This sweet Cajun girl came up from Baton Rouge on a rescue truck. She is everything we were looking for. Good with cats, good with kids, small, laid back. Only problem?... she's part Bassett Hound... so... she already ran away within 5 minutes of getting home! Caught the scent of a squirrel and took off. Gave us quite a little jolt! She's small... but very strong!... Kid cannot walk her on a leash. Lesson learned. Mr F is setting up a dog run right now, which we bought on our way home... we were prepared for this inevitability. She scored an "A" on all of her temperament test (except coming when called... which she got a "B" for... and again we expected as much). She was shy and scared at the shelter, but even so she never acted out. We took her for a walk and she warmed up quite a bit. Everyone there, and her former foster home in LA, all reported that she was an exceptional dog (and VERY well house broken!). She had passed the cat introduction test with flying colors and the shelter guy said he had 100% confidence that she would not show aggression towards our cat. So, how could we walk away?! I didn't want to risk losing her. Sure, there are more beautiful dogs out there (even at the shelter today) but... getting a laid back dog, that is house broken, good with kids and with cats?! Hello! She's ours. Once home, she is a different dog, tail waggin, toy playing, fun girl... who also likes to lie down in her new bed... a lot. She's very happy. The dog and cat have introduced themselves without so much as a bark (in fact she hasn't made any sounds at all since we met her). They smelled each other's butts and that's about it. We're keeping them separated for the next few days... just to keep everything on the safe side. The cat is sitting on his side of the door trying to open it and get in the dog's space as I write this. I think they'll be fine. Mr F is almost done setting up the run from our back door to a big tree in our yard... this girl will not ever be able to be out without being on a lead... so I'm happy to have this taken care of ASAP! It's actually kind of a good thing she took off like she did... Mr F got motivated to install it pronto... and without that nudge it might have taken a week or month or so.
