Fizz is settling in, though she was a little 'nervous' in her new surroundings last night. It was ALOT to 'take in' but she is doing VERY well. she rode home in the car like an angel.

She has:
*Tried the doggie door ( not sure she likes those double flaps, though!) She'll go thru if we hold one or both flaps open for her. she prefers the Garage doggie door - which is just a hole in the wall, with no flaps/ door.
*Investigated the backyard (like Tristan, with the snow on the ground, she can't tell the difference between the cement patio and the grass, so she's not quite sure where to 'go' - but that's ok - she's made it 'outside' each time, that's the important part!)
*Wanted to "investigate" Teal'c, the kitty, but was 'discouraged' by the kittys' spitting and hissing ( we kept them separate, but allowed them to see and smell each other - kitty is very annoyed with us right now, and is hiding under the bed! LOL!) I think he's having a hard time deciding which is worse - putting up with that big hairy dog, or having to spend the day outside in the wet snow! Poor, poor kitty! LOL!
* met 'Bear', the chow who lives next door, and 'Angus' the black lab who lives behind us (both thru the fence)
* discovered a treasure trove of toys - an entire laundry basket full! and is happily making a 'nest' of them, one by one, in her crate! (Tristan had a LOT of toys, and was very proud of his 'collection')

Fizz is funny - she'll go to the toy bin, root around and pick one out, then she'll bring it to me. we'll play with it a few minutes, then she'll take it to her crate, and lay down with it. But only for a second - then she goes to get another toy. she's very 'choosy' - picking up the toys and putting them back down until she finds the 'right' one, bringing it to me - and then when she puts it in her crate, she has to sniff over and 'arrange' the ones there. Good thing it's a big crate, or there may not be room for Fizz, soon! She was especially delighted to find a 'big' tennis ball, and lots of regular ones, at the bottom of the bin. She wiggled all over!
I'll probably take some of the toys and put them away, to be brought out later, so they seem new. We used to rotate and wash Tristan's toys quite often, and except for a few particular favorites which were always out, he always thought he was getting new toys. Right now, she's having loads of fun with the whole pile!, though!

Last night, we set the crate up in the living room in place of one of the couch end tables. (the only place big enough to fit it comfortably) and she was quite happy with that. She was right in the middle of where we always are, and close enough to the kitchen to see everything and not get stepped on. Except for the 1 1/2 hrs when we left her here ( in the crate) and went to Jon's scout meeting, we left the crate open, so she could come and go as she pleased. She was up quite a few times in the night to 'check' on us, but then she went right back to her crate. I think she'd prefer the crate in one of our bedrooms at night, but there just isn't enough room in Jon's, and I have too many doors that open in the way in my room. since the crate seems to be a 'safe' place to her, and she so obviously likes it - it will stay upstairs, with the door open, as long as she needs it to.

this morning, she has stuck right by me - rode with me as i took jon to school ( he missed the bus - too busy playing with Fizz!) she helped me clean and oil the hinges on the doggie door ( nose right in the middle) and had to 'help' me with laundry by stealing Jon's mitten and a sock out of the basket! We got a fresh sprinkling of snow last night, so we had to go out and chase a ball in it this morning. Yup - she's gonna fit right in with us!

I called the vet this morning, too - she's scheduled to go in next Tues AM, March 1, to be spayed, she'll stay overnight and we'll have her back on Wed. ( it's a small family vet practice, so they only do surgeries once a week) I have to substitute teach this afternoon ( 1/2 day only) so when Jon and I both get home from school, we'll take her down to PetsMart and get her a tag and make her 'officially' a Tobin. ( Right now she is wearing Tristan's collar, and his tag - at least it has our contact info on it - she looks very pretty in his purple collar! )

I had a thought that I might schedule our stray kitty to be 'fixed' at the same time - maybe if they are both 'out of it' at the same time, it might be a good time for them to get used to each other. I dunno. - having never had a cat before, I'll have to think about that one. Teal'c - (the kitty) had made enough of a truce with Tristan (before he died) that while they weren't 'friends' - they could actually share the same couch. But Tristan was not as active in that last month - nothing like our bouncy Fizz!

So we are all settling in pretty well together.
It was very hard to decide, yesterday - I could easily see all three dogs fitting in with us. I was very, very tempted by Mojo - he is quite a loving charmer, and if it were just me, I probably would have chosen him. I think that somewhere, years down the road, I will have to have a chessie someday. I could see that alot of the traits that I so loved in Tristan were part of his 'chessie' half. Genetically, Tristan didn't get the best 'health' genes from his parents - but he obviously got the best of the Chessie personality along with the best of the Golden personality. But with Jon still at home, and all the activities that we do, I think an 'outgoing' Golden better suits our lifestyle right now. Grace was lovely, as well, a little larger and calmer than Fizz, but just as beautiful in looks and temperment. I'm kind of glad that Jon had a preference, because it would have been really hard for me to pick between Grace and Fiz. (years ago - that's how I ended up with TWO golden littermates in the first place - i could not decide between Toby and Tara as puppies, so I took BOTH home!)

It's funny too - how Grief works, I've had a few quiet tears yesterday and this morning. while Fizz is NOTHING like Tristan, having her here makes me think of him, and I miss my buddy. But Fizz is here to kiss away my tears, and make us laugh again - and so the circle of golden love rolls on.....

Laura