Well, we finally moved out of the city- and the dogs love the freedom of long retractable leashes, fresh smells of grass, and a huge park right around the corner from where we live.
With a long hall-way that runs through the length of our new apartment, Winnie has taken to doing her zoomies through the whole length of the house-from the living room in the front, down the hall- past the kitchen, past the bathroom, past the guest room and through the bed room and back again. Bruno follows her- lagging a few feet, but keeping up the whole time - barking in a voice that I assume is saying, "Hey stop! You're going to fast and you're going to get in trouble!"
For the first week, they have to stay in the house more than we would like because Chip and I are commuting to NYC before he begins law- school in Philly and adopts a more flexible schedule. These long hours alone made them extra excited to get out when we got home.
The first time we came home late- they flurried past us and ran out into the street- which shocked and terrified me, as we now need to be super-aware of the busy traffic outside and realize that we no-longer have a quiet hallway, an elevator, and a lobby between us and the outside world. Luckily a new neighbor was gardening across the street and caught Winnie as she ran over to meet him.
I am so glad nothing horrible happened and we are going to be much more careful from now on.
From the first moment we moved in- Winnie already claimed her spot- a spot that originally was meant to be my new reading chair in our new den- but quickly became our little Queen's throne. We figure she chose it because she can see almost everything in the house from there, including the drive-way to see who is coming and going.
Our new den- featuring some of my favorite deals- Two linen-arm chairs from overstock.com, one faux-leather ottoman from walmart.com, and a faux-sheepskin rug that the doggies love to lay on from Ikea. Over-all we converted what was to be a wasted room (a dining room we would never use) into an inexpensive and comfortable reading room for our new law-school student in the family, and a good perch for our "watch dog" - aka, Winnie, who really just likes to sleep where she can see things - just in case her boring parents do something interesting- like say, offer her human food from the kitchen in the next room.
Also, so far we have seen lots of great dogs in the neighborhood- including another pit mix and a big white boxer, so we think the neighbors will be friendly towards our pittie mutts! We will keep you posted!
Animal Care and Control can be a rough place for a dog to be, but Philadelphia's ACC is doing something very special to ease the strain on dogs living in their shelter and increase their chances of getting adopted through their Pen Pal Program.
