But by 2011, our daughter was then 8 and asking for a dog. I started to poke around Petfinder.com “just to look” and immediately found all sorts of wonderful dogs in need of new homes. One pair of brothers in particular caught my eye—two young Corgi/Airedale mixes. I showed the post to my husband, who agreed that they looked wonderful, but we concluded they were too far away to be practical for us to inquire about and, anyway, we weren’t in the market for a new dog. I put Petfinder aside and moved onto other pursuits. But my husband hadn’t. One Monday morning I received an email from him with the title “look what just popped up on Petfinder” with a picture of a beautiful adult female Airedale being fostered just 3 hours away. She had JUST been posted online when he decided to search. We quickly decided to inquire about her. We learned she had been found by a guy walking his dog near some woods, and was very skinny, leading the caretakers to suspect she had been on her own in the woods for a few weeks. Nobody had reported her as a lost dog.
Just 5 days later—after many calls, emails and helpful references from our Airedale Rescue friends, we picked Daphne up. She’d been named that by the folks who found her, and since we’d never even considered getting a female, it seemed as good a name as any, so we kept it.It was clear immediately that Daphne had the “people skills” for our busy household. She was cool, calm and collected as packs of elementary school kids ran through our house. She was cheerful and welcoming to each adult who came to the door. She was obviously socialized, was fully house-trained, and had had some basic training on leash.
On the other hand, she had NO idea how to play. We bought her toys to welcome her home and she had no idea what to do with them: we threw a ball, and she looked at us blankly; we teased her with a tug-o-war toy and we were greeted with the same blank look. Similarly, the dog treats that made our boys leap with delight barely registered with Daphne. We also discovered that her time in the woods made her overly aggressive with small critters, including the small dogs of the neighborhood. She was not the most popular dog in the neighborhood in those early days!
But two years on, we frequently refer to her as “the best dog in the house” (true, as she is the only dog in the house!) and every day she makes her case as the best dog ever. She is relentlessly cheerful, and always willing to roll over and get her belly rubbed. She loves to chase us around the kitchen island, and now “plays ball” for a good 10-15 minutes at night before bringing her ball up to the bedroom and falling asleep. She does a very special dance for the doggie meatballs we toss down the hallway as well.
Most mornings, she gets up early and goes to work with Brian at his cabinet making shop. There she makes the rounds at snack and lunch times—she knows which guys are most likely to share their food with her and she really turns on the charm. Otherwise, she is happy to snooze in the office as Brian works at his desk.
She’s turned into a great canine citizen as well—while she still patrols the backyard for squirrels and bunnies, she’s no longer aggressive with other dogs and now has many doggie friends in the neighborhood.
We feel so, so lucky to have her. But we also wish we knew her story—she is an absolutely beautiful dog who clearly was cared for at some point. How she got to us seems to be equal parts mystery, timing and luck, but we can’t imagine our lives without her!
 |
| Home on her porch |
What a wonderful story and you are sure a beautiful girl, Daphne!
ReplyDelete