Ashland arrived yesterday. She is such a love – rode the whole trip cuddling with one of our volunteers. She is small and blonde. She was a stray that came into an animal shelter in Missouri and is very thin. She is stinky and covered with mats, has scabs on her back, very long nails, but there is a huge heart of gold inside this dog. She is gentle and loving and very calm. She stands up and hugs me – with any other dog, I might say that they are jumping up on me, but Ashland just gently stands up and hugs me with her front paws. She knows “sit” and “down”. I haven’t had a chance to find out if she knows “come”, as she hasn’t gotten far enough away from me for me to even tell her to “come”. She sticks right next to me, touching me, sitting down in front of me and gazing up with her beautiful brown eyes.

She doesn’t seem interested in toys or even food, not if there is a person to love close by. When I crate her, she eats, but if she is with me, all she wants is love and touching – even if there is good food next to her. She gently eats from my hand. She seems to like children, as the first time she left my side was to go say hello to my 9 yr old daughter. She walked up to her, sat down and gazed up at my daughter, wagging her tail.

Ashland has terrible teeth, basically only 2 canines and tiny stubs all over the rest of her mouth. She may be older than 5 yrs. Ashland also has a cough and needs to be spayed. We will be visiting the vet today to start her on the road to good health. She seems to get along fine with dogs – big and small – her primary focus is on people. The transport run had Ashland, along with 4 other dogs, loose in a van, and there were no problems.

More later as I learn more (and fall in love more) about Ashland.