Carley

It was one year ago today that we picked up our little Carley!  I guess it’s time to finally write her story.

Carley, who will be two next month, was found on the side of a highway in New Mexico along with her sister Becca.  She is a Dalmatian/Blue Heeler mix who is a very sweet, loving, happy, crazy girl who is full of life!  She was fostered at a home with two 11 year old Dalmatians, so she was the perfect fit for our family because we had two older dogs too.  Carley obviously had lots of love and care at her foster home because the transition was very easy.  We were worried that our two dogs wouldn’t accept a third so we put out a doggie bed for Carley and said her name a lot a couple weeks before she arrived.  At bedtime we would say goodnight to everyone including Carley.  When we brought her home it was very uneventful and she seemed to be accepted very quickly.

Carley had never been around cats so we made sure that she wouldn’t harm them by saying “leave it” every time she would even look at the cats.  It worked out fine.  When my husband and I married, my two dogs, then 11 and 8 had never been around cats and with some patience we have all become one big happy family.  Within one month Carley and one of our cats were lying side by side on the floor.

When we adopted Carley we had a 16 year old Dalmatian Juliette, a 13 year old chocolate lab, Latte and two 5 year old cats, Sadie and Sylvia.  We were entertaining the idea of getting a younger dog so that she could bond with our lab in case we lost our Dalmatian.  Sadly, one month ago we did.  It has been very hard without our Juliette and we are so grateful for Carley’s  happy little face that is always willing to make us smile.  Both she and Latte were very sad and probably confused but adjusted quickly because they had each other.  For us it was better to have adopted before we lost Juliette so we could all learn to appreciate Carley for who she is instead of trying to replace the sweet and wonderful girl that Juliette was.

It has been so much fun having a young energetic puppy running around again.  She has brought life back to our lab who wants to keep up with her, as well as, brought life back to us because it is very hard to watch your dogs get older.  Young and old are a great mix to have.  We love her so much and can’t imagine life without her!

Jody P..
Thornton, CO

Carley and Juliette                                            

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