My Story

Courtney is our angel. We adopted her from the Bide-a-wee shelter in Wantagh, Long Island, New York on January 6, 1992 when she was just six weeks old and weighed five pounds. Since then she has gained 60 pounds. The card on her cage said Shepherd mix and she was the only one in her litter with black, tan and white markings. Her brothers and sisters were entirely tan, and cute too, but we thought she had the most beautiful markings. As we held her in our arms, she fell asleep and it was 'puppy love at first site'.

Courtney and her pal Pup-Pup

What a cute puppy!

My Call of the Wild!

Crate Training?

We purchased a crate but removed the door after having to get up twice in the middle of the night to let Courtney out to 'use' her papers. The next night we put a gate across the den door. She weighed only 5 pounds but quickly learned to climb over the gate, so up went gate number two. Courtney soon learned to use her sweet puppy expressions to achieve her goals--the crate was moved into our bedroom. Then the crate was replaced with a 'big girls' dog bed that wound up being shredded to bits (that's another story :-) Courtney must have taken a 'train your people without them knowing it' course! With the exception of the living room couch (paper grocery bags on the couch for 4 months did the trick) Courtney now sleeps wherever she wants. Is she spoiled? You bet!

Courtney likes to sleep in Dad's chair.

Play, Play, Play

Courtney is a very intelligent, playful dog and understands a lot of words. We think she is even learning to spell. She has many favorite games (and at last count, 40 toys) such as hide-n-seek, soccer with basketballs (she's a great goalie), and she loves to play fetch. Another favorite--she puts a ball at the feet of anyone who will play, the person kicks it, she stops it with her paw and flicks it back--all the while holding a squeaky toy in her mouth. This game can go on for an hour if the person doesn't tire of it! It becomes a challenge to get the ball past her--she has great eye/paw coordination. Courtney thinks that everyone who comes to the house is there to play with her and guess what? They do.