After waking me up half-an-hour before my alarm so she could go outside, she zonked back out. Unfair.

I’ve been spending countless hours on Petfinder, agonizing over which of the thousands of dogs was right for me. It’s impossible to make a decision that way — at least for me. So on Saturday my bestfriend Allison came down with her 10-month old baby (I can’t believe he’s almost a year!!) and we headed to lunch and ultimately to the Humane Society. Frankly we were expecting to just look. I had forgotten to bring any proof of homeownership, and didn’t think they’d let me take her. Turns out if they feel like you’re not lying to them, that’s good enough and they’ll let you take the pup home.

So we passed pretty quickly by the runs with litters of adorable but completely insane puppies in them. Then there were two beautiful Shepherd mixes, but they were big, young, and kind of nuts. And then sitting quietly in her run, waiting patiently for a little attention was Maybelle. She looked plenty calm to me, but she’s a cattle dog-mix so the sheet on her kennel said she was a level 9 on the energy scale and would probably be into extreme sports. That clearly was not going to be the case but I listened to the “this is an active breed” speech anyway. 

Long story short, I was right.

She makes a great walking/hiking partner, don’t get me wrong, but when we’re inside she’s happy to spend most of her time the way she is in the picture… sleeping.

But Maybelle is a perfect example of a reason to adopt an adult dog. They estimate her to be about 4, and it’s pretty clear she’s had at least one litter of puppies if not more. So far she seems to be fully house trained, knows how to sit, and give paw. She’s learning other things quickly too. “Go settle” means she should go hang out on her bed. “Go to bed” is what I’m using to teach her to go into her crate at night. And she seems to be a little alarmed by the cats lurking near her food bowl, so when focuses in on them I’m teaching “leave it.” We’re getting to the point where she just raises her head rather than try to chase them away.