Gidget moves in

As I write this, Gidget (formerly Ariella) is running around the room. Actually, she was just standing here acting she was trying to figure out what a computer is. She's been in constant motion and I have to admit has been good about learning what are toys to play with and chew and what's not (I think taking off with my boot last night taught her pretty early when Joe chased her around). We drove to Roland, Oklahoma, Tuesday where it snowed all the way from Amarillo to Roland (about 700 miles from Albuquerque). We hadn't taken Chaco on a road trip in several years and he really struggled. I'm not sure if he thought we were going to give him away (or trade him in) but he also has been struggling with watery eyes and I'm sure that didn't help. In some ways it was easier to travel with him this time. He turns nine tomorrow on new year's day (we'll have had him seven years) and I didn't feel so paranoid about leaving him. I can leave him in the car with a whole lot of food and he won't touch it. He's too busy worried about where we are going without him. He kept waking me up in the motel room wanting to go out in the rain and snow. I took him for a run on a country road the next morning and he really wanted to interact with the cows but they didn't want anything to do with him and kept backing away. I was nervous meeting Gidget. She came from the Ahimsa Rescue Foundation (see site here) where she had been the product of backyard breeders. She and her parents were removed from the home and that's how they ended up with Ahimsa. I had never gotten a dog that I'd never met. What surprised me, although I'm not sure why, was how much smaller she was in person. The photos that Teresa Morton, of Ahimsa, had emailed us showed what looked like a bigger dog. I'm adding some photos here including one of Joe holding her at the dental clinic (Teresa's husband is a dentist) where we picked her up. Chaco really struggled on the way home, getting comfortable, and finally some benadryl knocked him out so he could sleep. He was a good sport although he kept sitting on top of Gidget (not on purpose, I think he's just not aware!). When he settled into the very back of the car, she sprawled out in the middle seat and went to sleep. Our only catastrophe was that despite our best efforts to get her to pee, she didn't until we were somewhere in Texas and then she decided to do it in the car! Daisy's bleeding had prepared me well and I had enough plastic and towels down that it didn't seep through. When we stopped for her to pee shortly after, she did and has been good about doing it outside since (waking Joe up twice last night to let her out). The drive home was very uneventful until we hit Cline's Corners in New Mexico and a storm that hadn't been predicted so early (or was on the weather map). The canyon that leads us through the Sandia Mountains into Albuquerque was snowy and icy and Chaco sat in my lap the whole time while Gidget wanted nothing to do with me but to stay sprawled out. The dogs here are adjusting to a new sister. Nestle is afraid that Gidget will steal her food and Hattie wants to play with Gidget but Gidget is still a little wobbly on those big legs and can't keep up with her. I'm sure that will change soon. Happy new year, everyone!