Chloe

Well, I realize it's been awhile since my last post so I thought I'd get something up. I managed to catch a pretty bad cold and it really wiped me out and since I've been hanging around the house and haven't been up to much, I thought I'd use this time to give my dog, Chloe, a little face time.

Chloe is the dog I said I absolutely did not want. There were really ony 2 criteria that I was adamant about when we were looking for a buddy for Riley: 1) It needs to be male and 2) No Labs (sorry, Lab-lovers. They're great dogs but just a bit too happy and goofy for me). I was hoping for a large, male German Shepherd since our old man had recently passed away but, you know what they say about the best laid plans.... Chloe was one of the smallest of her litter, was female and, gasp, obviously a black lab cross. But, as I was reaching for one of the larger male puppies in her litter, she just crawled up on my shoe and wouldn't budge so, heck, who am I to say no to fate? Plus, the one thing we do know about Chloe is that her mother was an AKC registered German Shepherd so we were hoping that would temper the Lab enthusiasm level. Erik likes to say that Chloe is a German Shepherd in Black Lab's clothing. Personality-wise she is all German Shepherd but in looks she is truly Black Lab.

She is the other athlete in the house and is never happier then when she sees Erik pulling out his running shoes. We call her the Stealth Bomber because she is so quick and silent that she can swoop in and around you and you never see her coming. She has also been known to swoop in, take your legs out from under you and disappear before you even hit the ground. You'll just find yourself flat on your back wondering what the heck just happened. It drives our other dog, Riley, insane the way she swoops in and out and, at one point, he got so frustrated that he started to try to grab onto her as she'd run past him. We had to put a quick stop to that behaviour though as most of the time, instead of stopping her, he'd be left standing with a hunk of her flesh in his teeth. (We never said Riley was the brightest bulb in the chandelier.)

Chloe is fluent in 4 different languages; English, French, Spanish and Sign Language. If you even think the words "Walk", "Park", "Drive", "Camp" or "Treat" you might as well get to it because Chloe will start screaming which alerts the other two to what's going on and then you have a swirling mass of doggie-ness on your hands. She plays "Seeing-Eye Dog" for Daisy who is partially blind and Search and Rescue is one of her all-time favorite games. You can never get lost if Chloe is anywhere nearby and good luck at having privacy during your bathroom break while hiking or camping. She just assumes you want to be found and pointed out to everyone.

She's shy and sweet but will take down a St. Bernard to save one of her own, is too smart for her own good, has a tail like an otter and can launch a wineglass like a rocket.... and we are so lucky to have her in our lives.