Cable Knit Park

I've got fantastic news that I'd rather write about than how nice my Christmas was (and it was very nice).

I have a new fur kid!

I drove up to Panhandle Animal Shelter in Sandpoint yesterday to see this girl. She is 1.5 years old, part German Shepherd and part Husky, and weighs about 60 lbs. She is so sweet and gentle. Her name was Cuddles, but we've changed it to Cable. Cable Knit Park.

She tends to be pretty timid around strangers, but other than that she was everything I'd been looking for in a dog. Potty trained, good with cats and other dogs, quiet (not a barker), smart, healthy, young, right mix of breeds.

I noticed how friendly she was with the shelter volunteers so I knew that timidness could easily be overcome.She is warming up to me fairly quickly. By 10pm last night she was kissing and hugging me.

Her previous owner turned her into the shelter because he "didn't have time for her any more". I'm not sure what that means, but his loss is our gain.

At the shelter, they took her into the cat area so I could see how she is with cats. This dog loves cats. She's had cats for friends before. I don't think she'll ever make friends with my 2 because they don't like dogs, but she won't be trying to kill them or chase them around which is the most important thing to me. She seems to understand they have sharp parts too. When she walked up to Chenille to sniff her, and Chenille growled at her, she backed right off (with a quiet little whimper).

Last night I had her sleep on a blanket on the floor next to the bed. I hooked her leash to the bed post so she couldn't be wandering around. It took about half an hour for her to settle down. She wanted up on the bed but I didn't let her do that. Eventually she laid down and went to sleep.

About 3 am she woke me up by pushing her nose against my arm. She wanted to go outside. I took her out and she did her business right away. In fact, every time I've taken her out she's done her business. We haven't had an accident in the house yet. Anyway, after that she settled back down on the blanket and went back to sleep. She was quiet until I woke up at 7am this morning.

It hasn't all been roses though. This afternoon I went into Coeur d'Alene for my monthly blood test. While I was away Ruth took her out for business and a walk. We had a temporary leash/collar thingy that the shelter gave us until I could get a decent collar for her (I already own a whole slew of good leashes that were Morgan and Tommy's). She managed to jerk it out of Ruth's hand and took off into the woods. Ruth tried to catch her, but couldn't keep up. In the meantime, I returned home to find no Ruth and no dog in the house or in the yard. I was kind of worried because it was getting very dark out. Eventually Ruth came in the door, crying, to tell me Cable was lost.

I had a small panic attack. Lots of woods, dark, and a black dog that hasn't bonded to us or would know her way back home. I feared I would never see her again. Ruth told me where she'd last seen her, out on the road running west. I got the car and we went looking. Thankfully, it only took 15 minutes and we found her about 3/4 of a mile up the road trotting along. She was in the middle of the road coming toward us and her eyes reflected in the headlights or I'd have never seen her. I stopped the car in the middle so it would block traffic, turned on the emergency lights, and got out to catch my wayward girl. Fortunately for me, she now trusts me enough that she came to me when I called her name. Her new name! I really wasn't expecting that, so I was very relieved. I grabbed her by the scruff and held on tight. Then I picked her up and carried her to the car. She was very wet and muddy, and no leash/collar thingy anywhere near. After getting her in the car, I headed back to the house. Ruth burst into wails of tears in the car. Tears of relief I'm sure. She was pretty devastated by the whole thing. Poor kid.

I'm just glad we found her. It could have been disastrous. Cable is now sporting a brand new Martingale collar that I'd bought on my way home from Coeur d'Alene, and a nice sturdy leash, so that won't happen again.

Tomorrow I am going to schedule an appointment with my vet for a check up and her rabies shot. She hasn't had one yet. The shelter gave me a coupon for a free vet check so I'm gonna use it.

So, that's what's been going on the last couple days. I am SO pleased with this dog. She's amazing. I can't imagine why anyone would dump her in a shelter. Besides pottying on command, she can also sit, lay down, and shake. I'm looking forward to teaching her new tricks.

Live long and prosper. \\//