Introducing the Newest Member of our Family

I very briefly mentioned back in October that we got a dog.  Her name is Goose, named by my daughter Maggie after the character from Top Gun.  Hopefully, our Goose does not end up in a flat spin that results in her untimely and tragic demise.  I probably should have included a spoiler alert for those who haven't yet seen the cinematic genius that is Top Gun. My apologies.

Goose is sticking her tongue out...yup, she's
a Soderborg!

The kids have been asking for years if we could get a dog, and last fall Mali decided that the time was finally right.  We started looking at shelters, adoption agencies, and breeders and doing lots of research to determine the characteristics we wanted for the Soderborg family dog.  The kids would print pictures of dogs they found and put them on the wall and they were all voting for the dogs they liked best.  I really only had one requirement; the dog had to be able to go running with me.

We adopted Goose from an agency that had rescued her and her four puppies from a shelter in North Carolina.  At just about 15 months old when we got her, having puppies means she's the canine equivalent of a teenage mom, so she still has a few puppy-like tendencies we're working on.  Goose is a foxhound-beagle mix and displays characteristics of both breeds, but from what I can see she leans more heavily towards the foxhound in her physical appearance as well as her temperament.  One thing that means is that she can run, thereby fulfilling my single requirement.  And by "she can run" I mean that Goose is built to run all day long and she simply loves it.  If I try and go for a run without her, she gives me those sad hound dog eyes and makes me feel totally guilty.

For example, just last night I got home from work and there was enough light that I thought, "Hey, I'll sneak a quick run in before the snow starts and that'll be awesome."  Goose was in the basement keeping an eye on the kids while they watched a movie, which really means that Goose was falling asleep.  But as soon as she heard the sound my Suunto makes when it has the GPS synced up, she came bounding up the stairs, tail wagging a million miles an hour--check that, her entire back end wagging a million miles an hour--with that look that says, "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!  WE'RE GOING RUNNING!"  I'm pretty sure that if Goose could talk, that's what she would say.  And what kind of a monster would I be if I denied her the joy of going out and doing pretty much what she was put on this earth to do?

Did I mention that not only does Goose like to run, but she is fast?  I wanted to know exactly how fast, so I put my Suunto on her collar the other day at the dog park and she clocked in at 18.5 miles per hour, and she didn't even hit her top speed.  I blame the other dogs at the park that weren't running full speed either.  Yeah, so when Goose does get away from us, we're not going to be able to catch her unless she lets us.  How can I be so sure?  Because she somehow got off the leash while I was walking her last week and it took more than an hour to get her back.

All in all, we are so happy to have Goose in our family.  She's pretty much the worst guard dog ever, thanks to her bloodlines that make her very friendly to people and other dogs alike.  That same temperament makes it much easier to get her back when she does get away from us, however.  Aside from barking at us when any one of us is sitting at the table and eating alone, Goose is a really good dog around the house.  We're still going to work on some obedience training, with the ultimate goal of being able to take her with us hiking and camping off leash so she can run around and be happy but still come back to us.  I also have a goal to take her running long enough to find the bottom of her gas tank, but that's going to take extensive training on my part.  You know, like training for a 50-mile race.

Goose, we love you!

What are you lookin' at?