Meet Maggie

We met Judy yesterday morning at a nearby Petsmart. She is a 5-year-old purebred Dachshund whose owner went into a nursing home and could no longer care for her. She was then moved into a foster home run by a local rescue organization. Her foster family was extremely nice and informative. She was even cuter in person than in her photographs, and Ryan and I just couldn't resist. So about 15 minutes later, we signed the adoption papers... and she was ours.



We didn't like the name Judy, so we pretty much just called her "dog" for the first day. We eventually decided on the name "Maggie" (named mainly after the character Maggie Simpson from our favorite show).



She's a super sweet girl. Very friendly and the epitome of a lap-dog.



I'm in love.



It didn't take her long before she felt right at home with us.



She has yet to decide which of us she likes better (but I'm putting bets on myself, of course).




She HAS decided, however, that she likes to stand on the back of our couch and look out the window.



And she has a special place in her heart for her new little crab friend.





Everything is mostly great. Our main problem so far has been leaving the apartment and leaving her alone. We tried to put her in a crate, but she just barked and whined. We eventually just took our chances and left her out to roam the living room. When we shut the door behind us, we could hear her scratching at the door and whining with an occasional bark. We don't mind whining, but we really just don't want her to bark... with us having apartment neighbors just on the other side of the wall.

So far, we've left her alone twice. We made sure she had stopped barking before we pulled out of the driveway, but who really knows what she does while we're away. The good thing is, we returned to nothing chewed up, no accidents, or scratched up doors. Hopefully her separation anxiety will lessen as the days pass.

She has had 2 small accidents so far. We've been taking her out regularly, but both accidents happened in the exact same way: she barked (unusual for her when we are around), we said "No!" and she peed. Maybe she is afraid of us getting mad at her.

Other than that, she's been an absolute dream. She loves to cuddle and adores us to death. She does great on her leash and in the car. We are extremely happy.

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On a different note, I got a surprise yesterday. My Dad called me up and told me he had decided he is going to do my triathlon with me on June 27th. Wow.

He started training about a month ago, and was originally aiming for the Chicago Super Sprint in August. His running is decent from what I hear, his biking is very good, and his swimming is in the beginning stages (he can swim... he just hasn't been in the pool in a long time).

So best of luck to him over the next 3 weeks. And best of luck to me... cause I will NOT let my Dad beat my time in this race!