Maddie
I haven’t written much about Maddie since we first got her. Part of the reason? She has so seamlessly fit into our family that I sometimes forget we have a new dog! She’s really mellow and quiet (I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve heard her bark), and she spends much of her time curled up on one of her favorite spots: the red blanket on our couch or a pink beanbag cushion (we call it a poof) that we turned into her bed. While she certainly likes being walked, she’s fine with sitting around at home and rarely runs around with the type of nervous dog energy that requires exercise.
I had read and heard from others that adopted dogs can take a few months – or longer – to come out of their shells and show their personality. And sure enough, Maddie is different than she was when we first brought her home. She’s now more open to Q, who she was recently very timid around, and she’s more affectionate with all of us; she absolutely freaks out with happiness (think shaking, manic tail wagging, and yipping) when she sees us in the mornings or after we’ve been gone. In addition, she’s finally shown some interest in playing: She mostly ignored the toys we had for her in the beginning, but now she’ll engage in a quick tug-of-war game with one of us or even pick up her squirrel stuffie on her own.
Q half-jokingly refers to Maddie as my grief dog, and I think she definitely has helped in the grieving department. Though she’s not necessarily attuned to my sadness (she’ll never see me cry and come up to comfort me, for example), she has brought me great comfort just be sitting or lying next to me. (I can’t tell you how many naps on the couch we’ve taken together!) And, as I’ve said before, she gave a much-needed dose of joy to our house.
-M
