Josie

Introducing......

Our new dog Josie!  

Here is Josie wearing a pirate hook for a hat:

Here is Josie trying to sleep while Oly pokes her paws:

And pulls her ears:

And here is Josie fast asleep in a pile of clean laundry:

Of the few people who, after a few hours, know about Josie almost all of them have expressed shock and exclaimed, "this is so sudden! You just went out and got a dog???"

Let me fill you in: 

-We had only planned on waiting a few months to get a new dog after Harper died (in 2007)

-We picked this house because the landlord was very encouraging about us getting a dog

-Last winter we upgraded our car to a Jetta Wagon because it would comfortably fit two kids and a dog (and groceries)

-We have spent a few hours a week, for the past 5 years, perusing Petfinder.com

-Tim's not traveling for many months

-We're not traveling for many months

We saw on petfinder that she was at another Delco SPCA Foster Family's house since the hurricane and arranged to meet her today.  We hung out with her for 30 minutes at the SPCA which is about the most stressful and stimulating place a shelter dog can be and she was totally sweet and mellow.  Let the record show, though, that as soon as the words, "We love her.  We think we want her" came out of my mouth she barked at another dog and bit her leash.  Smartie pants.

Anyway, she's between 1-2 years old and was rescued by our SPCA from a high kill shelter in South Carolina.  She's about 40 pounds and fully grown.  For a family who's used to having a dog that weighs more than each of them, this is very strange!  You should have seen our faces when we thought about how much money we'll save because of how little she'll eat compared to Harper Guy! 

They listed her as mostly Basset Hound on petfinder.  But we're thinking maybe some American Bulldog (her chest is really wide), definitely some Boxer and... I don't know, something else to make her more petite.  She's great with Oly, already housetrained, instinctively fetches and brings things back (again, unlike Harper) and at the moment is very cozy in our bed with Tim and I.  Don't worry, I remember how good Blue Dog was the first day he was here too, things could go downhill very quickly. 

I know all of the pictures I've taken so far have been of her sleeping, but here's a video showing how appropriately rowdy she can be (she's been here 7 hours and already eaten a rawhide knot, a chewy bone and a squeeky toy: