#only a week until we see if anza can be a new scent work dog lol

[whatisshelties]

me: i'm just getting a sheltie from a breeder next

also me: look at this cute rescue

[whatisshelties]

Yeah, I'm heavily leaning towards waiting much longer on the new dog and releasing my hold on the rescue dog.

I touched base with rescue owner a few weeks ago because she was posting some videos of the dogs just out and about and mentioned the dog I had on hold was softer and that she won't try to take space from another dog.

The softness doesn't really bug me from a training stand point, but it sounded to me like she might not be totally comfortable with the other dogs in the house. A dog that doesn't get in another dog's space is great for Anza and Mud to some degree. However, I'm not sure it's fair to the other dog if she's going to always be somewhat uncomfortable because there's other bigger, more pushy dogs in the house. Heck, Anza was never fully comfortable with Truly and I feel like her behavior is changing even at 7 years old because it's only her and Mud now.

Mud and Anza are just so happy with each other. My mom says herself that she thinks Anza is happier here than she was at the other house. We suspect partially the house/property itself and partially Mud is here. Anza has been in my bed a lot. I think it's because it has gotten colder, but she does like to be comfortable. Sometimes she's even sleeping with me in bed for part of the night.

I still think Anza has some physical discomfort that hasn't been addressed. Finally started her on Adequan last week. I'm interested to see if that has any impact on a consistent postural imbalance I've seen that wasn't there when she was younger. I'm not sure how much...exploring my mom wants to do as far as finding the discomfort. She's been examined by a rehab vet who can't find any evidence for soft tissue injuries. I'm not even sure where we would start with xrays, and those aren't always definitive. I've not seen limping at all.

I feel like adding another dog right now is going to be too much work/stress for me, the dogs, and my grandmother. I also still don't have enough income to cover my expenses right now (been relying on mostly my savings for almost 2 years now). I need to wait until I'm not operating at a loss to get a new dog.

Mud might be able to get back into sports??? I'm seriously thinking about trying Anza at a local scent work trial in April (really depends on if I can start getting her to perform consistently in public). We can do all kinds of online titling options with both dogs. So, I probably have enough opportunities to stay occupied and connected to dog sport community for now. Then when I have the means, I can get a new dog.