When Ava first came home with us, she was pretty shy and aloof.  We were told that she was an energetic dog, so I was bummed that she wouldn’t play with me or any of her toys.  We’ve been encouraging her to play by rewarding her anytime she shows interest in her toys, and by giving her a ball filled with her food in the morning and evenings.

Well, she has consistently been picking up her toys and will even play short games of tug with us!  Every day she’s becoming more comfortable, engaged, and playful.

Today we all hopped in the car and drove to Pella, Iowa to see some of Amanda’s family.  Ava loves car rides and we thought it would be fun for her to finally meet some new people.  We spent a little bit of time downtown and then decided we better start heading home.  Mike’s friends were planning a birthday bash for him later that night.

As we were getting close to home, Ava started whining, panting, and pacing in the back seat.  Usually she likes to sit and look out the window or curl up on the seat and relax, so we decided to stop the car and see if she needed to use the bathroom.  She didn’t have to go, but we let her run around for a little while to burn off some energy.

Fast forward a few minutes.  We’re back in Des Moines; about ten minutes away from home.  Ava is still acting weird and all of a sudden we smell a terrible stench from the back seat.  Did Ava just throw up? Even better – she had diarrhea in the car! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE!

In the end, everything worked out.  The mess was cleaned up, Amanda stayed home with Ava, Mike went out with his friends, and everyone spent the next few days recovering.

I grew up with a sheltie, so when it comes to grooming, I’m used to a pretty high-maintenence coat.  We had a huge assortment of brushes for her undercoat and top coat.  We had clippers to keep her hair from dragging on the floor, snow balling up on her feet, and mats forming behind her ears.  Brushing her was a huge time commitment and always resulted in a mountain of fur.

Mike really wanted a dog with short hair, but short-haired dogs shed A LOT. Ava still requires daily brushing to keep her shedding under control and the KONG Zoom Groom makes it easy.  The brush is made of rubber, so we don’t have to worry about the bristles irritating her sensitive skin.  In fact, she seems to enjoy the massage-like feeling!  We can also use the Zoom Groom during bath time.  It’s nice to have one brush to get the job done.  We would also like to try a carding tool to cut down on shedding even more, but for now we’re happy.

Mike took Ava for a walk in the woods one morning and lost his keys!

He forgot to bring his phone, so they had to walk all the way home.  Amanda took them back to the woods and they looked high and low for the keys.

We couldn’t find Mike’s keys anywhere, but we didn’t give up! We went back a few days later and spotted them on the trail.

Mike and I have wanted to get a dog for a while now, and after much discussion, we decided to start our search for a border-whippet; they’re bred to be athletic and smart, but can be a little more laid back than a border collie. Border-whippets are not as common and easy to find as, say, a black lab, so we started contacting breeders even though we both really liked the idea of adoption.  One morning, while we were searching for breeders online, we happened to run across Ava, a border-whippet up for adoption! Here’s what they had to say about her:

Knows a lot of commands, extremely high energy & playful, eager to please, perfectly housebroken. Great with cats and other dogs. SHE CAN CLIMB A CHAIN LINK FENCE.

Knows commands? AWESOME. High energy & playful? PERFECT. Housebroken? JACKPOT! Can climb a chain link fence? Well… we’re going to have to work on that one.

It all seemed perfect until we came across this next part:

We are located in Western North Carolina.

North Carolina!?  I was SO disappointed.  There was no way they would let us adopt her when we live all the way in Iowa. And what about the logistics of meeting her and picking her up?  Mike convinced me that we should go for it anyway.  He worked all morning on a masterpiece of an essay explaining why we were the perfect parents for Ava, and sent it off to the Rutherfordton County Human Society.  We heard back from them later that day and the rest is history!

We drove out to North Carolina, picked up Ava, and made it back home safe and sound.