A growing family

Our family has grown again. In fact, we don't seem to be satisfied with a family of fewer than four souls all told, including pets. Joseph and I have been feeling for a while that we are ready for another dog. It seemed like a good time to get one since we still have a few months to train and adjust to a new dog before having our baby.

We looked at Safehaven Humane Society, the shelter where we found Luna almost two years ago. We also talked to friends who knew of dogs that needed homes and scoured Craigslist. We were looking for a female that would be good with kids and not TOO wild, but beyond that we didn't have any firm ideas about what kind of dog we wanted. Joseph has the most experience with shepherd mixes, so he was partial to those.

After a month or two of looking around, we found a dog! Sticking to our celestial theme, we named her "Nova" (which is surprisingly easy to mix up with "Luna). She's about an 8 month old yellow lab. (Although so many people- including a veterinarian- have asked if she's a golden retriever, I'd be willing to believe she's a mix.) She came from a young couple who had a two year old and were expecting a baby AND both worked full time, and they understandably didn't have time for a puppy. They had one other dog- an older male pit bull- and Nova basically grew up playing with him in the back yard. Originally, they told us, she came from the Salem area where she belonged to a German couple who had given her some training in German. It would be interesting to see if she remembers any of that.

We've had Nova for a week now and my assessment is that she's basically a very smart, good-natured puppy. She can learn commands ("sit," "shake," and "down" were new for her) with just a couple of tries. She is definitely an energetic puppy, but does a fantastic job of controlling herself in the house. She is a snuggle bug and loves pets and rubs. She is very eager to please people! She managed to chew up one comb and a cardboard tube of ribbon before we got her some chew toys, and now she mostly works on those. She gets distracted by things, sometimes leaves puddles when strange men try to say nice things to her, and chases cats. Her greatest asset as far as I am concerned is that she is absolutely and unfailingly gentle with Diana. Diana is absolutely in love with the "doddy," who can always make her smile. She whacks her lovingly on the back, pulls her tail and ears and fur, grabs her nose, and Nova just walks away if it becomes too much. After growing up with a male pit bull, she can be VERY rough and tumble with her playing- there's lots of growling and pawing and sometimes nipping if she's playing with another dog. But while she lunges at toys that Joseph and I wave around, she just sniffs and walks away if Diana waves the same toys in her face. She knows not to get rough around kids and I appreciate that. Now, whenever Nova is lying down around the house, Diana will seek her out and just sit down next to her to figure out what they're going to do next. It's very cute. I suspect those two girls will have something very special as they grow up.