Meet Iris

A couple weeks ago my husband relented and I got a second dog -- for Sadie to have a friend and for me.  There are so many great dogs in shelters -- I wish I could bring them all home.  This is Iris.  My husband chose the name, as he did for Sadie.  I like it.

Iris appears to be a tall beagle which makes me think she is more of an American Foxhound mix.  Where Sadie is the stalker -- slowly moving inch by inch to sneak up on a rabbit or bird -- Iris is scrambled eggs.  Iris plods along right into the middle of Sadie's stalks.  But Iris is a tracker and a sniffer.  You can tell when she gets a scent.  That is, unless there is thunder and then she is under the bed.

Sadie has been mentioned a lot in the blog in the little over a year since we brought her home.  She has also appeared in many photo shows.  She is a very photogenic dog.  I think Iris is too.  Iris seems to not mind having her photo taken -- with the little point and shoot.  If I pull out the big camera she shys away.  

We compare and contrast Sadie and Iris a lot.  Sadie seems to have had a good life where she lived prior to ending up at the shelter.  We think Sadie just got lost.  I think Iris also got lost -- she is a runner and proved it just days after we brought her home -- she shot out of the yard and we were lucky to get her back home.  But we also think Iris did not have a happy home life prior to being in the shelter.  She cowers and is very timid.  The least noise and she tries to run and hide.

She was not injured or hurt.  She was and still is very thin.  We thought, due to a scar on her belly, that she had been spayed.  We later found out that she had not been -- but last Friday our vet took care of that.  Sadie loves to play with Iris -- they run and race through the house.  Iris is kind to the cat; but the cat is not very kind to Iris.  I don't think she was used to being in a house very much -- but she is getting there.  The strangest thing is that she does not go up or down the stairs to the other floors of the house.  Our best guess is that she is two years old -- so that makes Iris and Sadie about the same age since we guessed at Sadie's age too, who knows?