Life With Mabel

Well, we finally found our Mabel!  Their personalities quite match the characters from 'Gravity Falls' too.  More so Mabel.  She is a wild/crazy puppy, but she is very smart, and it seems she is receptive to training...so hopefully we can get that started up SOON.  She likes to jump on top of furniture and on people, and even though she is on the small side, she is super strong. I was pretty shocked, and we have owned a 90 lb. Malamute, so I'm used to strong dogs.  She runs all over the house, and steals stuff like socks, diapers, kids toys and pretty much anything!    She will even steals stuff out of Dippers mouth, but thankfully he is super sweet about it, and doesn't care.  They LOVE to run around the back yard and wrestle and chase, and play.  It has really helped to burn off some of his energy, although we have noticed now if he is separated from her, he gets kinda mopey.  He really has bonded very quickly to her, and she seems to really like him too, most of the time.  Sometimes she just wants to roll in the grass or chew on a bone, but he just can't help but bug her...hopefully with some time they can settle down and co-exist nicely in the house, and have some great play time outside!

We got her on Friday.  We found her on Petfinder.Com at a shelter up in SLC, called Utah's Animal Adopton Center. At first her bio read : "I'm a new arrival!  Check back soon as the staff promised to write an update as they get to know more about me".  Then after I talked to a person at the shelter it said this on her bio:  "Hi! I'm Rio, and I'm looking for a playmate.  I love to play chase, ball, or any other game you can come up with.  A home where I receive guidance and training would help me become the best dog I can be. I get along really well with other dogs and think kids are awesome play buddies."

We joked that they wrote that bio for us!  It was pretty close to what we were telling them we were looking for.  Anyway, we took the kids and Dipper, and met her in a room.   It was pure chaos, and I think both of us in the back of our mind was thinking 'What are we doing?!'   But we took a chance, and decided to try it out.  It still has been crazy, but I think with time and training, things will get a lot better.

Life With Dipper

Well, life with Dipper has been interesting to say the least.  At times we were ready to return him, but now that we are looking for a friend for him, we realize just how lucky we got finding him.  His issues have been mostly puppy related, since he is still young.  But, the thing we really love about him is he is super good with the kids.  I took Liam to meet a dog last week, and she seemed sweet, and friendly, but she was very jumpy. And she jumped pretty hard on Liam several times. Had she jumped on Rowan, she would have knocked her down.  I know that can be trained, but when you have small kids, that is something that I just don't want to deal with right now.  I contacted another rescue group about a different dog, and the thing we were concerned about with her is she has separation anxiety, which I don't think would be good for 2 working parents.  Another dog I called on, I was told she has 'high prey drive', which would not work having a small dog.  Also would be concerning taking her to a dog socialization class that has tiny dogs as well.  I have been a little obsessed trying to find a pal for Dipper...I kinda get that way when I am trying to find something, and not getting there.  It gets pretty sad after a while looking at all the sweet dogs out there that don't have a home.  It brings up a lot of my frustration with people that are not responsible pet owners, and don't spay/neuter their pets, and adding to the continuing pet overpopulation problem this world is facing.  Anyway, off the soap box, and onto the dog socialization class.  I took Dipper to his first class this past Saturday, and he was in 'Doggy Heaven'!  I was told the class at 11 was a small breed/puppy class, but when I got there, there were tiny dogs all the way up to horse sized ones.  Not sure if they combined the class that day, but he didn't seem to mind....he just loved running around unleashed and checking out all the other dogs there!  He was a saint!  Well, there is a cute pup that I called on today that is at a shelter up in SLC.  Her name is Rio, and we are probably going to take a look at her sometime this weekend.  So stay tuned :)

This picture is blurry, and I need to get some better ones with the good camera, but you can see that Rowan just loves Dipper.  She always is saying how much she loves him, and he loves her.  So cute!