Introducing...

In my last life update, I talked about how we were car shopping. We eventually settled on a VW Golf SportWagen because it was the same price as the Golf and I thought driving the VWs was one of the most exciting events of my life.  No offense to the Subaru Impreza and Hyundai Elantra GT, which were both fine cars, but they were kind of boring to drive.  We have named her Hedwig. We also kept our old car because they offered $1000 for her in trade-in and having a second car was worth more to us than that.

And why did we need a hatchback, you ask? Well, it's because I wanted to bring our newly adopted dog home!

Meet Hannah.

She's about a year and a half old, weighs about 50 pounds, and is the sweetest thing. We think she's probably some sort of mix with a Belgian malinois, but she's far more social than your average Mal, so maybe mixed with a more sociable dog?  Anyway, she's fond of us. Zelda is not fond of her.

She has bad skin (welcome to the family, sweetie) and her stomach has not settled yet, but she's fully housebroken, knows her name, and gets in and out of her kennel without a peep of complaint.  Rumor has it that the Belgian malinois is a bit of a mouthy and barky dog, but we've had her for a week and I've yet to hear her bark. I have heard her growl (at an innocent brunette woman!) and it's a menacing sound.

She loves to be around us. She just hangs out in whatever room we are at, watching or sleeping. We have accepted "a tired dog is a good dog" as our new mantra and try to do regular training exercises and lots of walks where she can sniff to her heart's content. So far, so good, but I know we're still in the honeymoon period.

Welcome to the family, Hannah! Someday Zelda will talk to you, I promise!