Time for a dog

It looks like we're going to become furparents! We visited our soon-to-be furchild today at the humane society. This is her cute, if dirty and scruffy self:

She came in to the center as a stray about a week and a half ago and since her owners didn't claim her within five days, she went up for adoption. I don't think she's been out on the street for all that long because while her hair is dirty and matted, she's not malnourished and her hair is in good shape. She looks like a bigger version of a shih-tzu so they think she's a lhasa apso/shih-tzu mix and about two years old.

She was clearly treated more as a person and less as a dog at her previous owner's house. When I sat on the floor with her, she would stand up, put her paws on my shoulders, and lean in for a cuddle the way one would cuddle a child. And she licked my nose and lips and chin many, many, many times - I've never been french-kissed by a dog before. She's also a jumper, especially when she saw a leash (which was also the only time she barked), and she prefers to sit in a lap. We're going to need to do some obedience training with her which will be more complicated by the fact that apparently she doesn't respond to food rewards or many toys, although she does play with people.

While she was very excited and her eyes were a little wild and scared at the start of our visit, after about 25 or 30 minutes she calmed right down and was sitting nicely like a good dog at our feet. I had the cane with me even though I'm not suing it these days and it didn't even phase her. We felt that since she was able to calm down and accept us, and since we like her even though she's a bit of a badly-behaved dog, she's a suitable dog for our home.

The shelter operates on a first-come, first-serve basis for adoptions and since we were the first to put in an application, which they've already approved, we'll almost certainly get to be her furparents. Yay!! She's going to be spayed on November 16 and will be able to come home on or after November 20. We're allowed to go and visit her before and after the surgery, which we'll definitely do. We want to visit her this weekend and take her out for a walk and see how she is on the leash. They're also going to give her a bit of a grooming today or tomorrow so she should look nice and pretty for us.

One thing we want to do is give her a good name: the shelter calls her Peppy but we don't really like it. Suggestions for names or how to choose good names are welcome. We have a lot of other things to do to prepare for her arrival - thank goodness we have some time to get things ready.