Molly at play
Sierra died on November 28, 2012. Originally we weren’t going to get another dog until Spring, but Shawnne had been following the Morrison County Humane Society website and became interested in one of the inhabitants. Molly is a mixed breed, part Boxer and part Labrador. She was described as intelligent and as a dog that does not get along with other dogs. She was described as 20 months old. In any event, Shawnne and I visited the humane society, looked at all their dogs, took and plunge and adopted Molly on January 18th.
There are similarities between Sierra and Molly. They are similar in size and they are both part Labrador. They were similar ages when we got them. There are differences too. Sierra was always an easy dog. When she came to us she was fully house-trained and she was probably used to living inside a house. Molly is much more challenging. I don’t think she spent much time in a house at least not in the last year.
On the evidence of 3 weeks Molly is much stronger than Sierra ever was . I don’t think she has been walked on a normal leash much. We bought the kind where the leash is retractable. On the first day we had her she broke it. A few days later she broke the next one. In the case of the second, the leash was more at fault than the dog. When Molly first saw her face in a mirror she started barking like mad, she thought it was another dog. It was scary. I don’t know why she was put up for adoption but it appears she was in captivity for at least a year. She is basically house trained but she has had her share of accidents. Over the 3 weeks she has been with us, those accidents have leveled off.
Molly is smarter than Sierra. She is learning very quickly. Very soon she learned not to bark at the dog in the mirror. Today when passing another dog while walking her, she barely made a noise. Perhaps Sierra was a smart dog who never had to be smart, but Molly shows her intelligence every day. Just this Friday I noticed she was trying take advantage of Shawnne by jumping on her chair. I told Shawnne we needed to put a stop to this and it seems that she learned what we meant by Saturday evening. She wants a clear set of rules, but continually tests those rules.
I agree that Molly is more challenging than Sierra was. As each day goes by, she seems to settle in more. Her potty accidents are becoming less frequent. I think she really “gets” what we are trying to teach her and she wants to be a “good” dog. She’s very strong but also very sweet. We have had her nearly one month now and I am becoming attached to her. I miss Sierra but poor Sierra couldn’t see or hear well and was becoming more sick and frail. I am glad we have Molly and can’t wait for nicer weather to take longer walks with her.