Introducing Hollie

This is Hollie.  She's been with us for almost 2 weeks now, I just haven't had the chance to write about her.

At PetSmart when I first met her.

I know Benji hasn't been gone very long, and I want to say that Hollie is in no way meant to replace him.  I mean, Benji's irreplaceable anyway, but you know what I mean.  A week or so after Benji died I started thinking about it, because A)I feel like if you have room to rescue a dog, you most definitely should, and B)Max was lonely.  Seriously, I never realized how much he liked having Benji around, because they didn't really interact all that much, but Max was really bummed without him here.  So I decided that IF I found a nice little adult dog that Max got along really well with I'd think about it.  I found a couple dogs on Pet Finder that I wanted to meet but they kept getting adopted before I could.

Then the Wednesday before last I wandered into PetSmart on my lunch break (because I never eat on my lunch break, but I needed to get out of the office), and the Humane Society was there with Hollie.  At first I thought she was a big breed puppy, but then I heard one of the volunteers say something about her being older, and it turned out she's 3.  Same age as Max.  I got to let her out of her crate, and she climbed into my lap and licked my face.  So she definitely seemed to take to me.  She was super super sweet and calm, and I walked her around the store and left thinking about it.

The next day Jerbs came with me to meet her, and liked her.  I also found out then that she was found as a stray in Holbrook, and that she'd recently had puppies.  They weren't able to find her puppies, though, which is depressing.  She's a doberman blue heeler mix (they think).

Then on Friday I took Max to PetSmart to meet her.  I wasn't expecting much but they actually did fine with each other.  They didn't become best friends or anything, but Max didn't growl or snap either, which is a huge deal for him.  So I decided to adopt her.  She had to go get spayed and everything at the vet, which ended up being a huge ordeal because she had a nasty uterine infection (which would have killed her had I not adopted her and gotten her to the vet).  I got to bring her home on Monday, the 24th.

Her first night home.  She was a little drugged up with pain meds
and antibiotics, and for some reason she wanted to sleep by the door.

She also had worms, and she's having a little trouble adjusting to having constant access to food (she tends to overeat and then puke, which is just lovely).  But she's only peed in the house a couple times, and all but one of them was on the puppy pads we put down at night.  When we left her alone for the first time she didn't destroy anything, didn't have a potty accident in the house, and was quiet!  She's been going up and down the stairs on her own since the day after she came home.  She also goes to the bathroom outside like a champ.  So really she's leaps and bounds ahead of where Max was at that point.  (Not that I don't love Max but still).

She's a fantastic dog.  She's so sweet and loving and well behaved.  And calm, which is why Max and her are good together.  

Really, her being here for Max is the best part.  He is freaking ecstatic to have a sister.  They play together all the time and he just seems so much happier than he did before we got her.  They're definitely going to be best friends for a long time!  They even go on walks together (on separate leashes), and it's so cute.  And lately we've been able to stop crating Max when we leave the house, because Hollie keeps him in line.  Or at least holds his attention enough so he doesn't chew on anything.  It's great.  

So that's the story of Hollie.  I'm so happy to have her!

Max and Hollie on her 3rd day home.