Roxy

September 01, 2013

Roxy

First walk with Roxy - she flipped when we first tried to lead her on the leash, but she's getting loads better.

Two weeks ago, we had no plans of getting a dog. In fact, within the last month we were skyping with Gabe and Ellen, teasing Ellen about her family's attachment to their dog and rolling our eyes at people who treat their pets better than they treat other human beings. However, when this house worked out and there was already a heated kennel outside while simultaneously Mike and LeeAnn were trying to find a home for their darling puppies, I just couldn't resist Roxy's fluffy-faced sweetness! While we stayed with Alan and Marie for a few days before the house was ready, Daphne and I got more and more attached to Roxy until Burke got home from work one day and I said, "Burkie, we're getting a dog!" To which he instantly (and firmly!) replied, "No we're not!" Although Burke likes animals, he really had no interest in taking on the responsibility of an animal in the midst of our transition to the new job, house, neighborhood, etc. At first I thought he was probably right - did I really want to be training a new puppy while taking care of a busy toddler?

Hiding in the wood pile at Co-Op

But I couldn't get the idea out of my head! I started thinking of all the reasons it would be a good move. For one thing, it would give Daphne a companion to burn energy with during the day. Since Daphne doesn't have any siblings yet, I loved the idea of having a little pal for her to play with. Besides, wouldn't it be nice to have a dog in the yard on nights when Burke has to be away on business? I would feel an increased sense of safety if I knew we had a dog to watch over us at night. Plus, I could take her running with me instead of carrying pepper spray (which I take every time I go running ever since my dog attack last October - see HERE). Maybe having a dog would help me overcome my increased fear of them over the past few years?

Not sure who's walking who here

Burke said 'no' two more times when I brought it up. When he finally said, "Well, that new house does have a kennel", I knew he would let us do it, however, he insisted that I would be the one cleaning up after her and we would have a 2 week trial period to see if we were up for a pet. We moved into the house on Wednesday and on Saturday we brought her home from Parowan in a cardboard box. Daphne was so excited to have her with us in the car and kept saying, "It's okay. It's okay." whenever she would whine, holding her paw in her hand and patting her head. So sweet.

A few days ago I was gardening and Roxy kept getting underfoot, so I put her in the backyard. Less than a minute later Daphne went to keep her whining buddy company by the fence by holding her paw, poking her in the nose and saying, "It's okay Woxy!"

Mike's girls had named her Roxy and I wanted to change the name initially to something French like Lulu or Sophie. Burke has always wanted to name a dog a ridiculously human name like Barbara or Susan just to be funny. In the end, we couldn't get Daphne to consider anything else, so Roxy it is!

I love her big ears and beautiful coloring - you can definitely see the blue and red heeler mix in her.

Burke was super annoyed with her the first night as she cried for her mama, and in a rage two nights later when she got sick at 4 AM and pooped all over the garage (yuck!) when he went to check on her, but besides those incidents, she has really been a fabulous dog. She is a very high energy pup right now and has to be told to stop jumping on Daphne and nipping at my heels, but she has a natural goodness about her and is on her way to being a fine pet for the whole family.

I know I already put this on here, but I love this picture! Daph's face is too perfectly pleased!

I can't believe how attached we are to little Roxy after just a week. I took her to get her first series of shots the other day and it was hard for me to be in the vet's examining room that looked identical to the room where we had to put two of our dogs, Abby and Sparky to sleep years ago. As I felt a surge of protectiveness come over me, I realized that I love this sweet pooch and she is already a part of our family. And just yesterday Burke admitted how cute she is and that he's glad we got her too!

We took Roxy to Co-Op with us last week and she so happy up there, probably because she had 7 little girls following her around and loving on her all day, not to mention all the food the family kept sneaking to her!

I'm not sure if these will work, but here are a couple videos of Daphne and Roxy playing together from the past couple of weeks.