Born on October 1, 2008, this sweet dog got off to a hard beginning. Social skills were not her strong suit. Standing upright without flopping over was difficult. Keeping her tongue in her mouth was impossible.
And then she came to live with us in August 2009. Her problems became our problems.
Her lack of socialization, tendency to flop around at your feet and lick your bare legs meant that we couldn’t introduce her to more than one person at a time without sending a dozen roses and a hand-written apology the next day.
There have been times when we started to reconsider our decision. We’ve asked the vet for drugs and even thought about giving them to the dog. We’ve purchase correcting collars and many, MANY replacement batteries. We’ve walked a thousand miles (per the Dog Whisperer’s advice). And every few days we remind ourselves that she’s “gotten better.”
But most importantly, she’s survived to see another birthday. In Lab Terms, she’s just getting out of that Terrible-Two-Stage. I use to say, “When she turns 3 we’ll see a big improvement.” But 3 came and went.
Let’s just hope 4 is the magic number. Happy birthday, Sid.
