MY NEW DOGGY SISTER!

You'll never believe what Mom brought home for me and Mel yesterday -- a brand-new doggy sister!  Her name is Agnes, and she is 7 and a half years old.  She is a Maltese, so she is kind of small and white and hairy.  Mom found her on Petfinder.  Mom was mostly looking for something like a long-haired chihuahua or a papillion or maybe a cairn terrier.  But then she decided to apply for Agnes.

The group that Agnes came from is called New Beginnings.  They got Agnes from another group that got her as a breeder surrender.  So we think Agnes was in some sort of puppymill, or at least she was with a backyard breeder.  Which means she probably had a bunch of puppies.  But now she has been spayed, so she doesn't have to have puppies all the time anymore.

When Agnes first got rescued, she was thin, and she had some bald spots on parts of her, such as her nose and her back and her tail.  But now she has lots more hair.  Also she is kind of pudgy, so Mom says Agnes will have to start eating less.

Agnes is very shy, and you can tell this by the way she is always running away from Mom.  Every time Mom is just walking through the house, Agnes runs away.  But if Mom sits still and talks to Agnes, sometimes she will come up to Mom.  We hope Agnes will stop being so afraid soon.  Mel and I like her just fine, and Agnes is not afraid of us.

When Mom first brought Agnes home, she let her loose in the back yard, but she left a leash on her.  Agnes ran all over the place, and Mom had trouble catching her again, so it's a good thing she still had the leash on.  After that, Mom started holding onto Agnes' leash outside, but Agnes doesn't do anything when she's out there.  She just stands in the grass and trembles because she is afraid.  She doesn't potty in the yard because she is too scared to.  Then she pees in the house, and Mom has to clean it up.

Today Mom is taking Agnes to Dr. Patricia's office.  Then she is also going to take Agnes to PetSmart and get her a collar and some of the food she's used to eating.

Mom is not totally sure if we are going to keep Agnes or not.  We were wanting a dog that was more friendly with people and that Mom could take out for walks and that kind of thing.  Aunt Cheryl called this morning, and she said she didn't think Agnes was a good fit for us, and Mom told her she had been thinking the same thing.  So we will wait a few more days and decide for sure what we want to do.