We've been talking to Baxter about his little sister before she was a blink in our eyes, knowing that she would happen in time. Then we set up the dog crate and he got even more curious and started to know something was coming. Here's what I knew: I wanted a dog. I wanted a girl. I wanted a dog that was lighter than or weighed what Baxter weighed. I was torn on a pup or a slightly older dog. I didn't have a breed in mind, but was drawn to a Border Collie or Border Mix because of our Baxter. I wanted to give her an Irish name.
We adopted Sweetness, now Binne (pronounced beanie, Binn for short) on Monday, June 29, 2015. She is a female terrier mix who is just over the age of two. Binne's name was Sweetness, and she hails from Alabama and is now our Alabama baby. She is a rescue, and we know that she was pregnant and as a result abandoned. She did have puppies, we don't know how many or which litter they were, we do know they were taken from her earlier than usual. Her name was found from looking online at Irish baby name sites; www.IrishWishes.com says Binne - (BEE-ne) Old Irish=binn "sweet, melodious." Binne was the name of several fairy women in legend.
Here's how it happened.
I contacted the agency to let them know we were interested in Sweetness and a couple days later we got a call from the foster mom (FM). FM and I ended up chatting the next night and I asked a whole barrage of questions to get a feel of Sweetness's personality and tendencies. Talk about nervous mom syndrome on my part!
We went to meet her at her fosters house three weeks before we actually adopted her, Binne had been with them for just under 4 months and had grown used to them but was still very skittish to new folks. Luckily she warmed up to us fairly quickly and we decided to bring Baxter in at about 30 minutes fpr another hour and a half! Baxter didn't know how to take her at first and ended up coming home with a little battle wound. It was great to have them to meet before just bringing her home though. After taking a night to sleep on it (though we didn't really need to) we said we'd take her and knew that Baxter would settle in to her.
June 29 was a stormy night and thankfully both of the dogs were more focused on the storm than each other, though Baxter was curious as to who she was. That first night was her night in a new place that she didn't know, but she had her new bed that she laid on all the way home, my t-shirt, and favorite toy from FM's house. Tuesday was her first full day being crated at our house, mainly because she and Baxter were going to be home alone. After a day by themselves they seemed OK so Tuesday night we left the crate open, and all day Wednesday too. She's been with the door open ever since, it is still however her safe zone. (Update: we took the crate down on 7/10 since she wasn't using it.)
We spent most of the following weekend with the pups due to being sick, and I had Monday off and got to witness their first (as seen by my eyes) nose sniff. She's also started coming out of our guest room on her own and loves to dance and wag her tail when we get home from work. She's starting to play with the toys that we got her. She also now has a properly fitting harness and collar, and as a result I think she feels much calmer. Any unfamiliar noises continue to alarm her, ranging from loud birds or chipmunks, to cars going by on the street.
In the two weeks that we've had her she's gotten in tune with Baxter, though they're still getting used to each other, started eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom on a regular schedule (which is a big feat when changing a dogs routine). We can't wait to see how they and we continue to grow as a family unit!
Next up - obedience classes! Don't tell but she's on the couch sleeping next to me as I write this...
Many thanks to Ashley (FM) and Andrew (FD) for taking such great care of her!
So now we have two munchkins!
So now we have two munchkins!
No comments:
Post a Comment