Audrey continued...

Our little puppy died on Monday morning. She was a sweet little thing with a fiery spirit and the cutest little face you could imagine on a dog. She was loved and will be missed.

Now, the word of warning to anyone considering adopting a pet from a shelter - be warned that puppies, especially black and tan breeds, are very susceptible to Parvo. The Parvo virus is what killed our little dog and is not uncommon in shelter puppies. It is not transmittable to humans, however it is a terrible thing for a puppy. It doesn't really affect adult dogs. What the virus does is prevent the stomach and intestines (the rapidly dividing and growing cells) from absorbing nutrients and liquid. It normally takes 7-10 days from the exposure to show symptoms. As our puppy died 5 days after got her from the shelter, this means that she contracted it there. The virus is highly contagious to puppies and is not killed by sprays like Lysol. Only a bleach solution will kill it. If you decide to adopt from a shelter, make sure you take it to the vet and get it tested for everything. It will save your family from a bunch of heart ache. For more information about this virus, go to this link http://www.workingdogs.com/parvofaq.htm

Audrey

We have been contemplating for some time about getting a dog. Fender (the other dog) would not stay home. He's a well mannered dog, great with kids and everything, but we could not get that dog to come home. Kevin and Sara got him when he was about four months own from another family in Gunlock. Four months, it turns out, is old enough to know where home is (especially if it's just down the street) and that Fender thought that home was down with the hound dogs. So, we all discussed whether or not we wanted to get one "community" dog or two dogs, so that they could keep each other company. We decided on two dogs.
Shortly thereafter, with the help of a neighboring lady, we found our dogs. Kevin and Sara got a mutt that looks like he has some German Shepard in him. He's older than our dog. Our dog is also a mutt, with what looks like some Greater Swiss Mountain Dog in her. She is five (or six) weeks old and we decided to name her Audrey, since my favorite actress is Audrey Hepburn. We got both of them from a shelter in town.
I did some research on our puppy, not knowing much about the GSMD breed and found out some very interesting things. She is supposed to be a companion dog and is known as "the poor man's horse." That's right, she is going to be huge! But right now she's just little. She's skinny from being in the shelter; a problem we will rectify. I included a picture of what she might look like (since we don't know what she's mixed with).