Welcome Home Penny!

The long-awaited day is finally here! Last Saturday we brought home our first family dog, Penny (full name Penelope Widmore Hume. :D )


She's a 2 or 3 year old Redtick Coonhound (not sure if she's purebred or a mix) and we are adopting her through the wonderful folks at PAWS Rescue of Northern Virginia. She was rescued from a high kill shelter, where she was on death row after being picked up as a stray. The lady who rescued her has a real job but spends virtually all of her personal time rescuing dogs and finding homes for them at what I can only imagine is great financial cost in addition to a huge time commitment. It's amazing what she does and we are so grateful to her!

Unfortunately, on her first trip to the vet Penny tested positive for heartworms. She received the treatment for it a few days before we picked her up, so she is still recovering from that illness. As the heartworms die off they have nowhere to go since they're in the circulatory system, so the only option is to wait for the body to break them down (gross, huh?) and there is a high risk of embolism so we have to keep her quiet and calm as much as possible. After a month of rest she'll go back to the vet to be spayed and the adoption will be finalized.

She's still adjusting to living in a house - we're fairly certain she's never lived inside before because she's very afraid of normal indoor things like ceiling fans, flushing toilets, and stairs (we have yet to be able to coax her upstairs or down into the basement.) She's not housebroken but is crate trained and so she's only had one accident in the week we've had her - and that one was totally my fault because I forgot to put her back in her crate when I went upstairs to give Sawyer his bath. When she's in her crate she is very good about holding it until we take her out. She is a different dog outside, she instantly becomes playful, happy and relaxed. I'm hoping in time she'll adjust to being an inside dog and learn that the ceiling fan/toilet/stairs are not out to get her.

She is such a sweet dog. Sawyer can't get enough of her and she is incredibly tolerant of his hugs and kisses.


The other day she was looking longingly out the window by the front door (we had just come back inside and it wasn't time to go out again yet) and Sawyer kept bringing her his toys to make her feel better. After a few minutes there was a big stack of books, stuffed animals, and Lincoln Logs next to her. I think she appreciated his concern.