Who is Tara?

Ok, there's been lots going on around here, so much so, that I haven't told you about Tara. Tara is our new Boxer. We were presented a deal that was almost too good to pass up. Well, let's go back a little.

For quite a while now, we've wanted to try our hand at raising dogs (on a small scale). That was the main reason we got Shelby, otherwise I wouldn't have wanted to try 2 dogs in the house. We wanted to try it out with a house dog to see if it was something we did want to do. Later, Brandy bought Dyna (see pics in the snow, below) to breed. He's always loved Boxers (I'm more of a small, cuddly dog person).

The person we bought Dyna from wanted to sell his 3 females and a male because of other ventures he had. He offered us this good deal. Well, Brandy doesn't have our machine shed ready for dogs yet. However, one of those dogs, Tara, was pregnant, and that was at least part of the way we were going to pay for the 4 adults. So...the previous owner wanted us to take Tara, cuz she was due in a few weeks. He'd keep the others till the machine shed was ready. With the cold weather, and no where else to go with her, we put her in the basement, in a kennel, on the cement floor.

At first, Tara and I didn't have such a grand relationship. She howled. Like a humpback whale. Over and over. And this was during the week we had gotten the adoption referral and were trying to hear God's call...sometimes all I could hear was a humpback whale in my basement! Also, we thought, hey, we had 3 puppies that "did their thing" down there and it was fine, so this will be too. Apparently (duh!) a quite large Boxer goes a bit more than little Shih Tzu puppies. I was gone the first time she did her deed, but when I walked in the house, the whole house stunk!!! She pooped like a horse (well, maybe not quite). I was not impressed.

However, as time went on I realized Tara was a great dog. She got used to it here and stopped howling. We gradually switched her food and now it doesn't stink nearly as bad and she only poops like a...well, like a Boxer I guess! And she is the sweetest dog ever!! If she was potty trained, she could be a house dog. Very sweet and gentle.

Well, last night Tara had her puppies!!!! But that's a story for another post...