Princess Hope has stolen our hearts! She is such a gentle and mellow dog. Whoever adopts this beautiful girl will have a wonderful Christmas present indeed! Hope is so grateful for any kindness and love we give her. She is calm and relaxed and it is a pleasure to have her be a part of our family, even if it's only for a short time.

We have had Hope for five days now and are getting to know her better. We still haven't seen any negative behaviors at all! Hope is housebroken and can be left for 8 hours while we are at work. She goes to the door and whines a little when she needs to go out. She doesn't counter surf or destroy stuffed toys like some of the other senior dogs we've had. Our resident dogs are VERY happy about that because they can have all their furbees lying around! Hope loves being brushed and truly enjoys the human touch but is shy about giving kisses. If doggie smooches are a must for her new mom or dad, they may have to spread peanut butter on their face to get a kiss from Hope!

Hope is very smart! She knows many commands already. She knows "sit" and learned "down" in one day! She comes quickly and happily when we say "come!" and she heels beautifully at my side when we walk. She looks so cute when she is walking too! I don't know how to describe it but she looks so graceful and poised on a leash. She takes short, fast steps and her feet move in a perfect beat when she walks. While we walk along she frequently looks up at me with a sweet smile as if to say "thank you for taking care of me!" Hope is always the first one to greet us at the door when we come home too! She is truly a precious gem!

We are amazed at how quickly Hope settled into her new surroundings. She will relax on the couch with a look of contentment on her face as if she's thinking "life is good!" When we take her out to snoop around the back yard she loves looking about on her own but checks back to be sure we're still out there with her. She has a very good sense of smell and immediately found the woodchuck burrow under our shed. Mrs. Woody Woodchuck is probably hibernating by now, but Hope can smell her none the less! Let's hope they don't meet any time soon because Hope is a very stealthy hunter and I wouldn't be at all surprised it she caught Mrs. W.

Hope and I have a date tomorrow night to meet a "C-A-T". She doesn't know what that word means yet because she's never met one! Hope is so incredibly calm around our dogs that I can't imagine her "going crazy" around a resident cat. Stay tuned! More updates later after Hope meets a new fur friend!