A New Addition

Hello! My name is River.

On Wednesday night, Jason and I adopted a new dog into our family. River. She is a 3-year old Lab mix who found herself lost in Franklin County. She showed up on the doorstep of a friendly school teacher who tried to find her owner. She then sent out an email to the Franklin County Humane Society listserv to see if anyone would like to adopt her.

Jason and I had been thinking about adopting another dog for a couple months. I felt bad leaving Sydney alone during the day, and we thought another dog around the house would be the perfect friend for our little Sydney.

We met River (she was only known as "Dog" at her foster home) about a week and a half ago. She was so sweet to us, and Sydney seemed to sniff her with approval. We picked up River just this past Wednesday.

To say that the past four days have been a breeze would be a lie. I naively thought Sydney and River would instantly be best friends and would lay around together, nap together, play together and be by each other side 24/7. But it's taking some adjustment. River has just been through a big change. She was out of sorts when we brought her home on Wednesday, and Sydney's hyper nature didn't help. But fortunately Jason and I have had four days off from work to be at home with the dogs and help River get settled in. Sydney and River have had a couple spats. But with each passing day, River seems to get a little more comfortable in her new home. And Sydney is learning that everyone - including dogs - need a little personal space :)

River was obviously owned by someone and lived in a house or apartment. She knows how to sit and shake, and is pretty well behaved. We took her walking this afternoon around a nearby lake, and she wanted to get out in the water, prompting Jason to mentioned that she has been swimming before. We're not sure if River got lost on her own, or her owners abandoned her. But the fact that her foster mom couldn't find the owner leads me to believe that her owners abandoned her, which makes me very sad. She is a sweet dog, and I hate to think that she had a tough life.

As time goes by, I'm sure that River and Sydney will become best friends and that River will become more comfortable in her "forever home." I can already tell that Sydney kind of looks up to her older (and calmer) sister already. In fact, I'd say that Sydney is pretty happy to have River in our house...