Mattie

Dear Linda,

It has been several months since we met and adopted "Mindy" who has now become "Mattie" to us (short for Haz-Mat, owing to our lines of work). Mattie has blended into our life perfectly and continues to win the hearts of everyone she meets. Her outgoing personality is balanced by her protective nature... she LOVES everyone that we love, but she HATES anyone we're not sure of (delivery people, strangers, etc.). We enjoy both of those aspects as we feel loved and protected at the same time. We go for walks three times a day so although she loves it she doesn't spend much time in her crate. When the time comes, though, she happily "loads up" into what we call her "luxury apartment": a crate designed for a very large dog. With Rachel on night shift and Peter on day shift she almost always has company, though, and she honestly sleeps in our bed more than we do!

She continues to be an extremely social dog and is thrilled when she gets to play with the neighborhood canines. Of course, she's also happy to drag you behind her to chase a squirrel or jump at a bird! She also constantly tries to convince our cat, Tori, that she would be a good playmate, too. Tori is patient with her but is a little too slow and lazy to really get up to Mattie's speed but they do get along well enough that we can leave them together unsupervised. We plan to enroll Mattie (and us!) in training classes soon; she already demonstrates a strong intelligence and memory through repeated behaviors and basic tricks.

Mattie is maintaining her healthy, 30 pound frame so she makes an excellent traveler and we take her with us wherever we go. She happily jumps into the back of our SUV whenever we ask and curls up in her crate or in an adjacent space... and she stays quiet until we stop to give her a break. She's even spent a weekend at Myrtle Beach with us! Not knowing if she had ever seen the ocean we took her to play on the beach and she could hardly control her excitement!

We are expecting our first child in July and we are confident that Mattie will do wonderfully with the baby. She truly has become a valuable member of our family and we are thankful to have found her, you, and Hickory Hill Canine Rescue. Thank you again!

Sincerely,
Peter, Rachel, and Mattie