Kina!

Caitlin and I have been looking at getting a dog for a while.  See her blog for a good summary of what we've done so far -

http://my-geeker-joy.blogspot.com/2012/03/dog-adoption-part-1.html

We're hoping to find a dog with a little lower energy that can handle the fact that we both work full time jobs and aren't in the house for a good chunk of the day.  Since neither of us have had a dog before we also decided to look for a dog that's house broken with at least some basic training.  This ruled out the brand new puppies, but we'd still like a younger dog.  Since Onyx isn't going anywhere the dog also needs to be good with cats.

Last Saturday we went to another adoption thing and met a number of dogs, including several that we had seen/liked from their descriptions online.  From online we had liked Tetra the most, followed by Misty and then Kina.  Caitlin had also liked Mystique, although I hadn't been sold.  All 4 of these dogs were there. 

Unfortunately Tetra had a pending adoption, so she was out from the get go.  She turned out to have more energy than we probably wanted anyways. 

Her description had said this, but Misty turned out to be extremely timid.  While most of the dogs at the event were running around and sniffing each other, or at least happily standing around, Misty was cowering under a chair behind the table.  I was hoping for a dog with a little more energy/confidence than this.  Misty's foster mom also pretty much told us she wanted to give her to someone who already had dogs, so we weren't sure she'd approve us..

Mystique was nice, and I would still probably consider her.  My main hold up for Mystique was that she apparently came from a not-great place, and I have been warned to stay away from rescue dogs with unknown backgrounds.  Mystique's fosterers also thought she'd be better in a multi-dog family, but they did not seem nearly as hung up on this as Misty's fosterer. 

We also met Kina, who was the best fit of who we saw.  She was pretty mild mannered and apparently very curious.  She's got a laid back temperment.  She's a Shepherd mix, with a wider body that makes her look bigger than some of the other dogs we looked at.  She's older than we might have liked, but I think she'll do well with us. 

Tonight we get to bring Kina home to do a trial day.  It'll give us a little time to make sure we're a good fit with her, and that she's a good fit with us.  Hopefully she does not try to kill Onyx.  If she is a good fit, we move forward with the formal adoption (which apparently involves some paperwork and a "donation" to the rescue).  I'm excited to see how it goes.

If you'd like to see some pictures and a quick description, you can find her bio on the website here -
http://shepherdrescue.net/cgi-bin/Dog_View.asp?Dog=2605&Return=dogs.asp&Type=1&page=2&DogID=2605