Last week, we lost our dearly loved and loyal friend, Scooby.  He has been a great dog and companion for 10+ years and the sudden loss and sadness seemed to spread from human to canine across the farm.  Skittles seems lost and sad – like every time we return home we’ll magically bring Scooby back with us.  She was in clear mourning and it’s not like you can sit a dog down and have a talk with them about death and them fully understand.  Don’t believe I didn’t try.

Scooby “belonged” to my little brother.  He was Cody’s first dog and was beyond loyal and protective from day one.  Cody was also grieving and it was clear the search had to begin to find a new companion.  No dog will ever replace Scooby, but there are thousands out there needing loving and forever homes, and we were looking to give one just that.

Little did we know, we would give TWO just that.  I have always rescued animals – never purchasing from a breeder or pet store.  I’ve never cared much about “pure bred” or blood lines.  Actually, the best dogs we’ve ever had have been mutts – mixes of who knows what.  I did have a few criteria, though.  Because we live on a farm off the road, the dogs have free roam of outside with no scare of them being hit by a car.  However, in recent years, we have noticed a very scary jump in the coyote population.  I knew we needed a dog that was medium to large size to ward off the coyotes and that had long fur to stand the cold winters in North Carolina.  They also had to be great with children and other dogs.  I looked at the local animal shelter’s websites for a few days and didn’t see anything that I felt would be a good fit.  I finally casually listed on facebook that I was searching for a new dog and within a few minutes, I had a response from a childhood friend.  She and her husband have a new baby (well, he’s 1) and along with a new baby and changes in jobs, they were looking to rehome 2 of their dogs.  They are English Springer Spaniels, mother and son.  They preferred to have them stay together and after they answered a few questions about how they are with children and dogs, they brought them to the house to meet Cody and Skittles.

Almost a week later, I think it’s safe to say that Jake and Libby have found their new forever home.  They are the perfect size, their coats are long and thick (naturally, though they are trimmed right now) and they adore everyone!  Though still obviously grieving, Skittles adores them and gives a little more of her attention to them every day.  Cody spends hours after school playing with them outside and they seem to fit in perfectly! The weather is beyond beautiful today, so I took my camera out and shot some photos of them playing and lounging around in the yard.

Meet Jake (front) and Libby (back).

Libby, breathing in the nice autumn air.

This photo makes me laugh.  Jake (head on) has Libby’s bone and she’s not too happy about it and I think he knows he’s caught.

Jake with the bone.

Skittles looking on.

Playing!

Libby.  It’s tough work being a dog.

Handsome Jake.

I love this shot of Skittles.

Pretty girl.

Libby with her toy.

Rolling around in the sunshine.

This shot was a mistake, but it reminds me of my boudoir shots, where I crop off the models face to make it look a little more mysterious.