The best of Bonnie

Bonnie got adopted today, to a nice young man from northern Virginia, who drove down here twice in two days in order to make it happen. He has no idea how busy, or how wonderful, his life is about to become. He will also discover how difficult it is to take good pictures of black dogs. 

Here are a few recent pictures of Bonnie that I really like and some from her adoption. 

Go forth and conquer,

    for the world is small and you are the giant,

           and every step you take will make the ground shake

                 as it rises to meet you.

Spring sun

Most of these pictures were taken Tuesday afternoon. It was a beautiful day and the late afternoon light was perfect. It's days like this that I remember and realize how lucky I am in so many ways.

I've been working on Max's ears twice a day for close to a week now.

I think they are feeling better but I'm not deluding myself 

to the point of believing that they are clean.

Not sure why I still have Tilly.  She's wonderful.

I love taking Maya out to the pasture with us again.

I'm looking forward to having her outside with me when planting time comes.

I suppose everyone knows that we'll probably adopt the first dog that comes along that Della likes.

Maya and the green spring grass

Callie/Hallie, the silver/grey beauty

Callie is now Hallie because Green Dogs currently has another dog named Callie. Hallie is now here official name but I'm still calling her Callie most of the time.

How is she doing, you ask? She is now rather attached to me, comes up to me for petting and attention. That's good, but she's still on a hunger strike. She needs to drop a little weight so that's not terrible, but I think I will break down today and add some canned food to her dry and see if she will eat that. Her house manners are excellent and she crates at night although I'm not sure it's necessary. Yesterday has her second pasture run and I let her do her own thing although I had a 4' leash attached that she just dragged around after her. She needs to burn some calories and build some muscle, but she enjoyed being out there so I'm sure she will. She stuck around with the group for the most part and she came when I called. Della has made a couple of play bows to her, but she's not interested in that yet although she is very good with the other dogs, very tolerant of the younger ones.

She has settled in here on a temporary basis but still doesn't see this as her home. She's not really trying to get away, but she's still looking for things to return to normal. She came from a good home, so she's not really ready and wanting to leave it behind. She's a dog who will take some time to adjust, but she will, and she will then readjust to a new permanent home more easily.

Callie's arrival

After a week of having only five dogs in the house, a sixth arrived today. Her name is Callie. She is a lilac Great Dane, said to be three years old. She is spayed and current on vaccines. The former owner was suffering from some health issues and was unable to handle Callie or her sister, Gypsy, who went to another foster home today. 

She was freaked out by being handed over to a stranger today, but she handled it very well. She even cooperated with getting into the van, which I appreciated because I didn't want to lift her 120 pounds into the back of my van. She came home and met Maya and Della without any problem. I took her out to the pasture later where she met Tilly, Bonnie, and Max as well. I kept Callie on a long line as we walked the perimeter of the pasture so she could check it out. I don't think she's had running space and I suspect she will enjoy it, once she's bonded enough to me that I can be sure of getting her back in when I need to. Given her weight, I don't think she's going to jump the fence, but she could still make it very hard on me to round her up if she wanted to. We had a nice stroll around the pasture accompanied by all the other dogs.

Callie arrived with a collar printed with crowns with a diamond hanging from it instead of tags, so I think she must be a princess if not a queen. She has certainly been well fed and will be going on the green bean diet to drop about 10-15 pounds. She can keep the royal persona, but I'm thinking more along the lines of a svelte Lady Diana, rather than the portly Queen Victoria. 

Della is taller, but Callie is wider.

I have removed a lot of Max's coat in the last two days and I've started

the annual ear cleaning ordeal as well. 

He definitely prefers the brushing over the ear cleaning, but he needs them both.

She enjoyed the walk around the pasture and her tail came out from under her belly.

She's very relaxed with the other dogs and seems very good indoors.

The merle markings are washed out in the bright light outdoors but you can 

see some here, faintly. She's a lilac merle.

Personally, I think the color could be called a whiter shade of pale. But I guess that's been taken.