Reese has two daddies

I'd like to introduce a new addition to the Hedonia family. Reese is a two-year-old spayed female. The SFSPCA had her listed as a Miniature Pinscher mix, but at the suggestion of the nice lady over at Noe Valley Pet Co., we think she may be a Manchester Terrier mix instead. She also came with the name Reeses, which we decided to shorten to Reese.

Reese was surrendered at the Manteca shelter by her previous parents for the grave crime of having too many puppies (in fact she's still a little, um, uddery from her most recent bout of motherhood). I can think of a few courses of action to solve that problem besides surrender, but their stupidity is our gain. She's our little horn dog now.

DPaul and I have been discussing getting a dog for a long time, and for the past few months have been ramping up in preparation. Given our lifestyle, and since this would be my first dog ever, we had some clear criteria for our dream dog: We wanted a medium-small rescue dog, not too energetic, with short hair, that doesn't shed too much, isn't barky or aggressive to other dogs and that has some basic manners and training. Why didn't we just ask for a dog that types 40 words per minute and shoots bubbles out its butt, too?

We were patient and diligent, looking at dogs at a variety of rescues, talking to foster homes, doing lots of research. On Friday, we went to the SPCA with a different dog in mind, but decided to look at three small dogs once we were there. Reese was shy at first. She came to me right away, but from that point on hid behind the handler, tucking her ears back. Still, I knew from the first moment I looked into her sweet brown eyes that she was the one.

While we talked with a trainer, we got to surreptitiously observe Reese interacting with another family that had come after us. By this time we had already expressed an interest in Reese, so we had first refusal. Outside the pen and away from other dogs, we saw her open up. We had seen several dogs we liked at the SPCA disappear before our very eyes, and we decided to act decisively this time.

Ask and you shall receive. Reese is in every way the dog we wanted. She is loving and devoted, sweet and gentle. She loves rides in the car, hanging out in her crate, playing with her squeaky chicken toy and lots of belly rubs. While her original parents may have been clueless about some matters, they clearly spent at least some time with her. She still needs some training, but is way ahead of the curve compared to what we were expecting.

Our first 24 hours with Reese were far from uneventful. In the middle of her first night in hew new home, Reese became violently ill, vomiting and defecating uncontrollably. We think it was a combination of the change of environment and the new food we had given her that upset her system so. She settled down eventually, and after a quick visit to the SPCA clinic the next morning was on the mend.

As her health improved, so has her personality blossomed. By the next night she was high-spirited and playful. And now her biggest dilemmas involve whether to play with her squeaky chicken or flop over for more belly rubs. It's a dog's life.

Lucky us, we managed to find the sweetest, smartest and most beautiful dog in the world. And for you dog owners out there who thought yours was, well, I'm sorry you had to find out this way.

But don't worry, this isn't turning into a dog blog.

Well, maybe just a little.