One Year with Hannah!!!

It's been a whole year!! It's so hard to believe.  On June 22, 2019, I wrote in my daily journal that we were so nervous about bringing a dog home the next day. We just didn't know what our household would look like with a dog.  

Hannah is a sweet, sweet dog.  We were walking over the weekend and there was a family riding bikes and skateboards down the sidewalk where we usually turn to walk home, so I cut through the church parking lot. There's a water tower there and two tween girls were drawing with sidewalk chalk. I tried to maneuver Hannah around them, but there's no stopping a herding dog from trying to herd young people.  She kept looking at me, looking back at them, and pulling towards them.  I asked the girls if they were scared of dogs, they said no, and as I let go of the leash, she ran over to them to take her dues in pets and declarations of what a good, beautiful girl she is.  

I love this story because it is illustrative of everything amazing about this dog. She has been suffering from some unspecified pain and we've spent the last couple of weeks trying to figure out why she stopped jumping and now she whimpers when she gets up from a sit or down position or climbs up the stairs. I know that the way the girls were petting her was causing her pain, but she didn't even care. She was just so excited to be with people who would give her attention.

In the last year, we've had so much fun together. We've walked hundreds of miles of trails and sidewalks together. We've been to several training classes and earned a Canine Good Citizenship certificate. We've cuddled, learned tricks, and have scared dozens of bunnies, squirrels, deer, turtles, chipmunks, ground squirrels, and other wildlife.  We've been on road trips together, we've played ball (poorly, on both sides); we've done it all.

There's also been way too much of Hannah at the vet. Dr. BB and I often say that Hannah would be the perfect dog if it weren't for her health woes.  She's had worms, dietary allergies, environmental allergies, too many bouts of GI distress, and now the hard to diagnosis random pain.  She's on a list of medications that is longer than Ted's centenarian grandfather.  She's a very good girl at the vet, but I wish she could go for months at a time without more health issues.  

Hannah loves Zelda and wants nothing more than to be best friends with her. I suspect that sooner or later, Hannah will win Zelda over and they will be cuddle buddies, but in the meantime this about the closest that they get.  I think it's funny when they share the same sunpuddles, but then they're grumpy about it when one of them is getting pets instead of the other.  

I hope for more days when Hannah can romp in the tall prairie plants of the dog park without pain. I hope for more days of training when Hannah can get up and down easily when given the commands.  I hope for time for Hannah and Zelda to grow into best friends.

But I am grateful for the time we've already had together and for what joy she has brought into our lives. Hannah is smart, sweet, obedient, and brave and that's before you factor in how beautiful and friendly she is.  

Hannah Dog, you are the best.