I wonder that they are so well-behaved and show such doggy grace and poise, and yet ended up at a shelter. Do you know their original history and background?
You and I both. There is very little history available on them. The woman who adopted them to us said she was not working at the rescue facility when they were brought in. She's only been there for a few months, and said they have been there that whole time. All she knows about them is that their owner (who couldn't keep them for some reason) brought them directly to the rescue - they weren't brought there by Animal Care & Control or a shelter or some other place. She also knew that they could not be separated - apparently it was attempted once and they both went ballistic without each other, and the one who had been adopted was brought back in.
They're really beautiful, too - the photo doesn't do them justice. They're both fairly small females - only about 60 pounds each. A far cry from the 75- and 85-lb ones we had before. They could stand to put a little weight on, but otherwise are very fit with perfect, thick fur and no cuts or scratches whatsoever on them.
I'm not really waiting for the other shoe to drop as it already did the first night we had them. The adopter had told us they were not destructive at all and could have full run of the house (they'd spent some weekends at her house and had been fine). We did that on Sunday night, and they ended up getting into some unwrapped gifts under the Christmas tree and a package of store-bought frosted Christmas cookies that was on the kitchen counter. They ate about 10 cookies between them, chewed up the package, and chewed up a calendar and a "Tangrams" box under the tree before I interrupted them.
I was *amazed* that they didn't so much as get a case of the runs from the cookies (and whatever cardboard and plastic bits they might have ingested). The shepherds I had before would both have been sicks as, well, dogs after eating stuff like that.
We bought baby gates and closed them in our kitchen (which is quite large) last night, each with a thick rug to sleep on, water, and a couple of indestructable chewie toys. This morning, there were no "accidents" and they were as calm as could be.
Unbelievable!
The best thing is our son is really enjoying them and learning already how to be more responsible around the house. He's picking up his toys and shoes "so they don't chew them up" and being careful about closing doors behind him for the first time in his life. It's all good.
