Finding Dixie

How did Dixie, a little puppy in Texas, receive an invitation to come to Virginia to take over our house? It went like this: I needed a dog in my life, so I searched online and found one. If only it were that easy.

Do not get me wrong, I have had dogs before, and one recently died. I know what raising a dog entails, so the question was not whether I should get a dog but whether I was ready. All I knew was that a silent house was depressing, and I needed to hear four little paws tippy tapping around the house. Once that thought popped into my head, I went into pronto mode, thinking, bring me a dog before I go crazy. Luckily, I maintained enough common sense to assess the type of dog I wanted and how to find it.

That left me with several decisions to make:

• Purchase or adopt? I preferred to adopt.
• Breed/size? These go hand in hand, although it is difficult to get an accurate estimate. They are rescue dogs, after all. No one knows their breed makeup by solely looking at them. It is the best guess at best. I felt I could accommodate a dog in the 50-70 pound range.
• Gender? A no-brainer. I wanted a female (no lipstick for me).
• Puppy, adolescent, or adult? Puppies are a crap shoot, adolescents give a good idea of the personality, and adults would be the most predictable.
• Stray or one with a known past? That is a tricky one since we must rely on the description provided by the rescue organization. Given a choice, I would go with a known past.
• Energy/exercise needs? If one wants to sit on the couch and cuddle with their dog all day or cannot physically keep up with a go, go, go dog, then a high-energy dog is probably not a great choice. I talked myself into believing I was at least a moderately active person and therefore did not mind a high-energy dog.
• Temperament? Some people like the challenge of rehabilitating an aggressive dog, but I am not one of them. I wanted a dog that had confidence, not aggression.

Armed with my notebook full of arbitrary criteria, I went on the prowl for a medium-large female puppy with a known, or somewhat known, past and decent psychological and physical health. That was a tall order to fill though it did not matter in the long run.

I started browsing rescue sites. Once I saw Dixie’s picture, she was mine, regardless of whether she checked all the boxes (for the most part, she did). She was the cutest little Labrador/Shepherd mix and had a look of confidence even at six weeks old (when her adoption picture was taken). It was love at first sight. Dixie looked like a Labrador, and her litter mate looked like a Shepherd. No small wonder considering that I was on a Shepherd rescue site.

After Dixie caught my eye, I applied and started researching Labrador/Shepherd mixes. People refer to these little beauties as Shepradors. I was surprised to learn that it is a designer breed, albeit less popular than Labradoodles. I never knew that people deliberately mixed the two, but I was glad because I could find quite a bit of good information on the breed.

My biggest concern was size (pardon the pun). The largest dog I had up to that point was 50 pounds. I thought a Sheprador topping out at about 80 pounds would be too much, so I just convinced myself that  Dixie’s size would be more like a Labrador (65-80 pounds) than a Shepherd, and based on nothing but wishful thinking, I thought she would top out around 70 pounds. That was certainly doable. Oh boy, was I wrong! However, I will save that story for later.

My adoption application was approved about a month after submitting it, and Dixie was still available,  convincing me further that we were a perfect match!

On January 7, 2022, Dixie received her health certificate and was on board for a puppy roadshow from Texas to Pennsylvania and then Virginia.