Meet the third of our current fur babies, Onyx. Her shelter name was “Brownie Girl”, and she was 6 months old. She is an adorable Dachshund/Jack Russell Terrier mix. We actually got her on the same day that we adopted Rosemary and Moony (links), but we weren’t able to get her until later because she had her spay surgery scheduled for after our initial visit that day. We also didn’t know which dog we’d be able to bring home until right before we left the house to go back to the shelter to pick her up.
The way that shelter works when it comes to dogs is that until it’s time for the dog to go, the shelter will take down the names of everyone that shows interest in the dog. We actually had our names down for 3 different dogs. If you watch the vlog from that day, you can tell immediately who my first choice was.
Imagine my disappointment, though, when the shelter workers informed us that we were number 3 on the list for her. While I was okay with our other choices, I knew in my heart that she was meant to be ours. Since we were unable to bring any of the dogs home that morning, we brought Rosemary and Moony home, and I just kept the phone on me.
Miraculously, both of the two people ahead of us on the list dropped, and we were able to adopt her, renaming her Onyx.
We love her so much. She’s sweet, playful, cuddly, and super loyal.
She still sometimes potties in the house if she gets into the craft room (probably since it smells like cat litter she thinks she’s supposed to go there. We managed to mostly prevent that by keeping our baby gate in the archway as a “door”. Even then, we keep an even older baby gate that doesn’t open in front of the cat litter area to prevent little kids from going there in addition to preventing the dog from finding gross “treats” and hiding them in my blankets…because dog.
Onyx is also really smart and knows several commands. She knows that when I give her a dental treat in the morning that it’s time to go outside and potty. She knows how to fetch and “bring me the ball”. She also knows “sit”, “out”, “back off”, and (specifically in the back patio) “Moony!” That means that Moony (link) has gotten out of the back door while it was open, and she needs to help me find him. At first it was accidental, and then when I realized that she was linking those together, I’d reward her for helping me find him. If Moony tries to go out the back patio door to the yard, Onyx will herd him over to the back door, so I can get him back inside. I think that’s my favorite accidental command.
