This winter hasn’t been the best for Julie and me. I have been recovering from back surgery and we lost one of the greatest dogs we’ve had on New Year’s Eve, Barney, our adopted Golden who we got from GRRIN 10 years ago. The house was just too empty without him in our family. Luckily, GRRIN did offer us the opportunity to adopt Andy, a beautiful and affectionate 2 ½ year old boy just recently surrendered.
Andy lived his life outdoors on a farm, coming into the house, as we understand it, for about an hour a day. Unfortunately he is also quite bright figuring out he could get through an invisible fence by running fast through it.
We met Andy and his foster family about 3 weeks ago and we fell in love. The following Sunday they brought him to our home in Lincoln and we adopted him.
Andy is quite the character. He’s very affectionate and loves to cuddle up to you. He’ll stay by you as long as you’re petting him. He’s a bit submissive so he tends to leave you alone if you stop petting him. He is learning his commands slowly but surely and is getting better on leash. Again, if you correct him he tends to lay down and roll over submissively. He hasn’t gotten the idea that he’s not in trouble but that we’re just teaching him. But we’ll work on that.
He loves to play and will chase a ball all day long. We got him a few stuffed animals and the latest one, the hedgehog, is his current favorite. Julie, my wife, plays with him often throughout the day. He’s really taken to her and whimpers at the garage door when she leaves or when he hears her come home. He likes to counter surf, but not so much for food as much as for items of ours to have around him. His favorites are Julie’s slippers. He doesn’t chew them, just lays them by himself. One time we found him with her slippers, headband and bra sitting by him. The other day he grabbed his leash off the counter, took it to the door, and held it while he looked out the door. I just hope he doesn’t bring something really embarrassing out of the laundry basket when we have company!
My son and his family came down to visit last weekend. Andy loved our granddaughter, giving more kisses than she could handle and nibbling on her ear. He played with my son Joey. However, the neatest was when our daughter-in-law laid their 2 month old, Autumn, on the floor and Andy went over to see her. Joey got down next to him just to be safe. However, it wasn’t necessary. Andy was extremely gentle, leaning forward to sniff Autumn, give her a very gentle kiss on the forehead and then kissed her Mom. He sat down and just watched her for a few minutes.
To say we’ve fallen in love with Andy is an understatement. He’s fit into our household really well and we love him dearly already. We are glad that we’ve decided to adopt him.
