I’ve had dogs before, but having Winnie in particular is completely different. Back about 14 or 15 years ago (holy GOD, I now feel old) I had a dog named Balou when I lived with my ex. I knew absolutely nothing about dog training. All I knew was that I loved dogs and I loved my Balou. Somehow, with no formalities I had a dog who would come when called, didn’t jump all over everyone who came over, could be walked off leash, slept on the end of the bed (since I didn’t know about crate training), and was an all-around Good Dog ™.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago and I had Pearl. Being a Beagle I had expected a stubborn nature but a good family dog. Instead I ended up with a dog who didn’t listen, didn’t give a crap about commands, cared even less about things like her position in the “pack”, and most importantly (and the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back) was extremely aggressive. The last point was what made us find her a new home.

And now enter Winnie.

(In that photo she’s eagerly awaiting her favorite “toy” which is when I take an empty toilet paper tube, stuff it with dry food, fold the ends over, and toss it to her.)

Winnie is by no means a perfect dog. After a week of behavior that would have made her suitable for attending the Queen’s coronation, she settled in and discovered the joy of counter surfing. She was – I assume – frequently given scraps of food because she will beg two inches from someone’s face unless I step in and send her away. She is also back and forth in her ability to walk well on a leash. Some days she will trot happily along the sidewalk and other times she will try to remove my arm from its socket; tonight she nearly dragged me down when we were halfway through an intersection because she saw another dog. Clearly we still have some things to work on.

On the other hand, she’s amazing in so many ways. When we first got her, the girl warned me that she always barked for a minute or two after being put into her crate whether it was because she was being left at home alone or it was just time for bed. She did indeed do that but by the end of her first full week she had stopped and now she goes in easily. I showed her that her crate is a good place to be by making it a happy place; it’s full of cushions, no one bothers her when she wanders in on her own, and from time to time I throw a treat or a bit of kibble in there when she’s not looking so that she finds it later. It’s working because even if she’s not thrilled to go in, she’s content (she loves going in there at night; it’s when we go out to do errands that I get the “oh come on, really?!” stare).

She is happy when people come over but she doesn’t jump all over them. She’ll usually come up to say hello but all four paws remain on the ground. Sometimes she doesn’t even bother to get up from wherever she’s sprawled because she just doesn’t care. I love having a dog that doesn’t try to climb up a visitor’s leg and who doesn’t bark incessantly because someone is here. She’s so mellow.

(Mellow except in that photo; while walking in the woods she spotted this rather deep and large hole full of rain water and in true Lab fashion she lunged, belly-flopped, and then swam as much as a dog can while still leashed. I’m quite lucky I didn’t end up in there with her, sheesh.)

She loves to play with Breanna. An outsider might think that she’s about to eat Breanna sometimes because she’ll growl but it’s fun-filled growling, not anything malicious. They chase each other around and play with all of Winnie’s toys. She plays with Hayley too but since Breanna is home all day and Hayley is at school, Breanna and Winnie are best buddies.

She isn’t aggressive AT ALL. I very rarely feed Winnie myself. Instead Breanna feeds her in the morning and Hayley feeds her after supper most of the time unless they’re busy. I can let them do this because Winnie will not attack them for the food or start snarling if they’re within ten feet of her dish. Both kids make her sit quietly while they put the food in the bowl and she listens.

I mentioned above that she’s big on begging and that drives me NUTS. However, we have taught her to stay out of the kitchen while we’re cooking (any other time I don’t mind if she passes through but she has a lot of shaggy black hair that I would rather not find in the middle of my curried chicken) and when we sit down to eat she goes willingly to the living room or the hall. Well. Willingly but she does still stare at us like we’re terribly mean for not sharing our supper and every once in awhile she huffs like a ticked off teenager.

Like a lot of dogs, she’s happiest being near her people. This is especially true of me. If I get up and leave the room 95% of the time she’ll get up and follow me unless it’s late in the evening (she’s not a night dog; in fact she’s currently in her crate of her own volition, sleeping because it’s just time for her to turn in what with it being almost midnight). I don’t bring her in the bathroom with me because she’s one of those dogs who has that nasty habit of mistaking the cat’s litter box for a buffet (ewwwwwwww) and when I come back out she’s almost always lying directly in front of the door, waiting for me.

She tries our patience with the quirks that still need work (and good leash manners are most important for me because winter is coming and so are icy sidewalks and she’s strong enough to pull me down – HARD – if she puts her mind to it), but she’s honestly fitting in so well in our family that it’s amazing.

I am so lucky to have seen the ad on Kijiji when I did and I’m so happy to have a great dog once again.