Introducing Pete and Annabelle

After Maggie passed away we knew we wanted a new dog.  Our home just wouldn't be a home without a dog to share it with.  Jared began looking online for Westies,  Westies are not an easy breed to find and when you do find one you pay a high price, so when Jared found Pete listed on line at an animal rescue in Salt Lake City we were interested.  We went to meet Pete and make a decision about whether Pete would become part of our family.  It was very hard to consider a new dog so shortly after Maggie passed away.  It was even more difficult seeing how poorly treated Pete had been treated.  I was very nervous about adopting Pete, but Jared was so sure.  We knew they also had a girl Westie that they had rescued so I requested to meet Annabelle.  When Annabelle came in she reminded me so much of Maggie that I started to cry. Unlike Pete Annabelle's personality was so much happier and relaxed, not only that but Pete's personality relaxed when Annabelle was around.  They seemed to be ten times happier when they were with each other then when they were separated.  I preferred Annabelle, Jared preferred Pete, Pete and Annabelle preferred each other so we adopted them both.  We could not bring them home until after our trip to California.  The day after we came home I went down with the boys and picked them up.  When we adopted Pete and Annabelle we were told they were about two years old, when I took them to our vet a few days latter she told us that they were closer to five years old.  Within that first week Pete bit Brandon, and the dogs behavior was very different from what we observed at the dog rescue.  We were discouraged, but through many prayers decided we would keep both dogs and see this through.  Here we are now three months later.  We have been taking Pete and Annabelle to dog training at Petco, the training and the time spent at home is helping and we are happy to be seeing improvements; but it is hard to be patient, and we don't do them any justice by expecting them to be just like Maggie.  It has been entertaining seeing their personalities develop.  Pete pretends to be tough but really he thrives on attention and love.  Annabelle doesn't even try to hide how desperately she wants attention, we call her our weasel because if we are showering attention on Pete she weasels her way in between Pete and us, it is pretty funny.  These dogs have many emotional challenges but already we love them.