Welcome Maggie!

Note:  The events of this week in Boston and Texas have solidified our decision below.  Opening our hearts and homes to those in need (human or animal) helps good conquer evil.  My thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved.

Wow - what a week!  I cannot even begin to describe the amount of ups and downs we have had this week with Cleo.  I did not sleep a wink Sat or Sun but instead laid awake sobbing.  Saturday night, I was upset because she was just not fitting in.  She and Barkley plain and simple did not get along. They fought constantly and it was clear this wasn't going to work.  Not to mention this girl has no clue how to walk on a leash.

So on Sunday, I made the decision to re-home her.  I found a wonderful family in the burbs with a labradoodle who I thought would be the family to to give her a home full of love.  However, on Sunday night, I lay awake sobbing because my heart ached for this sweetheart who latched on to me.  I couldn't bear to let her go, but I thought it was the right thing to do.

Her first day - look at that scared face :(

On Monday we did an "interview" with the new family at a pet store.  They were great, but Cleo wouldn't leave my side. In fact, she whined the entire way there because I think she sensed she was moving to a new home...again.  And again, she broke my heart.  The family and I left it that we would set up another meeting this time with their dog at the end of the week to see if she would fit.  Well last night, TheHubs and I had a great discussion and decided - she is our dog, and we want to keep her!

With one stipulation - her name is now Maggie.  And I love it.  Maggie is sooo much more us.  Cleo just seems so prissy and uppity (no offense to those Cleo dog owners out there!)  Since I picked out the name Barkley, I wanted TheHubs to choose this name.  But since TheHubs is pretty much amazeballs, he picked out a British name for me.  Low and behold, our Maggie is named after Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady herself.

We figure we have to re-train Maggie from the beginning, so if we wanted to change her name, now is the time.  Plus, I feel like it's a fresh start for all of us.

I was naive and pretty uninformed to think Barkley and Maggie would be BFFs in a weekend.  We botched the transition (I take total responsibility for not researching this more) and introduced her to Barkley in the wrong way.  But now we know.  I have since done a ton of research and I feel confident we are on a good path to both of them becoming friends.  I understand they may never be Besties, but they will be sisters.  We decided our summer projects for this summer are: 1) taking golf lessons and 2) training our dogs because I'll be honest, Barkley got away with some things she shouldn't have.

I'm excited and I've already seen an improvement.  I'll admit I wanted to give up partly because I don't do well with change, just like Barkley doesn't.  But we'll adapt and I'm confident in a year we'll look back and think "How could we ever have thought to get rid of her?"

Our girl Maggie, is here to stay.

Barkley being big sister in the background

-K

I would LOOOOVE any advice you have on our experiences with getting 2 adult dogs to adjust to each other.