Phoebe

On Sunday, we added Phoebe, a 5 year old West Highland White Terrier, to our home. Phoebe came to us from a woman named Carol in Fort Dodge, IA. Carol had rescued Twinkie (as Phoebe was formerly known) from a breeder at the end of January. Carol thinks that Twinkie spent most of her first five years in a cage. Unfortunately, Twinkie didn't get along well with Carol's other Westies and needed a home where she could be the only dog.

One of Carol's friends posted on the Terrier Club that Twinkie was in need of a new home. I was looking through posts, and saw this. A few e-mails, phone calls, and visits later, we were on our way to Clear Lake, IA, to pick up Twinkie and bring her home as Phoebe.

Phoebe sat on my lap all the way from Clear Lake to St. Paul - a little more than 2 hours. She trembled a little as we left Clear Lake, but settled in well and enjoyed being petted and watching out the window.



When we got home, we explored a little in the yard. The garage door closing was kind of scary, and Phoebe didn't like being on her leash right at first. We put her on a long lead in the back yard and let her sniff around - that was better. With the help of a Milk Bone and petting, she started to come to us on her own.





We went in the house and explored the kitchen, too.



You can see in these photos that she's a little leery of being touched, even though she loves being petted and cuddled. Later in the evening, she'd start coming up to us, wagging her tail, and put her paws on our leg or the chair, wanting to be petted. But when Craig or I would reach out to pet her, she'd shrink down. Once she got into the chair or on our lap, though, she was great.







You can see her special flower collar - what a distinguished dog!



So far, we've had a great time with Phoebe. She's still getting used to us, but we can tell that she's a real sweetie and will be a wonderful companion. She slept all the way through the night in her kennel without making a peep, and took a little walk around the block with Ellen this morning. Check back for more pictures - this may become the Phoebe blog instead of the house blog!