Lilly's progress

A picture of a dog that looks a great deal like ours...


We adopted Miss Lilly around the end of May. She's a female lab mix of some sort (I suspect Labernese-part Black Lab, part Bernese Mountain Dog), which makes her a pretty large dog (a bit larger than what I initially had in mind) but she's very gentle and sweet. She was the best adoption candidate who was available at the time (due to her energy level--not super hyper, age (at least a year old), and temperament (not terrified of either me or my husband at the initial meeting)). Since most of the other dogs who were there were either tiny yappy dogs, had issues, were pitbull mixes, etc, we decided to take HER home.

I think she's adjusted well to living with us. She seems to do fine in the house and prefers to be indoors with us (I was relieved to discover that she was quite housebroken). I'm really glad we have our own place and aren't renting because I can't imagine a landlord being comfortable with a dog of her size indoors. She's not destructive, although occasionally she gets into things, but she's getting better about it as she makes her transition from puppyhood to adulthood. Thankfully, she doesn't get too wild, so I haven't had a problem with her knocking stuff over, although I had to train her not to jump up on people. She likes to chew on grass and plants out in the yard, so to keep her out of the garden (my pride and joy), I have fenced it, and she respects that.

I haven't done any crate training or used a crate with her because I don't have anywhere in the house big enough to keep a crate (that would be big enough for her) full time. I don't have a garage, and I can't imagine she'd be happy in the basement! Instead she just sleeps on her bed in the living room, and has a few other spots she likes to hang out in. I don't have a problem with her getting on furniture or going places she shouldn't. When we're gone, we just put her out in the back yard, and I strongly suspect she spends most of the time sleeping on the back porch waiting for us to come home.

She has quite a few chronic health problems (allergies) so she's been a regular visit to the vet. I have to give her a lot of meds daily and buy special food, but considering the rest of us have our allergies and issues, it's something I can live with in a dog.

She gets pretty dirty, but fortunately she doesn't seem to mind taking a bath (even though she's not too crazy about water). She LOVES being brushed, if I even pick up her brush, she gets really excited (and runs out to the spot in the yard where I usually brush her, and sits right down, all ready to go). She loves to play fetch, and loves chasing balls, sticks, and her rope toy. She loves going for rides in the car, and enjoys trips to rural areas where I can actually let her off leash. Her favorite thing by far though, is going for walks, meeting people (she gets a lot of pets), and going to the dog park.

She's very eager to please in general and responds well to positive reinforcement, and is very food/toy motivated so training her hasn't been too difficult. I was able to get her to stop jumping up on people (really important because she's a such a huge dog), and she responded well to other civilizing attempts which makes life more pleasant for everyone. She is much more calm and relaxed now that she's figured out our routine.

Although she had to learn, I can now take her on walks and it's actually pleasant and relaxing for me as well (she was quite the puller/lunger when we first got her). She had some issues when we got her (very fearful of other dogs-unfortunately she was never socialized) so we had to do a lot of work with that. Her fear/aggression behaviors are much improved, and now she does much better around other dogs (whereas before she was terrified of them). She still doesn't take too kindly to dogs barking at her, but no longer goes into a state of panic. I'm really pleased that she has really come around on that and I can now take her to the dog park and she actually enjoys playing with the other dogs. I also have got her to the point where we can walk past dogs on walks, and it's not a big deal for her anymore. That was NOT the case when we first got her.

She has definitely bonded with me, since I was home with her all summer, all day long, every day. She follows me around the house all day long and lays where she can keep an eye on me. If I sit still for any length of time, she'll plop down near my feet and go to sleep. In spite of her clingy ways, she doesn't seem to have much separation anxiety. She likes my husband too, (as he will do things with her that I won't), and is one of the few dogs I've had that doesn't have issues with men (fortunately I don't think she was abused). She's been fine around guests, and seems to do well around people in general.

She's not particularly "protective" or "guardy" so I don't really have to worry much about her biting anyone. She's pretty friendly with strangers (she figures we were all put here on earth to pet her), although at home, she is a bit more of a watchdog. She doesn't bark much, which is nice. When she does bark, it's at appropriate times.

Curiously, she's very good with children, which means she probably has some experience with them. It's a relief that I can absolutely trust her around children, she doesn't mind them a bit, even when they're squealing and running around. One of her favorite things about going on walks is interacting with kids. Cats on the other hand, are prey in her eyes, although she's to the point where she will ignore them if I tell her to. This is important as nearly everyone in our neighborhood has a cat, and you can't hardly go down the street without running into dozens of cats. My own cat won't go anywhere near her, but I don't worry about her going after the cat.

All in all, she's doing really well adjusting to our ways, and certainly has had a positive effect on us. She has lots of comical and endearing traits that we are always chuckling about, and has given me an excuse to get out more. Having her in our lives has been an interesting experience, mostly rewarding, occasionally frustrating, but she's a fast learners, highly intelligent and a very sweet dog. Now that we've had her for about 4 months, she's really got us all quite whipped, and found a place in our hearts.