Cleaning Complete!!!!

Getting the house ready for Athena was more work than I thought it would be, we are finally done doing a MAJOR clean of the house (extra caution because it is rental property and I don't know the health history of any pets here before us)...So everything has been cleaned to the maximum it can be. And Stormy and Gus did not make it an easy task. While I was sweeping the floor Stormy came tearing through the house, hit the hard floor and slid right through the pile I had swept up, it made me laugh but I had to sweep it all back up again. Then Gus kept trying to attack the vacuum and got himself so worked up he started pooping, that I didn't laugh at so much. Took him outside to go potty AGAIN, cleaned up the poop, and then crated him for the rest of my cleaning. Very eventful evening of cleaning.

The Countdown Continues

The countdown continues....we have the crate set up and the Rope Bear sitting in the car all waiting as excitement filled as I am, I can't believe I'm finally going to get my very first German Shepherd. I can't wait to go get Athena on Saturday, but first we are going to visit with James' Dad. Stormy and Gus are going to be riding along with us!!! It's going to be a long road trip but I am really hoping for a good one that runs smoothly :)

Meet Athena's siblings

I think it's time to introduce Athena's "siblings" as I call them. Obviously not her true litter mates, but our other pets.

This is Stormy, she is a German Shepherd/Border Collie mix, and Athena's big sister. Although Athena will outgrow her in no time at all, she is still older and therefore the "big" sister. Stormy is only about 35 pounds and stands 17 inches high, she will be 5 years old in September. Her breeds are definitely pronounced in the amount of energy this dog can dish out, 6 mile walk (with some jogging) and she doesn't even lay down when we get back home, she is all over the place. Stormy is also my very first dog (not ever in my whole life, but my own personally). I grew up with dogs my entire life and she was the first one that was "mine". She was a rescue from a local organization, Partners for Pets.

This is Gus (aka Gustav), he is a Australian Cattle Dog/Pit bull mix, and Athena's big brother. Athena will probably also outgrow him, he weighs about 45 pounds, slightly bigger than Stormy. We rescued Gus from another local "rescue" that specializes in Lab rescue. He didn't fit their dog specifications so they were going to have him put down, claiming he was 3-5 years old. I couldn't stand by and watch such a lovely dog get put to sleep just because he wasn't a breed of dog they wanted to work with, they even had him isolated from everything as if he was a dangerous dog. It turned out his "dog aggression" wasn't even aggression. He had no clue how to interact with dogs, it was obvious nobody had worked with him at all. We took him home to Stormy and now they do wonderful together, she taught him just as a mommy dog would. And have you ever heard an old dog can't learn new tricks? Or that old dogs get set in their ways and can't be "fixed" of their bad habits? We took Gus to the vet and the vet's exact quote was "3-5? no, this dog is much closer to double digits" and he is.

This is a picture of Gus sitting in the car with my Mom's Chihuahua, I can see how aggressive he is toward that tiny dog, can't you?