Twilla B.

If you have been a Chronicle follower for a while, you probably know we had to euthanize our Irish Setter, Ruby, earlier this summer. It was one of the hardest things on our little family, and there's been a big hole where a floppy eared, silly red dog once filled in our hearts. About a week after we walked around, missing our left arm, so to speak, we decided to apply to adopt another setter from Save Our Setters. They are a rescue organization for Irish and (I hope this is right) English setters. The process is quite involved, and includes an extensive application, vet check, and several people reading through the application before we were even considered for a dog.

Last week, I got an email from the S.O.S. organization that said they had a dog that may be a good fit for our family. We looked at her profile, and after reading her story, knew that she belonged with us! What we didn't know was that about 20 other families thought she was the dog for them, too. Her foster mom, Shelly, called us, and we visited for the longest time, asking questions and actually interviewing each other! Shelly said that Twilla is an affectionate, gentle young dog that loves other dogs and kids, and would fit into a young family with a stable lifestyle. She said Twilla is still a little unsure about life, and rather timid, but that she will be good with a lot of love. And Shelly recommended to S.O.S that we should be Twilla's new family.

Twilla will come to live with us in October, when Shelly and her husband come for a vacation in Montana, and we can hardly wait! Maggie is having a hard time with her name, but in one of her fairy movies, there are Twillerbies, and she calls this little dog, Twilla B. I just got an email forward from Shelly that said Twilla was named after her rescuer's newborn neice, and that they just knew she was that special.

One of the unexpected blessings of this (rather long) story, has been getting to know Shelly, and having a new friendship. We are looking forward to having Twilla B. here, in October, and we are just as excited to meet Shelly and Don in person.

So, that's the beginning of the Twilla Tales. As we get more pictures and video, we'll put them up to share. Shelly told me that Twilla doesn't really care for "paparazzi" , so glamour shots are tough to get. Quite the opposite of Molly, my Brit, who actually pauses and poses....

*You should know that we are considered the Crazy Dog People in Cohagen. We chose non-stock dogs for our family, which was against the Code of the County, and proceeded to spend more money on their maintenance and care than some ranchers spend on a horse. Not that we're proud of that; it just is what it is. So you can imagine how much flack we are going to get for getting another setter....

I guess if we're going to be Crazy Dog People, we may as well embrace the title, and do it right!