Puppy Dog

Having a young pup in the house is not always without its mishaps. Sadie still has a bit of puppy in her and tonight she chewed through a power cord. Luckily, no injury was sustained.

We haven't had a young dog in several years but the memories are flooding back: chewed up shoes, a gutted couch with white stuffing spread across the floor, and holes in our bedding. But the joys of having a pet always outweigh the lows. Plus, we always have a funny story to share.

Maybe it's her true personality breaking through. Maybe she's getting more comfortable in her surroundings. Whatever it is, Sadie sure does make us laugh (and remind us we need to do more training)!

Can you see the teeth marks?

Silly Sadie

We now know why Sadie's first name was Silly. When we first saw that name on her vet records we thought Silly was, well, a silly name for a dog! We really didn't know why someone would name her Silly. But after spending 10 days with us we found she actually lives up to that name.

Everything she does from her constant tail wagging, jumping up on us to say hi, curling up next to us, sticking her face in ours, eating her food like a duck, to her racing around the house with our pups close behind. She's turned into Silly Sadie!

New Revelations

A few new things we have learned about Sadie:

• She will do anything to follow us and that includes slipping out the front door. Luckily she only succeeded once. We noticed immediately, said "no" and she rolled on her back. How can we be mad at that?
• She buries her toys. She takes toys and buries them in the couch, in our bed, and sometimes we catch her covering them with invisible dirt. Where is the camera when you need it? She also buried a bone in our backyard - right smack in the middle of our flower garden!
• She has some separation anxiety. When we leave the house Sadie whines and scratches at the door. But it's nothing that a little peanut butter can't soothe! She is a big fan of our homemade peanut butter-in-a-bone treats.
• She's a spaz on a leash. She will definitely need some leash training as she currently runs all over the place, including in front of our feet. She also loves squirrels and will go for the chase. A harness is definitely a necessity.

Here is a photo of Belle and Sadie snuggled together on the couch this evening. Sadie is on the right and Belle is a little camera shy.

Camp Reston

Sadie spent the weekend in Reston while we were out of town. We heard she behaved and found some fun toys at Camp Reston. We miss her terribly and can't wait to see her when we pick her up tomorrow.

In the meantime, we have a new video to share. We had some fun last week with our toys. One of them is a Kong which Sadie seemed to like the best. She loves running after it and chewing on it. Is this the first beagle that fetches?

A Playful Pup

Not sure if it's the rainy weather but the pups had some serious cabin fever today. Their energy seemed to spike even higher right after dinner. And for the first time, Sadie started to play with Belle - the type of playing where they are wrestling and chasing each other. This is probably our favorite part of fostering. Seeing our dogs become best friends with our fosters.

We must have taken a dozen videos this evening but we won't drown you with the monotonous of them all. Here is one of our favorites. Sadie is the one that rolls on her back. As you can see she really enjoys playing with other dogs and is not aggressive.

Rub My Tummy!

Sadie likes tummy rubs! This photo pretty much exemplifies what Sadie is like. She runs up to you and then turns over on her back. We can only imagine she's saying "rub my tummy!". We'll rub it and if we stop then she nudges us or gets on our lap. She's probably saying something like "I need more rubs!"

She really is a sweetheart and great companion. She wants to be next to us all the time and will curl up beside us on the couch. If you're looking for a pup that will give you attention, greet you with lots of tail wags, and sit beside you through thick and thin, this is the dog for you!

Sadie is a Fan of Mad Men

When we turned on the TV the other night and started watching Mad Men (we are doing a lot of catch up and only on season 2), Sadie immediately ran to the TV and jumped up to get a closer look. She was enamored. She stared at it, cocked her head, looked at it a bit more. Her eyes then turned to the speakers. Maybe she thought something would come out of it? It's very possible she had never seen a TV before!

She is also very curious about mirrors. The first time she saw herself in the mirror she ran over to it and stared at herself. When I played the video we posted in our previous post, she jumped up and ran to my laptop to watch it. Did she recognize herself?

She's just the funniest little lady and so curious about everything!

Little Miss Wiggles

We have a new nickname for Sadie: Little Miss Wiggles. I've never seen a tail wag like hers. She is just so happy...ALL THE TIME!

Feeding time in our house can be somewhat of a challenge. It's a two-person effort. One of us focuses on Little Miss Wiggles and the other focuses on Kosmo and Belle. K and B know the drill already and are used to their feeding ritual. But throw in Little Miss Wiggles and it's complete chaos. Little Miss Wiggles gets the first bowl or else she goes after K and B's food. Once she gets her bowl she gobbles it down so fast that we don't think she's actually chewing any of it. But she clearly is enjoying her meal. Check out the video we took of tonight's feeding time. One happy girl!

Meet Sadie the Beagle

Yesterday, we welcomed the newest member of our pack. This little girl has spent the last month at an animal clinic in Warsaw, Virginia. A good samaritan found her as a stray and paid for her vetting but couldn't take her home. Beagle Rescue of Southern Maryland came to the rescue and she arrived in Northern Virginia yesterday.

Here are her traits:

• She is very people friendly. When someone walks into a room she immediately greets them and wants attention. Her tail doesn't stop wagging.
• She loves tummy rubs! She wants to be next to us all the time and rolls over on her back so we can give her lots of scratchies and tummy rubs.
• She is energetic. She is constantly wagging her tail and wiggling her back side. But she knows how to relax and is a great couch snuggler!
• She is a jumper and counter surfer but she responds to "no" and she's learning what's right and wrong.
• She's not a licker. She'll get up into your face but doesn't give kisses. Or at least not yet!
• She is on the thin side and needs to gain some weight. We're working on that.
• She is not house trained but in the past two days she's only had one accident. She is rewarded when she does her business outside so I think she'll be a quick learner.
• She appears to be child-friendly. On our walk today some children wanted to pet her and she was very gentle with them.

After two days with her we decided to name her Sadie the lady. She deserves a girlish name that highlights her sweet nature. Stay tuned for more details about Sadie!