Our New Dog

Today was a momentous day for us!  Being good Americans, we officially began our first day of school the day after Labor Day.  Our smooth transition from summer fun to school drudgery was unusual at best and made more extraordinary due to the addition of a dog to the family!

Yes, you read that correctly.   We actually found the perfect dog.

Some of you are in awe.  You might be thinking that our search was quick!  What?  One day they are in search for the Holy Grail of dogs and the next day they've so easily found one?

I can only say that I think a blog post about our search should've been written much earlier.  Within seconds of publishing our post, we received our first call in response to the many emails we've sent out over the last 6 months to Craigslist ads.  Searching for a free dog isn't as easy as you would think.

After factoring the normal costs of shots and neutering and varying processing fees and a whole lot of other what-nots, some shelter dogs were not very affordable. Then there was the screening proces.  While I totally get not wanting to place a dog with the local Michael Vick, I was frustrated at the time needed to screen us because I already knew that I'm not Michael Vick.  Or there was the issue of distance.  Some dogs were located way over on the Eastern Shore of Maryland or other places that I had never heard of before.  When my daughter started asking me how far away Charlestown, WV is, I felt a wee bit hopeless.

Upon answering that lucky call, I walked from room to room trying to find a quiet place to persuade this man that our household of 5 kids wasn't too crazy to add another responsibility.  Having 3 nephews over here only added to our *happy* sounds.

We said goodbye to her previous owner
then brought her to our Labor Day BBQ.

You can't imagine my shock when this dog owner explained he would like to drive Prudence out to our house the following day (Labor Day) because after talking to me he was ready to inspect the home. The following day?  So soon?  And we didn't need to drive to OH only to find out that the dog we'd invested time and money into wasn't a good match for us?

Prudence immediately impressed us with her beauty and calm.  She doesn't bark much (check off my list); she didn't jump on us (check); and she stood there allowing the littles to love her through their poking and prodding while acting like a Senator was filibustering into his third day (check, check, check!!!).

Today's first day back at school was a look into our new school routine.  Being a home school family means that every moment of the day some child is touching Prudence.  The kids cuddle up to her when they read, invite her to join them in the basement where they play, or ask her to accompany them out back for chores.  For a dog who was rescued from neglect earlier this year, I think she has found the pot of affection at the end of the rainbow.