Avea/Dee – two years in a home and going strong

You’d have to be a pretty long-term volunteer to remember Avea. She arrived at the shelter in May 2009. By the time I started volunteering in August 2009, she already had three months under her belt. She was the first dog I ever walked at the shelter. I picked her mainly because she looked so docile and friendly in her kennel. She also looked a lot like my dog Ziggy. And of course, she hadn’t yet been out that day.

She was great to work with – very easy to collar, and no pulling on the leash. She knew all of her basic commands, and learned new ones easily. She really spoiled me. I thought all the shelter dogs would be this easy! The only problem I ever had with her was when she wanted to pull towards any puddle she saw so that she could flop around in it. She was the type of dog that was funny no matter what she did. My favorite was when she would occasionally switch to her swishy walk – stepping with her two left legs in unison, and then her two right legs. Her butt would need about a two-foot berth to accommodate all the waggling.

Avea eventually became a lot like Joey. Shelter volunteers loved her, but she seemed so happy and content in the shelter that other dogs always seemed to receive more attention.

Avea was about to reach the one year mark at BACS in May 2010 when the unthinkable happened. She was adopted by a couple from Sacramento who drove all the way to Berkeley specifically to meet her. She went home with Mike and Kai that day.

Avea was renamed Dee, and immediately fit into life with her new family. She’s now been with them for two years and Kai was nice enough to send us an update with some new pictures.

“Dee is doing great and I can't even begin to describe to you how much I love and adore her. Even after 2 years of being together, she makes me laugh everyday. If Mike and I are apart, I keep him updated daily on her antics, facial expressions and mischievous deeds. I am still constantly impressed and surprised by how incredibly smart and intuitive she is and just what a joy she is to have in my life."

"We recently took a little family vacation to Half Moon Bay at a dog-friendly hotel and I reflected back to our trip two years ago to Tahoe when we first adopted her and it's clear to see that our bond has gotten so much stronger over time. We were able to have her off her leash almost the entire time and she looked to us every step of the way for direction about where to go and what to do." 

"Sometimes she looks at me with such intensity and intention when I'm talking that it's almost hard for me to imagine she doesn't understand every word of what I'm saying." [NOTE: she is not showing much of this so-called intensity in the picture below]

"She truly is the perfect dog and we're thankful everyday to have her in our lives.”