Maggie (whom we’re calling Kismet) has been settling in nicely. She came to us with far more awareness of canine house manners than I expected, so we’re grateful to her foster for all her hard work. Kismet is a classic retriever and isn’t quite content unless there’s something in her mouth. We were well advised to keep her exercised and to keep appropriate chews handy. We haven’t lost any shoes, but laugh (probably shouldn’t!) when pup brings us shoe after shoe after shoe until we find her something more satisfying to chew than flip-flops.

Kismet gets along well with our older dog, and they snuggle up together for sleep regularly. Our older girl is also benefiting nicely from the new attention paid to dog training. Both are successfully practicing their sit/stay/down/come, and are also having fun learning how to jingle the bells we’ve put on the backdoor as the “I need to go out” signal. They have quite a sense of humor about the bells, especially since they’re hung in the area where we keep their chow bins.

Kismet also has a sense of humor about what qualifies as a good spot to sleep. In one of the attached pix, you’ll see she’s starting to konk out on the open shelf on our kitchen island! No doubt she’ll be too big for that spot within a month or two.

We’re really enjoying having Kismet and she seems quite happy here, too.

Henry is doing very well. Attached are some pictures we took over the winter months. I keep meaning to send them in. We will take more as the summer approaches.