Meet Freyja

A long time ago Glenn made a promise to me. That promise was that when we get a house with a yard, I can get another dog. I definitely married an honest man, because he made good on that promise.

A couple weeks ago we went to an event called Woofstock that was held on Todd Field at Glenn's alma mater, UPS. It was a big fundraising/adoption event and was meant to help raise awareness for the homeless pet population. There were lots of vendors (my employers included) as well as a number of local, and not so local, rescues. We brought Rally with us that day and wandered around and checked things out. There were even kiddie pools there that Rally had fun in, but he was pretty confused as to why he couldn't actually swim in them. We found a couple pups there that looked promising and we even did a meet and greet with one of them. The puppy we met was really sweet and playful but Rally wasn't terribly interested and the environment was really distracting. We asked the foster mom if we could set up another meeting in a calmer environment and at that point she chose to tell us they were in Yakima. That's almost 3 hours away for those of you who don't know. We left irritated and still with one dog.

After that we began looking at the Humane Society. My last experience there was not so pleasant. Long story short I broke down in tears in the lobby and ran out to the car crying, meanwhile Glenn had no idea what was happening. I had convinced myself that I could go in there and look. After repeated questioning about whether or not I was sure I could do it, Glenn drove us there. Before we got out of the car he gave me a little talk that was exactly the type of reassurance I needed to go in. We went in, but no one stole our hearts that day.

We started frequenting the shelter, going a couple times a week just to see if there was anyone new. The majority of the dogs in the shelter are either very large breed, old, or very small. Unfortunately none of that was what we were looking for. A couple times we visited with some dogs but no one seemed to really fit with us. Just a short while ago we actually visited a shelter in Kent (I think it was Kent). We saw a really sweet pitbull mix there who was about 6 months old. She was cute as can be but I just have my reservations and didn't really feel like that was a good idea.

This last weekend we visited the Humane Society in Tacoma again (it's only a few minutes from the house) and we saw a beautiful Husky mix who was about a year old. We visited with her and thought she was incredibly sweet but she was SUPER shy. We really liked her though. Since it was Saturday and they would be closing soon we wouldn't have time to bring Rally by to meet her. They put her on hold until Monday at 10:30. I took Rally by myself on Monday morning right when the shelter opened. They met each other outside and were very mellow about it. Once they got in the fenced in area nothing really happened. The poor girl was just so shy! She did seem interested in whatever Rally was doing, she just didn't want to get too close. I decided we would wait until Glenn got home to do another meeting and then go from there.

At around 3:00, and after a good discussion, we decided that we would go and adopt this dog. We felt like we would be able to bring her out of her shell and that the dogs would get along well with no aggression or dominance issues. I hurried over to the shelter only to find out she was adopted earlier in the day. I'm not gonna lie. I was really bummed out. I got all worked up and excited when I was heading over there only to be let down. I wasn't prepared to be disappointed like that.

Meanwhile, I have been scouring Petfinder.com and Craigslist as well. Every single day I check each site to see what is new. Petfinder returned pretty much the same results the shelter was - big dogs, small dogs, and old dogs. Ideally I wanted to find a female slightly smaller than Rally and I REALLY wanted a puppy. It's been so long since I've had a puppy. I wanted to be the one to raise it and teach it. Plus, Rally is such a good dog I want him to be able to teach his good behavior to his new sibling. In any event, I was having no luck. All the dogs I seemed to like were all pretty far away. Finally, on the day that I was let down by the Humane Society I saw a posting on Craigslist for a puppy. She was only 7 weeks old, still too young to be away from her mama. As it turns out, the girl we got her from had picked her up from a bunch of scumbags selling barely a few week old puppies for a quick buck on a corner. She has taken care of the pup since then, and she has done a pretty good job. I immediately contacted her and we set up a time to pick up the puppy that night. I was so EXCITED!

That brings me to the newest addition to our family. She is a Blue Heeler (or Australian Cattle Dog) mixed with a black lab. She is adorable and sweet and I already love her to death. Last night was her first night here and I was up pretty much every hour taking her out to go potty and cleaning up her messes. Hopefully tonight is a little better since I will have a better set up for her to sleep in. We named her Freyja (pronounced Fray-ya). If you aren't familiar with Norse mythology Freyja (which is actually the old Norse spelling, more modern versions have since dropped the j) is the goddess of love, beauty, fertility, gold, war, and death. She also rules over the heavenly afterlife where she receives half of those who die in battle (thus explaining the war and death part). I'm particularly fascinated by mythology and have been very intrigued by the lesser known Norse stories. The stories with Freyja have been my favorite. The name pretty much just came out of nowhere when I was having an internal discussion about what I would name a girl dog if I got one. I asked Glenn and he liked it, so it stuck!

Rally is being such a good boy about all of this too! He was mostly confused last night and was being very pushy about getting extra attention but it seems to have sunk in with him that everything will be ok and that he won't be ignored. Now he's just acting really goofy about the way he asserts his "alpha" dominance. I bought a toy just for her today that is identical to one Rally already has but just much smaller. I figured that since it was the same toy, it wouldn't make a difference to Rally. He's been very intent on playing with her toy instead of his own. Oh well. What are you going to do? We're having fun seeing how this new adventure/addition to our lives is playing out.