This is Maddie. She is a gentle sweet dog (for the most part) and good spirited. But, the times when she smiles seem rare, and are joyous occasions. I managed to capture this smile before she would only show me the back of her head.
Our beloved pembroke welsh corgi, Daisy, passed away a few weeks ago. It was very sudden and very traumatic. Skotte, my mom and I decided to visit the local shelter at Lollypop Farm as emotional therapy. We needed to see live animals, doing live animal things. It helped immensely.
We also fell quite in love with one dog in particular. On our first visit, we just looked at all of the dogs and cats, and Skotte looked at rabbits and pigs, too. We didn’t meet anyone in particular. But we thought about Maddie all the way home. We obsessively checked their website to see if she was gone. We finally went back a few days later, both of my parents, too, armed with the task of investigating each and every dog and cat to see what ones we liked. We would meet in the middle of the aisle and compare notes.
We were going to get both a dog and cat, but the people at the shelter suggested getting one first. One thing was unanimous – we all LOVED Maddie, and wanted to meet with her. So, we signed up and waited.
We all met in an enclosed area outside. I took a seat on a bench, and watched as Maddie went from one person to another, sniffing, smelling, and investigating. It started sprinkling outside, so we moved inside to a private room.
I sat down on the floor to get on her level. She sat down next to me, and gave me a kiss! I was hooked!
Everyone agreed, and an hour later we had New Dog in the back of the van leaping around to look out each window.
Her name is Maddie, but Mom wanted to call her Happy or Prancer. Dad calls her Mandy, and I sometimes call her Maggie (which was the name of the cat I wanted). So we named her Madrigal (we are a musical family afterall) “Maddie” HappyPrancer (to make Mom happy, and because she does prance) McGee (because she’s an investigator like on NCIS). Again, that is Madrigal “Maddie” HappyPrancer McGee.
As foreshadowing, I will tell you that Maddie is definitely a “Simple Dog.” If you’ve never read Hyperbole and a Half, please check out this entry. It’s hilarious, but also explains the terms “simple dog” and “helper dog”. Daisy the corgi was definitely a helper. It’s interesting to have a new dog in the house, and see how the two are similar and different.
Coriander in the Spice Rack 