from people offering me their dogs. One woman even tried to pass off a "portly Sheltie" as a large breed because she was just that fat! And then I got an email from a worker from the SPCA who informed me that they just got a dog in whose owner just had to move into a retirement home.

So, Jill ran out there for me as the pound was about to close. She saw her and took a picture with Eden petting her. Only problem was, she had a few applications on her already. I should call Monday morning. So I did. Still available but they were checking out the applicants information. Call back Wednesday. So I did. Wednesday she was still available. Did I want to put my name down so the Director could call me? Yes. Wednesday evening the Director calls and tells me that the applicant she is considering looks like it will be approved so she doesn't think we will have a chance. Did I want her to call me if she was still available. They had until 8pm Thursday night. Yes I did.

So... no phone call on Thursday. No phone call on Friday. Oh well, it was not meant to be I supposed. Saturday morning comes and we are all three outside working in the yard. I come in to get a drink of water and there is a message on the machine. "She is still available but we have had much interest so if we want we better come to the city immediately as they open in a half hour. Their policy is first come, first served." So we jump into the truck as we are. Leaves in our hair, burrs on our pants and dirt under our fingernails. The pound is 45 minutes away.

We get there and there are people milling around already. We head straight to her cage and Paul gets a leash. We take her out and immediately we love her. Paul goes back in and Athena and I take her to an off leash area and let her run. And run she did. But when I called her she came right back and sat down.

We put her back in her kennel and we go find out how many days before we know. Two other people are there showing interest and one was going to fill out an application that minute. The Director approved our application on the spot and within minutes she was ours.

She is a 3 year old Purebred Golden Retriever. She is fully housebroken. She can sit, lie down, stay. She needs some work on a leash but we got a Halti and she is under control. She is gentle as can be. This is our second day with her and all is well. She slept in her kennel from 10pm to 7 am with just a whine or two at the beginning. She does her business outside, every time. She loves to play and she is particularly attached to Paul already. Follows him everywhere. She is very affectionate and wants to be pet all day long. Athena just loves her. She is very very sweet and very very good. (Feel free to leave your 'head shaking' comments in the comment section.)

And so, I introduce to you Shiloh.



And now, to my friends, and thank you Jill and Heather for your help and advice,
We got Athena a dog! Yeah!!!