Hedonia

Good Friday! Sit!

Last year on Good Friday we brought home a baby girl. One lunar year later, we're still as proud and beaming parents as we were then. Today we celebrate her "birthday." Laissez les bone temps rouler!

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.