The new addition

This is the new addition to our family. His name is Ivan and he is a
bordercolie/Labrador mix. He is 1 year and 8 months old. We named him
Ivan because it is Russian and it fits the uniqueness of the names we
give our pets and it fits him. He is just a big lovable lug.

We had been thinking that Sheela needed someone that could keep her entertained by playing with her when we went to work so we started looking for a dog. We wanted someone around her size, breed, and age. We first thought about a dog from the shelter but also thought of getting a puppy from the breeder that we got Sheela from. After going through the puppy phase we weren't sure we wanted to go through that again so we leaned toward saving a dog from the pound. Then we thought we should save a dog so I started looking for the type of dogs we wanted. I found five.

Then we went to the shelter and looked at them. We had to find the right fit. He had to get along with Tobe, play with Sheela and keep her loving personality, and not mistreat the cats. No easy task. So on one weekend we went to the Shelter and decided to try out Ivan. We went back when I went on Summer break since I would be home to look after them and walk them.
At the shelter here we are allowed to take dogs for a weeks to try them out. So we brought Ivan home. When we walked him at the shelter he was pulling and is heavy and a bit bigger than Sheela so we were a bit uneasy about him. We took him on the path where the fire happened, of course this happened before the fire, so he can meet Sheela. They got along well and we got home. Then we introduced him to everyone else slowing. First Tobe and then the cats. They got along well and he was comfortable with us and was friendly so we decided to keep him. We went back to the shelter and adopted Ivan.

He does have some issues such as pulling when he sees other dogs because he wants to smell them and play with them which is not good because I have to pull all 60 pounds of him but he is a very friendly dog. He is getting better at the walking meaning that he doesn't pull as much as in the beginning but it can get frustrating. He also dislikes anything or anybody that sneaks up behind him. He also picked up the bad habit of chasing Ozymandius from Sheela. He is definitely better than we he first got home from the shelter. He plays well with Sheela but tends to get bored with her chasing games. He is definitely not a leader though. He follows the strongest dog and in this case it is Sheela. He will never be able to dominate her.

He is definitely a work in progress which is sometimes frustrating for me but I am glad we saved him from the pound. He had been there for a while and who knows how much longer he would have been there since he is a medium to large breed dog and they don't get adopted quickly. now we are truly the Brady bunch with 3 cats and 3 dogs, 3 females and 3 males.