By Janet Lee –
My story of LadyDog begins on a snowy Valentines Day here in New York-2 years ago to be exact when my husband and I went to the local pound in search of the perfect dog for us.
I hated the experience of seeing and hearing nearly a hundred barking howling dogs frantically jumping on their wet dark cages in hopes of a rescue&.most of them pits and mixed breeds. It was dog prison for sure.
I couldn’t for the life of me decide on any one dog. I turned to my husband and said “This is your valentines present, you choose”. He picked a two year old 50 pound black and tan chow shepherd mix named Milly whose friendly wagging tail and beautiful markings suggested a good choice. She had been in the pound for five months. They had found her tied to a tree-isn’t that miserable?
I took her out of the kennel for a brief walk to see how she would walk with me-it was really difficult, she pulled me across the snow and ice in this blizzard like a sled dog and I could barely control her pulling, but I figured she had a lot of pent up energy and could be trained to heel. The pound folks also said she loved people but was aggressive towards other dogs. I guess I didn’t really listen to that part-we signed the papers, ran out to an ATM to pay the $80 in cash and led her to the car where she eagerly jumped in!
We brought her home and let her settle in to the space. We had a large backyard bordering a park and back windows where she could sit on a bench and look out. I took her to the groomer the following day and our life with Lady Dog (we renamed her) began.