Dear Aunt Mary,
Day One: Oreo walked into his new home and life bewildered and curious. He scurried through each and every room (including upstairs AND the basement) insisting on seeing and smelling everything. Kids in toe every step of the way he gained confidence by the minute! After chasing the kids around the house a hundred times and then a bite to eat- he picked a comfy spot on the couch and made himself at home for a nap. Out like a light for over half an hour the kids could hardly stand it. They keep asking, “When is Oreo going to wake up to play?” They’re so excited and so in love just like I knew they would be. Oreo’s a love bug and just as sweet as can be!
Day Seven: Things have only gotten better and better. Oreo is mischief with a capital M, but we ADORE him. He’s ALL baby puppy energy. He’s nothing but haph-hap-happy all day, crazy in the evening when things are dieing down, needing to go potty every hour and chewing up everything he gets in his mouth! Say the word ‘cookie’ and he drops everything and runs straight to the drawer.
Oreo has brought so much joy to our family I can’t even fully explain it. He keeps me company all day long and has filled that void I’ve been feeling with my kids growing up and at school all day. He’s become our son Noah’s best friend and has given him back the sparkle he had lost since we moved. He is our daughter Mia’s precious little baby that she can practice being a ‘mommy’ to- fixing his dinners, taking him out, babysitting him when I’m busy, making sure he’s not into mischief. He leaps into my husband Pablo’s lap before he can even sit down when he comes into the house late from work- wagging his tail like mad and licking him to death like he hasn’t seen him in a month.
Oreo loves everybody and it’s difficult to say which one of us is the most crazy about him. He was definitely meant for our family and I can assure you that he is VERY content and has made this place his home. We can hardly believe we’ve got our little pup here with us after such a long wait. We can’t thank you enough for your kindness and for choosing us to be Oreos family. Needless to say, we love him to bits!
6 months later:
Oreo is growing into a strong, healthy little guy. He’s so big now (around 30 pounds)
We go bike riding almost every day. (I ride- he runs and I got the idea from Cesar Millan – Dog Whisperer — we’ve become big Cesar fans) He still LOVES the great outdoors, so fits in nicely with our family adventure walks.
He has a girlfriend!!! Zoe the beagle vixen next door and they play endlessly. It’s hysterical to watch them run each other ragged for hours without even so much as a breath! He LOVES her and she is CRAZY about him they just sit and stare into each other’s yard when they’re not together. Every time I let him out to go to the bathroom he makes a beeline to Zoe’s house. They let him inside which of course only encourages him.
The kids next door on the other side have a lab named Kelly and whenever the neighbor kids are playing together with my kids (which is almost every day), so are the dogs! Their other lab recently passed away and Kelly was mourning him until Oreo showed up and she came to life again. She thinks she is his mommy and lets him pester her in his puppy way and she is oh-so gentle with him.
He is COMPLETELY house trained and works for his food (like Cesar Millan recommends). He lies down as soon as you start fixing it and waits to be invited to his bowl even though he is practically drooling to death and wagging his tail like crazy. Oreo has great self control and knows what is expected of him. He ‘sits’ for his cookies and still basically jumps out of his skin whenever we come downstairs in the morning or come in from being away for a little while.
Oreo is crazy about the kids. From the back of the couch he watches out the window awaiting their after school arrival. It is always the highlight of their day to come home to his warm reception – my husband too. Pablo and Noah are planning on taking him on their ‘boys only’ camping trip in the summer so I am just working on making his ‘come here’ command stronger than his beagle instincts of tracking things with his nose. Once he’s on a trail he gets into a ‘ZONE’ and he can’t hear us calling him- but that’s my next mission! I’m sure my Cesar Millan Dog Whisperer techniques won’t let me down on this one either.
Best regards,
Elizabeth, Pablo, Noah, Mia and Oreo
