Monday, March 29, 2010

How Lucie became the reigning Princess of Mundenville...


When we bought our house, I immediately wanted to get a dog. We owned a house, it had a fenced yard, it was perfect! We didn't get a dog right away though because we just couldn't agree on how a dog would fit into our family.

I was raised with lots of pets. We had dogs, cats, and horses. My dog and cat slept on my bed at night, and I just assumed that is how it was supposed to be. My husband believed that pets were just that, pets. Dogs didn't belong in the house, or at least not for long periods of time, and cats, well they just don't belong on his planet.

In January of 2008 my sister and brother-in-law had to have their beloved Rottweiler, Benny Girl, put to sleep. They said, "No more dogs!" And then they said, "No more big dogs!" And then they said, "Well, no more dogs right away..." Two weeks after losing Benny Girl, my sister had been perusing the humane society's website because she was ready for another dog. She found Patty. Patty was a 2 year old black lab who had been found living in an abandoned barn with her 4 puppies. Patty looked just like Kimberly's other dog Isabelle. The decision had been made, and Kimberly headed off to the shelter to adopt Patty. She was too late. Patty had already found a new home, as had two of her puppies.

So Kimberly decided to look at the remaining puppies and first she decided to meet "Jessie" as she was called by the shelter. Jessie was brought into the room and immediately ran straight to not-quite 2 year old Mason and jumped up on him and pinned him to the wall licking him, and excitedly nipping at him. They decided that Jessie was too hyper, so they next met "Becca." Becca was far more laid back around the kids, and they decided she was a keeper. They decided to change her name from Becca to Josie, much to the dismay of my not-quite-6 year old nephew Tobin. He wanted to name her "Princess Cutie Adorable."

My sister returned to work and showed me the pictures of Josie, and my mind was made up. I went to work on my husband like I never have before, and I finally convinced him to meet me at the shelter after work the next night. I called the shelter first thing the next morning and told them who I was, and that my sister had adopted the other puppy, and that we'd like to meet her sister. I got down there that night already thinking of great names for my new puppy that I was sure I was going to get. I was trying to decide between Lily and Zoe. I thought once I met her, I would know for sure what her name was supposed to be.


Matt got to the shelter before me and was already playing with her, or trying to. She showed no interest in toys, and just wanted to run from person to person getting attention. When I entered the kennel, she came running towards me, tripped and fell, and skidded to a stop at my feet. In that moment I knew she was neither a Lily or a Zoe. She was nowhere near elegant or refined enough for those names. I knew she was a Lucie. Not a common Lucy, but a special Lucie with an "ie."

Matt was reluctant to take her because of her lack of interest in toys. He told me that she would not be trainable. We (Lucie and I) double teamed him with the puppy-dog eyes, and he relented. We signed the papers and set up a time to pick her up after her surgery.

I went to Costco and bought her a dog bed, and some puppy food. And I counted down the hours until I could bring her home.

Monday after the Giants historic win over those stinking Patriots, I got to pick up my puppy and bring her home. The first few days were rough, she didn't like sleeping in her crate, and she also didn't understand the whole going potty outside thing. And she could hold it longer than any other animal I have ever seen. Matt built her bedroom in the garage and the first few nights she'd bark, but then she got used to her bedroom, and started to like it.

Matt started working on obedience training, and sure enough she proved to be a smart girl who responded well to praise based training. He was pleased that she was in fact trainable.

Its funny to me that she went from being the puppy who was going to be an outdoor dog, and never get people food, to the dog who laid across our laps on the couch last night while we watched a movie, after she got her two bites of porkchop off his fork when he was done with dinner.



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