For the Love of Dogs

As I think most of you know by now, last week Samantha and I were forced to face an extremely difficult decision.  In the end we very, very reluctantly, had to have poor Lily put down, she had cancer on the outer tissues of her heart, which was an extremely aggressive form of cancer. We definitely did NOT see that coming. It was extremely sad, and it hit both Samantha and I very hard.  We were (are) both very attached to Lily and she was truly, an amazing dog, pet and friend - she will be missed greatly.

Both Sam and I have had at least one flavor of HoundsTooth (Bella or Lily) by our side --(well, except for me over the last 12 months), and not been 'dogless' for nearly 16 years. On August 31st, that all changed.  Losing Lily left a huge hole in our lives. You don't notice a lot of the little things they bring you, until they're gone.  The clickity, clack of their toes on the flooring, the sounds of ears flapping in the morning, the thumping and rolling on the carpet, or even just that 'Dog Smell' that you get used to, and only think about it when it's not there anymore. 

On Saturday evening, Sam and I were trolling the Oregon Humane Society website, trying to comfort ourselves by looking at cute furry friends.  We were half hoping to find a new friend, and half hoping to not find one too.  With the emotions surrounding Lily still being so raw, it was hard to look at all the critters and even think about a new friend, but at the same time - like I said - it was comforting too, in a strange way.  So OF COURSE, Samantha stumbled across a 2 year old female black Labrador Retriever that had been brought in the week before.  Long story short, we adopted her that night, and here she is below. We haven't yet come up with a suitable name for her, as we hardly yet know her! But we'll have a name for her soon! :) for now, i've nicknamed her Black Beauty.

Black Beauty -- A sleepy girl, after a long 3 hour walk!

Samantha and our Black Beauty, on a trail in Forest Park.