The ground floor

Today is your chance to get in on the ground floor, so to speak. We are about to meet 2 dogs who aren't even available to adopt yet--but they are available to be met. While they are next-door neighbors with each other in Maddie's Adoption Center, they couldn't be more different. So read on and see if one of these gals is calling your name!

Sweet Pea is a lovely 2-year old lab retriever mix. She would be a good potential match for someone with the time and energy to devote to an ongoing training program for her. As she's in our dog-reactive group, Sweet Pea isn't into sharing her dog toys or living the communal life (she probably thinks hippies are wierd), so she'd need to be the only dog in your home. She mostly did fine on her walk as long as I guided her away from any and all other dogs in the vicinity. Spotting another dog equals lunging and barking for Sweet Pea. In fact, I believe there is no known photograph of her looking at the camera, because she is constantly scanning the horizon for canine intruders. However, she's great one-on-one with a human companion...Hence, her name.


Now let's meet Sweet Pea's next door neighbor. Goldie is a 10-year old Golden retriever mix. Her age and her temperment make for one of the mellower dogs we have right now. Goldie is into low-impact exercise involving fairly short walks sprinkled with occasional spurts of jogging. And if you want to bypass the jogging parts entirely, that'd probably be just fine with Goldie. In human years, Goldie is squarely in the shuffleboard-playing era of her life. She comes well-equipped with the basics already, such as maintaining eye contact and overall good behavior. Her thick and luxurious coat of golden fur might be enough to make you fall in love with her on its own, and her easy-going personality is the icing on the cake.

Incidentally, walking past Sweet Pea's room on the way out for our walk, Sweet Pea barked and barked at her, but Goldie held her head up high, nodded in Sweet Pea's direction, and continued onward without a peep. You could just see her thinking, [sigh] "Kids today, with their energy drinks, MTV, and overstimulation..."


So there you have it, folks: go semi-high-maintenance with Sweet Pea or go easy with Goldie.

As of 6/23/08:
Sweet Pea...Not yet available for adoption; AVAILABLE TO BE MET.
Goldie...Not yet available for adoption; AVAILABLE TO BE MET.

[Note: Both dogs are already spayed!]