by Kelly Linman

Created on: May 17, 2009

I looked at the back seat and saw two big, beautiful, brown eyes staring at me. The eyes were full of fear, but also with a glimmer of hope. The poor thing was shaking and drooling, having never experienced a car ride before. Our beagle ran back and forth, checking on her new black lab sister and reporting back to my husband and I. We knew immediately that they would be the best of friends, but our new baby was scared. We were taking her away from the only home that she ever knew, and away from her lab sister and mother. The entire ride home, we discussed names for our new baby, but nothing seemed to fit until we came up with the name, Autumn.

Autumn was a scared little girl. At 6 months old, she was nearly full grown, but not used to living in a house. She was an outdoor dog and clumsy on the cold tile floor. She decided to take over our door mat, refusing to move. We were worried about her, thinking maybe we made the wrong choice in adopting her. We already loved her though, so sending her back wasn't an option.

It soon became apparent that Autumn was not treated well at her previous home. Any man that came to visit would cause her to shake violently. She wouldn't move anywhere on her own, my husband had to carry her. The leash frightened her; she would totally shut down when it was near. We prayed that she would walk on her own, as it was difficult for my husband to have to haul around a 70 pound baby when she had to go outside. We knew she would overcome this, as she was fun to watch play outside and she was a great companion for our beagle. They spent hours outside playing in the snow, but Autumn didn't completely trust us yet.

With weeks of patience and caring, we finally had a breakthrough. Autumn walked from the kitchen to our bedroom with no bribery. She walked outside on her own. She still refused the leash, but we were so proud of our new baby. It became apparent that she loved us as much as we loved her, and she wanted to play all the time. We were so happy that she finally came around.

Autumn has now been with us for five months, but it seems like so much longer. We love her more and more every day, and she loves us. She protects our yard by sounding ferocious, but like all labs would never hurt anybody. She even loves walks by the river. After months of us loving her, she finally shed the fear she had, and now begs to go on walks. We are so proud of her.

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