Meeting Liddy

We knew having a dog was going to be the next big adventure for us, after returning from Oregon. We had long been searching for the 'right breed' for us. We're active when while outdoors, but enjoy the quiet time of watching TV, watching movies and reading while indoors. Our house isn't too large and neither is our backyard, so we thought we'd need a dog around 40 lbs (max). After watching a full season of Dogs 101 on Animal Planet we were convinced a Whippet would be our 'breed'. We consulted with the internet on a daily basis and found some adorable Whippets who all lived FAR away (Texas, Utah, Michigan and New York, namely).

All in all, we knew we wanted to rescue a dog, so we continued to hunt local agencies' websites. I knew that I wouldn't be able to physically go to a rescue organization without leaving with a dog. Sunday, January 3rd, we picked up and headed to the Arizona Animal Welfare League in Phoenix and met tons of great pups! We asked our adoption counselor to see 2 mixed breed-siblings. They were named Clark (male) and Put-Put (female).

The adoption counselor wasn't sure how old they were, but said somewhere between 3.5 and 5 months and about 20 lbs. So we played with them both and then asked to see the female by herself. She was much more subdued and attentive when her bro went away. We could tell she had puppy tendencies, which Erik sure liked, but seemed to already have an awareness of the outside world. One thing that stood out was that she didn't bark. Dogs all around her were yelping their heads off and she was calm and quiet.

I wanted Erik to play with some really young pups so that he could 'get it out of his system' OR say he really, really wanted a small one. We put Put-Put back and played with 2 8-week old female lab-mixes (Reba and Faith--ha ha ha, from the Country music singers liter!) I wasn't convinced we needed one that young, and we asked to play with Put-Put again... 3 hours later we adopted this little cutie!
I drove back to Gilbert and Erik sat with her in the backseat. We had to stop at Walmart to buy a bed, kennel and water/food dishes! We weren't prepared, despite my claim that I couldn't go to a place and leave without a pup.

We were nervous as all get out! But she seemed to take to our home immediately! We brought her around to the backyard, played for a bit and then went inside to put together the kennel. The bed we bought lay on the carpet near us... she stood on it, bit it once and then plopped down and promptly fell asleep!We took this to be a very good sign!

She's a sweetie and totally stole our hearts. Visits to the vet and talking with other people we're convinced she's got some Shar Pei in her... other than that we really don't know! A wonderful Heinz 57 of a pup.

(2 days later, we named her Liddy, in honor of Erik's favorite hockey player Nicklas Lidstrom of the Red Wings)