Meet Sheldon

Sheldon is 5 months and 11 days old. I met Sheldon at the PetSmart closest to my home (which is still about 20 minutes away) 2 weeks ago. We had gone in for dog food and there were 3 adorable Lab/Pit mix puppies. Two were boys, and there was a girl. The first boy we tried to walk was very uninterested in walking as he had a rawhide treat waiting for him. Sheldon didn't seem to mind being separated from his treat for a quick walk around the store.

I tried to be good, I was not going to be taking him home. I managed to convince myself and I left the store with dog food and no extra dogs. I even managed to go almost two weeks without thinking too hard about him. But as I sat the other night, I was curious. Did Sheldon get a home? What about his brother and sister? I Googled 'Sheldon' and 'Tooele Animal Outreach' and found Sheldon's webpage with a phone number and an email address. I sent an email "Is Sheldon still available?" By morning, I was trying to be patient but I couldn't seem to settle down about it so I called the number listed on Sheldon's web page and left a message. It turns out that Sheldon was still available and more people than just me had started to inquire about him just yesterday. As it happened, my email put me first in line.

We headed over to Trudy's house, (Sheldon's Foster Mom) and made everything legal. It was heartbreaking knowing we were separating him from his sister, but we know our limits, especially with our dominant female Harlee. I am so glad there are people like Trudy and her family - they have fostered hundreds of dogs! The success stories on their living room wall was awesome.

From there, we made a trip to PetSmart for puppy chow and a baby Kong (these things are wonderful for chewers). My mom wanted to meet Sheldon so she came out to see him. We then dropped by Dani's house so that Annabelle and Julian could see Sheldon. When I had told them about him yesterday, Belle told me she wanted to "see Sheldon" at her house (not in the photo I tried to show her) so we had to swing by. She loved running from one end of the yard to another with Sheldon on his leash. She had to hug him before we left. While we were there we met my sisters' new dog Ginger. She's a funny looking little thing with her Dachsund body and Basset Hound feet. But she's a cute little dog, perfect for my sis and her family.

The biggest test of the day was a toss-up between Mickey meeting Sheldon and Sheldon meeting the stairs. I think the biggest would have to be the stairs. Mickey is getting used to this little thing being around. He's still got to be watched, he's barking randomly and being very possessive of his Mom(s). Sheldon's hardly fazed by Mickey but he is NOT happy with the stairs. When we spend most of our time upstairs, this could be tricky. We tried to lay a trail of puppy food on the steps but he's not going past the highest step he can reach with his back feet firmly planted on the main floor... so I am lugging him around after trying pretty diligently.

Currently, Sheldon is napping. He's lying stretched out at my feet on a blanket and he's snoozing contentedly... I think he may get used to the peace of only 2 other dogs around, but maybe it will take a few days or so.