Happy Yvaineversary!
On this day in 2011 we drove four hours to meet a dog that sounded like a good buddy for our senior cocker. She was described as 3 1/2 years old, playful, friendly, and had been dumped at a Humane Society for developing severe allergies.
[Yvaine meeting Galahad, Aug 20th 2011]
We were looking for a dog to do a "job" (aside from housepet): to be company for Galahad, our first cocker, and to wake him up and get him excited a few times a day. His deafness had advanced such that he just snoozed all day--not because he was lethargic, but because nothing woke him up. My bouncy sweet girl! She was so good at her "job," until we lost Galahad in 2015. (We adopted Merlin a few months later, in September 2015.)
[Yvaine on the trip home]
I got a real shock, when I went to look back at first-day photos of Yvaine. I had noticed that something looks odd about those early photos (besides all that darker red), but hadn't taken a good look. She's not *IN* there. There's no Yvaine there. My bright little munchkin, my personal Embodiment of Eternal Optimism, my little strongly opinionated mommydog, she's not there in those early photos.
[Yvaine napping with Galahad; if she heard something and woke, she would bounce enough to wake him, too]
Now she's confident, outgoing, secure, and bossy. What a delight she has been, and I hope will continue to be for many more years.
[Yvaine in Spring 2018]