Mercedes Shining Glow

Meet Mercedes Sims! Ever since Sidney died, we have had a void in our house. It was nice not to have to think about taking care of a dog, but it was also lonely. You could often find Alex, Bill or I on Petfinder or Craigslist looking for a puppy. We would find the cutest ones, but I always said not now. It just seemed like so much work! Our friends recently purchased a yellow lab puppy and I watched as they put so many hours into training her. The energy from them is enough to wear anyone out! So I started talking to the troops about getting an older dog that already has some of the training done. They agreed as long as I would promise we would get a puppy at a later date. We were thinking about adopting a "cell" dog from a humane society. Those are the dogs that are shipped to prisons and the inmates obedience train them, then they are sent back and put up for adoption. However, we never did go and see any, because Bill came across an ad for Mercedes on Craigslist. It was hard not to get a dog from the pound or rescue, but in a way we rescued the family we got her from. She came from a family that had 3 small kids (3, 2, 1 y.o.) and one child had a heart condition. The kids were taken care of by the dad as the mom works and he even admitted he was not a dog person. So Mercedes added a lot to his plate! On Monday night Bill and I made the hour trip down to Chillicothe to "check" her out, knowing quite well that once we saw her we would bring her home. That we did! I had visions of when we first went to pick out Sidney at the pound, how she jumped 4 feet into the workers harms. That should of told us what we were in for... a dog that can jump to great heights! When we got out of the car Mercedes was barking and running around ... I did not think that was a good sign. But once I approached her and she started to love on me, I was hooked! So home she came!

She is such a wonderful dog and addition to our family. She is a 1 1/2 y.o. Weimeraner. She is full of energy, which is a good match for my 5 kids! She knows her basic commands and listends quite well. There are a few things we have to train her on, not to bark at every little thing and to drop the ball if she wants us to throw it again! The kids are busy taking her for walks and playing in the backyard with her. They even strap on their roller blades and run with her! (we got that from the "Dog Whisperer") Bill has taken her to a field every night and played catch with her. I am sure she is not use to all this exercise and by the evening she is very tired. She is crate trained and we have had no problems with her at night. I bring her downstairs in the morning to let her out and play with her. When I stop playing with her, she goes upstairs and sniffs Bill's face until he gets up! He has actually been to work on time the last few days! Alex shows her the most attention and is really on top of the training! It is nice to have another set of "hands" to help us out with her. Mercedes has settled in well with all of us and has already become PART OF THE FAMILY!