Wake up Maggy-Lou, I know you have a new home to stay!

Well, I'd written an entire post with these photos and somehow deleted it. Dang!

I just looked down and she was looking up at me with her sweet face -made me smile.

The photos with the pink bow are when we first brought her home, without the bow is later and this morning. She's settling in better than I thought she would! Especially considering how shy and firightened she is of sudden moves and noises - we don't know if she was abused or what Maggy Lou's story is - but something isn't or wasn't right with this beautiful sweet girl.

Maggy (and I keep writing "Maggie") is facinated with the "boomers" - the little red squirrels - she can't get enough of looking at them!

Also she's done a little twirling dance/jump thing that allows me to see the dog she is meant to be--happy and safe.

I bought her some Iams food (she needs good nutrition to get a shiny coat and for her energy, etc), a food dish, a toy for her and a toy for Fat Lab Jake (Jake ended up with both toys *laughing*) and some treats. She settled herself on one of Jake's beds, so I guess that is her bed now ....laugh....she is adorable and sweet and I am so glad we brought her home. I also bought her a Halti that I will try tomorrow - she isn't properly leash-trained and sometimes strains really hard at the leash-which isn't good for her throat, so the Halti will help leash train her. I'm also slowly slowly working on "commands" - simple ones, like sit and come....not too much, since she needs time to settle in and more important, to feel Safe here. She's eating, so that's a good sign, and drinking water, and last night she stayed on Jake's bed the entire night (I checked on her). All good signs.

Maggy Lou will bring joy to this house, and in return, we will give her a good loving safe home. Fat Lab Jake, once he gave her the once over sniff, AND once he tested Maggy's boundaries and saw she wasn't a pushover, fell into step as her Big Brother - when we walked them this morning and something frightened her, she scooted close to his side and stuck there....made me smile.

I am so behind with my deadlines right now - I hope to come around and say hello to you all this evening, but if you do not see me -I will try to get round tomorrow. But, the time I spent away from my obligations to take care of Maggy were well well worth it -and in fact, yesterday, just being with her helped my stress level to calm down about seventy gamillion notches; I needed that.

Maggy Lou is a sweet sweet girl.

How much is that dog on Sarge's website? arf arf!

My good friends, tomorrow I will be going down to the Sarge's pet adoption center in Haywood County, Waynesville, NC, to meet Maggy-Lou.

I told you all I scattered the ashes of my old girl Kayla one year after her death on July 28 (I wrote about it here). I didn't think I wanted another dog. Maggy-Lou just, well, just appeared before me in an unexpected way--just as someone said to me, "Your dog will find you . . . ."

I'll preface the rest by saying that months back I saw a dog with mottled fur and sweet face when we walked the Lake Junaluska. Her name was Maggie, too. I just loved her and thought if I ever found a dog who needed a home who was similar to the Maggie of Lake Junaluska, I would think of adopting her, but I just put it behind me as I wasn't ready for a new dog anyway.

Yesterday I was working on VK2 outside on a beautiful mountain day, and something prompted me to google "haywood county shelters." Up popped Sarge's in Waynesville. I clicked on it, oh so nonchallantly. I scrolled down the dogs up for adoption and my eyes lit on Maggy-Lou. It was an immediate "oh!" feeling. I stared at her, then brought my laptop into show Roger -"Look! look at Maggy Lou....isn't she sweet looking? She reminds me of Maggie of the Lake." I then called the number - left a message, and Roger and I drove down the mountain to see if she was at the center. No! They were closed! A note said they were on "downtown" Waynesville at the Sarge's dog walk. We hurried there - but, most of the dogs were already gone. Came home: no messages. I thought, "Well, I hope Maggy-Lou found a wonderful home."

However, a couple hours later, my phone rang, and it was someone from the shelter - I asked, "Did someone snatch up Maggy-Lou?" She said, "No they didn't." she told me she liked my online app I'd filled out, and would I like to meet Maggy-Lou on Monday. "Yes!" we talked a while about Maggy and then hung up.

Last night I opened up a brand new book of the Mossy Creek Series and the very first story was about a dog who needs a home - and the dog described sounded like Maggy-Lou! Oh! What a coincidence!

By the way, Maggy-Lou is not the Maggie of the Lake Junaluska walk- she has a good home with a very nice man.

So, wish me luck on Monday when I go down to meet Maggy-Lou, see if she is the right dog for our home, see how Fat Lazy Labrador Jake reacts to her, see if Maggy-Lou the Sarge's Shelter Dog will be a new member of the Magendie household. Wish us luck!

I'm sequestering myself to work on VK2 - my deadline fast approacheth - but, I am going to try to come round this morning to visit you.