We have not updated Birdie’s life with us for the past week and a half, because our family had to make a tough decision regarding one of our long-time family dogs.  We made the ultimate “tough” decision on August 13, 2009 to put down our American Eskimo/Cocker Spaniel of 15 years. It was at this point that we truly started to see Birdie’s true heart!

She is a lover!
She is a pleaser!
She is gift!

Birdie interacts with our children (11 & 8) amazingly well!  My son spends hours throwing the ball for Birdie.  She is a retriever in every sense of the word.  Every time he throws the ball, Birdie displays her bounding energy to get the ball, bring it back, and drop it in his lap - just to start the process all over again!  She LOVES to play catch!  However, what we have also discovered is that when our son gets tired of playing catch, Birdie will lie in the grass and chew on the ball until it is broken and in pieces.  She does not eat the broken ball; she simply chews until there is not much of what looked like a ball left.  One quality I especially love is that, when it is time to come in the house, I meet Birdie at the door and tell her to drop the ball.  She has learned quickly that I do not want the ball in the house.  She is more than happy to leave it right outside the door.

Birdie has also been a gift in that she has forced my husband and me to exercise more.  Birdie LOVES to go on walks!  With her gentle leader, she walks perfectly at our side.  We have learned, though, that she does better with a shorter leash.   In all the walks we have taken with her, we have only stopped once to pick up her “deposit.”  She is determined to keep walking once she starts.  She rarely “lolly-gags” and sniffs at street corners.  When we put on her gentle leader, it is as though she is on a mission and will walk until we make it back to our driveway.

Birdie was not house broken when we got her.  In two weeks, Birdie has only had two accidents, which we consider a big success.  We have been putting her out several times during the day, around 10:30 at night and then by 7:00 each morning.  We do not play with her outside until she has done her business and she seems to understand that concept better every time she goes out.  When we leave, we put her in our bathroom and put up a baby gate in the doorway.  She occasionally jumps up on the baby gate to look out, but to our knowledge has not tried to jump over it.

We initially tried to put her in a kennel at night, but she WOULD NOT go in the kennel.  In fact, she would not even walk to that side of our family room where the kennel was located.  We talked to the vet about her resistance to the kennel, and she said it was probably a bad experience and to not push her into it.  At night, she sleeps in the bathroom with the gate up.  Only a few times have we heard her bark at night, but we assume it our cat walking by the bathroom to peak in on her.

As far as our cat and other dogs are concerned, Birdie wants to play.  Our dogs are old girls and were not open to playing with a dog twice their size and at least twice their energy level.  We had a few aggressive situations.  Birdie wanted to play . . . our girls did not and would snap at Birdie, which caused her to react.  During each situation, we would pull the dogs apart and say “no.”  We learned then, that when we were with our family dogs to put Birdie on a leash.  That seemed to resolve further situations.  As far as the cat, Birdie is simply inquisitive.  She wants to play and get to know each member of our house.  Our cat will now come around and “check-out” Birdie.  When she sees the cat, she will run to the cat and bark.  No physical interaction with Birdie and the cat, though, up to this point.

A friend of our family came over this past week with her one-year-old terrier mix.  Birdie and Duke played in our backyard all afternoon.  Birdie chased Duke and vice versa.  Her positive interaction with this young dog reinforced our belief that Birdie simply wants to play and have fun.  For a 9-year-old dog – we are amazed at her energy!

Our children have found out, though, that Birdie likes to chew on things left out.  She “ate” our son’s baseball cap and one of our daughter’s stuffed animals.  She does not dig for items in the toy box.  She does not jump on our table or entertainment center to grab items.  She simply went after what was at her eye level.

Birdie has shown us so many great qualities.  She quickly adapted to our house and is more than happy to do whatever we are doing.  In the little time, we have known her; we already know that she would flourish with a family that could provide her running space.  She LOVES our fenced in back yard.  She would do well with other animals that are more compatible to her energy level.  She loves to play! She would be thrilled with someone who likes to take walks, but would also be content to chase the ball.  Birdie is a social dog and needs a family that can provide her the attention and love she desperately seeks.