Don’t underestimate the power of the quiet ones!
Our old beagle Trooper was a quiet fella who didn’t pay any attention to our most social dog Sadie. So when Trooper died, we underestimated the impact it would have on Sadie. After we lost Trooper, Sadie quit eating and searched for him in the house compulsively. It was so sad – just about broke our already aching hearts. We thought though that she would get past it – the vet said to give her a couple of weeks.
Well, two months later, she was still losing weight and had started digging out of the fence. It seemed she was looking for him. We knew that eventually we would add another dog to our family, but we hadn’t expected it to be so soon after loosing Trooper. We were still grieving too. But Sadie had taken the decision away from us.
I called my pals up at the Humane Society and we discussed what kind of dog might be a good personality fit with Sadie (I knew I wanted to adopt an adult dog since I see how many of them go unadopted. I love the puppies, obviously since I foster them, but I seem them placed far more quickly.) My husband agreed this was the path to go… He doesn’t like to go to the shelter because it depresses him, so he told me to feel free to pick what I thought was best. His only requst? A dog that likes the water.
Sadie and I went to the Humane Society for her to make a new friend. The second we walked into the Humane Society and she saw other dogs, she perked right up! Puppies, big dogs, small dogs, she was SO happy. But it was obvious who she liked best. She’d made fast friends with a mellow, 2 year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever/Lab mix. My youngest daughter fell in love with the dog too and promptly named him Sam. (Sam and Sadie sounds cute together, too!) Sadie’s happy, playful and quickly putting weight back on. I gotta confess, I fell in love with this sweet fella too! Soooo, without further ado, meet the newest member of the Mann family – Sam!