~   New Year’s Day 2014  ~

We've had Joy (PA-2) for just a bit over a year now and her name has proved to be very appropriate. She is definitely just a bundle of Joy!  Her antics having us laughing all the time.  

She is very happy with her new pack which includes eight Samoyeds, one Papillon and three cats.  It amazes us how she was accepted immediately here and it's as if this has always been her home.  We have dog blankets in various spots around the kitchen and family room and from the first day Joy has shared these with our other two older dogs Bandit and Yasmine.  For some reason the "kids" aren't allowed to share these with the old guys.

Joy and Harley sleep in crates in our bedroom and Abby the Papillon sleeps loose.  All we have to say is that it's bedtime and the three of them go tearing off with the two girls running into their crates and Abby jumping onto the bed. Bandit has a very large crate in the family room and the others prefer to sleep downstairs where it's about 5-10 degrees cooler.  Everyone gets a cookie at bedtime so they all get super excited and noisy. It's not the only one they get but for some reason bedtime cookies must taste better.  

In the morning Joy bounces out of her crate and runs through the house looking for her big squeaky rubber blue bone.  It's her favorite toy and goes everywhere with her during the day. She pounces on it with funny little noises of happiness and runs to the garage door with it. We just have to tell her "no blue bone Joy" and she drops it.  When she comes back inside she throws herself through the doorway and grabs it on the run.  It will be with her all day long.  She struts around showing it off and it "sleeps" next to her on the blanket. The only part of her life that isn't shared with it is breakfast and dinner when she leaves it and goes to sing and dance for her meal with the others.  Singing may not be the best description I think screams may be closer to the truth.

Joy's health since her spaying and surgery to remove mammary glands has been really good.  She did break a claw throwing herself through one of the doors which took a couple of weeks to finally heal properly.  Her enthusiasm for everything is a bit scary at times because she's the only creature I've come across as more of a klutz than I am.  

David and I have had rescue animals in the past so know to expect some odd quirks.  Abby when we first got her from Papillon rescue wouldn't go outside in the dark or in the rain. Joy wouldn't go outside to go potty.  She wouldn't go in the house but did go in the garage so we set up a double exercise pen for her.  This lasted for about a couple weeks. We noticed she would watch the others go out and then be allowed to come back inside so one day she cautiously followed the others outside and ran around the yard with them. Her main outside job these days is to follow Bandit around and mark all the spots he just marked.  Now she's usually one of the first out the door and frequently the last to come inside.

She's a fabulous house dog and has had only one accident in the house itself since she's come to live with us.  She does have a very eclectic  taste in books though going from David's history of opera to a dictionary and then some science fiction and fantasy novels.  She is a bit shy of strangers and men but that's okay with us.  Abby took a couple years to warm up to David as she was also "man shy" and now with the first clap of thunder she's on his lap.  Joy is getting better with him since she's noticed he always has a Milk Bone or two in his pocket and being a typical Sammy bitch she'd sell her soul for a treat.  She's my shadow and is never far from my side. Neither is the big blue bone!

Thank you, Danielle and MASR, for making it possible to have Joy!  She truly lives up to her name.

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