Introducing Luna

So, some very exciting news from our neck of the woods! We have officially adopted a little doggie!

It wasn’t quite the plan to adopt one at this moment. Although, to be fair, given that we were looking at pages on social media with puppies it was probably inevitable if we’re being honest, even if we didn’t want to admit it.

Anyways, there are lots of street dogs here and puppies that are abandoned and rescued and then put up for adoption. Our little Luna is one of these cases. She was rescued from the streets in February of this year, by a group called animaladassalta (if you’re from Salta, look em up and support them! It’s a group of volunteers and they work very hard!). She was a bit poorly when they found her and so they nursed her back to health, got all her jabs sorted and had her neutered and then in March, up she went for adoption. As she was a street dog, we don’t know too much of her background, have no idea what kind of breeds she’s made up from, but the vets have estimated she’s about one and we know she’s had puppies at least once, poor thing!

So, anyways, I had seen her on instagram up for adoption and I hadn’t really let myself think about it… until I showed her to Nolz one Saturday and there began our journey. Since she’s one (ish) and not a puppy, we figured she could be quite a good fit for us. We’re soon to be moving house and so it would be a nightmare with a little puppy around! So, we held our breath and sent a message, asking if she was still up for adoption (the post had been up for 4 days) and if we could meet her and, lowe and behold, no-one had asked about her yet. I can’t understand this because she’s the cutest little thing! And everyone commented on the post about how lovely she is etc but no-one asked for her. My only guess is that people want to adopt puppies, not dogs who are a bit older. But anyways, we went to meet her the following day and we were sold. She’s so lovely! Very small (which is what we were after), loves a good ol’ stroke and just seemed to be a very happy, playful dog.

A week later she was ours and at our house! It was a bit of a rocky start. Poor thing was very traumatised, wondering who on earth we were and where we had brought her. She managed to escape the house three times in an attempt to get back to the person who was provisionally looking after her (very persistent dog. She crawled under the bottom of a fence!). Once we had managed to secure the place so she couldn’t ecape, she howled and cried and basically broke our hearts! But after a walk out, a trip to the vets and a visit to a new doggy friend, Lola (Noly’s rents dog), she was a bit calmer, but still very much not interested in playing, eating or doing anything very much.

As the days went on she got more settled, but it became more apparent to us that perhaps it would take a little bit of time for her to feel completely settled and for her to not have separation anxiety. To begin with she was completely glued to us and especially me. I would get up and go to the loo, and she would come too. Making sure she had her eyes on me constantly, not letting me out of her sight. I would be sat working and she would make sure she was nearby, monitoring me and assessing if I might possibly leave her.

Now she’s so much better! We’re slowly trying to get her used to us going out and not being with her constantly and it’s so lovely to see her progress! Slowly going further away from me, into the gallery area, into the garden for a few seconds (before swiftly coming back in), but each day going out for longer. Slowly getting more interested in her surroundings. Discovering a love for playing fetch with tennis balls which seems entirely insatiable! And now, that she’s feeling a lot more comfortable, annoyingly she seems to have developed a love for chewing wood, cables and my hands! (The latter in a playful way when she’s hyper and wants to play. She’ll stop if I tell her to, don’t worry!) And the other lovely thing to see if her interacting with other dogs. When we first went to Noly’s rents and left her in the gallery with Lola and Dona, she was completely on guard, watching our every move through the window and would not interact with the other doggy pals unless we were present. The second we stepped outside and encouraged her to play, off she went. Then, when we returned inside, she came back to her post and watched us inscrutiably. Now, however, it’s lovely to see that she does go off and play with them! She would still like to be with us and will appoint herself guard duty some of the time, but the other lot of the time she will play or be away from the door. She’s also at war with the dog next door and loves a good bark, even when he doesn’t even seem to be there!

She’s such a funny little dog and I could talk about her for ages. My phone is now filled with pictures of her and I fully understand why some people start instagrams for their dogs! It’s tempting though I rather think I’ve got enough on my hands currently. But ayways, I just wanted to introduce the newest member of our little family. I’ll leave you with some pictures here…