A Dream Come True

Shirley bathed in sunlight while on a walk in the woods.

Gearing up for a car ride.

Smiling happily in Montclair's business district.

Shirley (calmly) watching the passersby in Montclair

Shirley waiting for treats.

Shirley's Couch

Shirley is adjusting well to being in a home, immediately calming down from the hectic, stressful life of the shelter. She now is a much calmer dog. And I think the major reason she was looked over at the shelter was because her loud and constant bark scared adopters off. This is a silly reason given that in the whole time Shirley has been with us she has only barked twice.

The rest of her time she's either going on walks, begging for food, or sleeping on the couch which has now exclusively become her couch. She loves to go on walks to new places so I try to take her on new paths but usually she ends up making the regular weekday loop. On the weekends though we pack her up in the car (which she loves to ride in) and take her to a new place like Lake Temescal or a path up in the hills, and she just loves it.

Overall she is a great dog and her easy to love character has spread to all of the family. My dad who in the beginning of the adoption process has said, "No pitbulls and that's final," is now infatuated with Shirley and plays with her every second he has, including often lying on the floor as asking Shirley for some kisses.

She is a great friendly, loveable dog who also knows boundaries and won't jump up on a bed or couch without being asked. She is also much more well behaved with other dogs now that she is out of the shelter. My grandparents came over to see her with their dog (a tiny Shih tzu mix) and Shirley did absolutely fine with the other dog. In fact the other dog was the one with the problem and kept growling at Shirley but still she just wanted to play and he ended up having to sit in the car.

She loves playing with new toys (squeaky toys especially), but she is a bit of a princess when it comes to toys. She'll only play with toys if they're new and haven't been played with other dogs before. As soon as she gets them her main goal is to break them and as soon as she does, she never plays with the toy again. Well I guess that's why she's named Shirley Temple.

But really she is a great dog, and as she gets more and more accustomed to our home, she just gets happier and happier as you can see in the pictures. I am sad that Shirley had to spend 15 months in the shelter but in the end I'm glad she did, because if she hadn't stayed that long I wouldn't have found her. In the end Shirley got a home, and I got what I had been asking for since I could talk, and we couldn't be happier.

Matt