Rudder

After Jilly died my mom got a new puppy, Riley. He was the one that you saw taking a bath with Madeline. Previously, as in a few months ago when I found that yellow lab BUDDY that was going to be given the black needle, I emailed the Seattle Purebred Dog Rescue Group. Radnomly I emailed again. Edith, the lab representative said that they never really get puppies in (who gives up a puppy?) but they had a 4 month old AKC registered pup that I could look at. Buck, his original name, was surrendered by his owner who had planned on retiring but had to return to the logging industry in Alaska, a job that requires a lot of travel, due to the economy. Apparently this big burly guy dropped Buck off at the foster mom's house in tears. (Brenda and Gary, the foster parents were amazing. I don't know how they can handle taking in dogs and then giving them away! If I were a foster dog mom we'd have about 50 dogs around the yard. ) Lucky for Kip, Madeline and I, I happened to email at just the right time. The first time I went to visit Buck I was a little unsure. He was WILD. Then I found out he had been crated for hours that day and most of the week b/c he was now an "altered" boy and wasn't supposed to be running around. Last Sunday we took Buck for a trial day and Kip (and Madeline...that's a given though right?) fell in love. Kip's dream has been to name a black lab Rudder...think wagging tail. I wasn't the biggest fan of either name but when you see how in Love Kip is and the reciprocity that Rudder seems to give in return you'll be okay with it. His training has been coming along. He sits and sort of stays. Big problem? Jumping. We'll get it. We feel very fortunate to have gotten him and he's quickly becoming part of the family.