Many of you know that our beloved cocker spaniel, Halilah, died in June. These last couple months have been the first dogless ones in our family since the beginning of 1992. But we wanted to wait a bit for our hearts to heal and also for me to be through all my summer travel so I could be home to train whatever dog we wound up adopting.
Tuesday was the magic day! We'd like to introduce our wonderful new beast, Onyx Riess-Smith. We found him on Petfinder.com. (Adopting a shelter dog has changed a lot since the early 90s. Who knew? Nowadays you go to Petfinder, type in your desired breed mix and/or animal size and your zip code, and it comes up with kajillions of dogs available in your area. It's an amazing tool for getting started.) We were looking for a medium-sized dog, young but not a puppy. After starting on Petfinder we scoured the local shelters and met a whole lot of dogs needing homes. It's heartbreaking, really, how many thousands of animals there are just right here in Cincinnati that need a family. But we could only adopt one. (Well, this is what my husband tells me. I was pretty sure we could take at least two.)
The shelter thought Onyx was part border collie, but our vet thought retriever, so we started doing some research. Onyx looks like the pictures of the flat-coated retriever, though he's on the small side at just 55 pounds. He is a sweetheart, pure and simple. This is the calmest dog we've ever known, happy to lie down at one's feet for hours and just be petted. He is gentle on the leash and doesn't pull at all, so even our daughter can walk him. He likes walking the trails in Ault Park, which is in our neighborhood, or to come to the Coffee Emporium and hang out under an outdoor table while I read. He is a little shy with other dogs, but great with people, especially children. Today we took him to an outdoor church service and picnic, and he was a perfect gentleman, letting toddlers thump him on the head and sitting quietly throughout. The only time he whines is if we leave him alone. Phil discovered that Onyx will calm down at night if he listens to the radio. So we are going to have a very smart, liberal-leaning dog from all the NPR he is being exposed to. He will become concerned about the plight of dogs in China.
Man, almost you make me want to get a dog. Hey, we never heard back from you the other week....
Posted by: Chris Bigelow | August 28, 2007 at 10:40 AM