Saturday with Abbey

I got my first dog when I was 5. Sadly, our first family attempt at dog owning met a tragic end. But, when I was 11, I got Chloe. When I was 13, my dad got Sox. Sox and Chloe saw me go proms, met my boyfriends,watched me go off to college, saw me get married, and they were both glad to welcome me on multiple visits home from Germany. Chloe and Sox were really important in my life, and for me, having a dog became a way of life.
Since I've moved to Germany, we've been unable to have a dog of our own. First, Jörn had a cat, Paul, and Jörn's parents were certain that a dog could not live in the house with Paul. Once we moved into our own apartment, we found that we are not allowed to have dogs living in our building.
Yes, I had a wonderful little bunny, but have always pined for a dog. There is something about the companionship of a dog that cannot be equaled. True, dog is man's best friend, but a woman's too.
Since my friend Mandy's fiancé is away, she is a surrogate dog-mom to Abigail, a wonderful black lab. We benefit from this relationship because when Mandy goes away, we are on the doggy-sitter list. Because Mandy was away for an extremely long day yesterday, we got to spend the day with Abbey.
I adore Abbey. She is wonderfully trained, and has an incredible personality. Abbey is a quiet type, who loves long walks out on the fields and cuddling on the couch.
We picked Abbey up relatively early, around 10, and drove home with her. She is going through a confusing time right now, as she just moved in with Mandy last week. I felt so bad that she was even more confused when we came into her new "house" and picked her up and put her in our car. If she knew what kidnapping meant, Abbey definately would have thought she was being kidnapped. Once we got home, we for a little walk around our town.


Abbey looking out over the Neckar River
After we returned from our walk, she seemed to have adjusted to the day, and jumped up on our couch and fell asleep.


After she woke up, she and I cuddled for a while and watched a movie. It was so nice just having her around. She really added life to the apartment. She even welcomed Joern when he came home.


This really reminded me of one of my favorite things about having a dog, the "welcome home, I missed you more than anything in the world," welcome. We then took Abbey for a longer walk. We walked up the Jusi, which was an active volcano millions of years ago. It is part of the Swabian Alb, the low-mountain range that stretches from the Black Forest to the Alps. The views from the top were breathtaking.



Abbey and I enjoyed the views too.



After we went back down the mountain, we visited with some sheep that were near the parking lot.


We returned Abbey to Mandy's at 7:30 pm, and cooked up some dinner. I hope it was nice for Mandy to return home after a long day of high school football to her dog, her friends, and a good dinner.