A Dog for the Daysa Family!

We would like to introduce you to the newest member of our family: Jonah Daysa!  (See photos using the link on the left). We adopted Jonah from the New Hampshire SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals); it's the local version of the Humane Society.  Their web site says they rescue about 4,000 animals each year: from dogs and cats, to horses and pigs and goats, etc.

When we visited, we found a very clean and seemingly well-staffed, friendly facility...and very full!  As we walked around the dog area, there were several dogs that had been there for over two months, or were "under-socialized" (fearful and cowering in their cage), as well as hyper dogs who were eager to lick our fingers and wiggled for attention.  One of the very last dogs we saw as we walked around was Jonah.  He was in a very small cage, stacked above another cage, and seemed like he had just gotten up from a nap.  He seemed a little timid, but he was the perfect size (our landlord will only allow us to have dogs under 20 pounds).  After talking with the staff and reading over Jonah's profile and another dog's profile, we decided to take Jonah out for a walk and see how the three of us got along...

The rest is history!  This little guy bounded into our lives.  In a surprisingly short time (under two hours), we walked out of the SPCA with a new family member.  It's been so much fun getting to know his personality: we've found he has incredible stores of energy - quite the opposite of the sleepy little guy we saw at the humane society!  His favorite thing to do is play, and his favorite toys seem to be tennis balls or squeaky cloth toys.  He can play fetch for hours, and this is pretty much the only successful way we have found to keep him from chewing our Christmas tree, or the pretty packages under it (he loves to chew paper).  Although the SPCA said he was 2 1/2 years old, we'll see what our new veterinarian has to say when we visit this next week; Jonah certainly acts like a very young dog with all of his chewing.

As we draw nearer Christmas this week, Jen and I are thrilled to have Jonah in our lives.  We look forward to introducing him to friends and family, whenever that may be.  Until then, we all wish you a very Merry Christmas!