We have a dog

A week ago today, Andrew and I went to find a medicine cabinet for our new bathroom.  We were also planning to visit the shelter and think about a dog.  When our cat Wally passed away in February, we knew we wanted to get a dog.  I know Thomas really wanted to help pick out a dog, but we were afraid if we included him in the process he would want to bring home every single dog he saw!  While we were at the shelter, we found a purebred beagle who was an absolute sweetheart.  We were all set to bring her home, but they wouldn't let us.  She was scheduled to be spayed and we couldn't bring her home for three days.  We were disappointed, but it gave us time to get ready.

We got home and showed the kids pictures, and Thomas was so excited his eyes filled with tears.  It was such a long three days until we could get her home, but we were able to get lots of fun things for her.  Thursday afternoon finally arrived, and we were there at the earliest possible moment they told us we could be.  She was still in surgical recovery, because she had just been spayed that morning.  We hadn't counted on that when we left her Monday afternoon!  It also turned out that her surgery was tougher than expected.  We brought her home Thursday evening and things seemed to be going well.  We named her Abby, and we were all immediately in love!

Friday things went downhill.  She didn't eat or drink at all, and by early afternoon I felt we were at a critical point.  Fortunately, Andrew managed to get her into our vet, and they discovered she was a pretty sick little girl.  So this poor, sweet dog had not only had surgery and been sent to a new family the same day, but she was fighting a double ear infection and possibly an upper respiratory infection.  Ugh!  The vet gave her a shot of pain meds, a shot of anti-nausea meds, and some IV fluids.  At that point, we just needed to wait.

Saturday morning brought great news!  Abby clearly felt better!  We still kept things mostly quiet for her on Saturday, and yesterday was even better.  She is just the best little sweetheart.  Because she is so low-key, the cats don't really care that she is here, and she doesn't really seem to care about the cats either.  It was an incredibly stressful few days getting her to this point, but it was entirely worth it.  She is a fabulous addition to our family!