.September 9-16, 2006
With the loss of our best pal Snoopy last month, Lynn and I quickly realized we needed another dog. We knew Snoopy couldn't be replaced, but we had the need to love a dog and have a dog love us.
We wanted to get the same breed, but not knowing exactly what Snoopy was made it a little tough. We knew he was at least part Greater Swiss Mountain so we began the Internet search on Petfinders. It didn't take us long when we found Addie. She was listed as a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog/Mix and a little over 50 pounds. Lynn contacted Friends of the Animals and got the wheels in motion. We were given the email of Tammi, Addie's foster mom. Tammi has a full time job, her own family, 3 dogs of her own, and still finds time to foster one dog at a time. Lynn called Tammi to talk about Addie. Afterwards, we knew Addie was the dog for us. With the help of Roie who is the volunteer coordinator of Friends of the Animals and Pat who did the home inspection, we were able to adopt Addie.
Before we had found her, Lynn and I were deciding on names. Since I love to hike so much, we wanted to name the dog after one of the mountains I like so much, Mount Madison. We liked the named Madison and we decided we would name our dog Maddie for short. This was before we had even found out about Addie. What surprise to find a dog with a name so close. She was actually listed as 'Miss Addie' so all we had to do was remove the 'iss' and we were left with Maddie.
We picked her up in Warwick, Rhode Island. We arrived 20 minutes early and the transport truck was already there. As you can see, we weren't the only ones picking up our new pet.
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Here she is coming off the truck. She was a little scared and reluctant.
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Maddie meets Lynn.
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Maddie meets me.
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We began the 4.5 hour drive home. Maddie was nervous but within a few minutes, Lynn had her fast asleep.
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Lynn also had a surprise for Maddie when she woke up.
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About half way home we stopped at a rest stop so every one could stretch and move around.
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We kept telling her we were almost home.
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Tammi had taken such good care of her. Her nails were just done and her coat was as shiny and healthy as could be. Tammi did say she thought Maddie was a little thin and was trying to put a couple pounds on her. Lynn and I agree. She does look just a little skinny. We can fix that. Here's Maddie's first meal in her forever home.
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The next day Lynn travelled to Vermont for her uncle's birthday. Maddie was all mine for the day. She will be doing a lot of hiking with me, so I thought I would start her with a small one, nearby Streaked Mountain. This mountain is small but steep. It takes less than 30 minutes to get to the summit and offers great views.
Madison and I were hiking right along. I decided to take the leash off just for a second to take her picture. Big mistake. She instantly took off. I walked up to her and again she took off. This time into the woods. Up and down the mountain she ran with me in full pursuit. I got all scratched up running through the brush and ducking under branches but knew I couldn't let her get out of sight. Several times she calmed down. I slowly walked up to her, got within a couple of feet, reached for her collar, and she would take off again. This girl was deliberately trying to stay away from me. After about 15 minutes she finally calmed down and I got a hold of her. We will have to master the 'come' command before I'll let her off again.
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Here's the view we enjoyed from the top.
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Lynn's sister was also in Vermont for the day. She asked me to walk her dogs for her so Madison and I went over to Lisa's. I left Maddie in the truck not knowing how she would respond to the other dogs. I walked the dogs and headed back to the truck. I lifted up the handle and found it was locked. That's funny I thought. I don't remember locking it. I reached in my pocket for the keys and then realized they were still in the ignition. I looked down at the lock and this time noticed little paw prints all around it. This sweet little rascal locked me out of the truck. Just about everyone I knew was in Vermont at the birthday party. It would have been a long walk home.
I then realized that the window was part way down on the passenger side. I found an old antenna in the garage. I couldn't reach the lock but managed to feed the antenna over to the steering wheel and into the key ring. Do you think Madison made this easy for me? Of course not. She was jumping up and down, spinning in circles, and wagging her tail. She was making this as difficult as possible. I managed to remove the keys from the ignition and pull the antenna back through the window. Success. What a day. This gal was high maintenance today, but I love her to pieces. This day was tough, but we both have learned a lot since.
The next day we again climbed Streaked Mountain, this time with Lynn.
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The next day we decided to give Streaked Mountain another try. On the drive over, Lynn noticed that Maddie would rather see where she had been rather than where she was going as she looked out the back window of the car.
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It's time to try this mountain dog out on the Appalachian Trail, on the leash of course. She isn't quite ready for a big hike. Lynn and Madison came part way with me and then headed back.
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Tammi told us that Madison loves the water. She sure does. She got to the middle of this stream and decided to lay down in it.
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Lynn and Madison head back.
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After my hike, I met back up with Lynn and Madison. On the way home we stopped along the beautiful Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. First we gave Madison a good workout on Lincoln Woods Trail. We crossed the Pemigewasset River
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Crossing a 160 foot suspension bridge.
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Next we stopped at Rocky Gorge.
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Lynn and Madison at Falls Pond.
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Maddie says a special thanks to Roie, Tammi, Pat, Joanne and all those with Friends of the Animals.
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