12 Days of Happy Tails: Meet Sunday!
Sunday (formerly known as Cinnamon) is an 11-year-old pit-mix who came to us from the Animal Care Centers of NYC. Read her story by adopters Mary and Kevin!
Adopting a senior rescue dog began with high decibel howls and stress, but quickly gave way to all-day lounging, sun-beam hunting, and soft snores.
While applying, we kept an eye out for senior dogs, something we felt strongly about. Sunday caught our attention with her sweet, sad eyes. Her foster mom emphasized her relaxed demeanor; we hoped she’d be a good fit for us and could put up with our two lively male pups who wrestle each other daily! Muddy Paws worked with us on a foster-to-adopt arrangement.
After picking Sunday up, she cried the whole way home and was understandably anxious for the first 36 hours. We felt overwhelmed, too! A third dog who was inconsolably stressed in a foreign environment, and the uncertainty of whether our smaller resident dogs would accept her, had us feeling unprepared despite the articles we'd consulted ahead of time.
To introduce Sunday to our resident dogs, we took many walks, logging about 4 miles/day for the first several days. With each outing we noticed that the pack was feeling more at ease together. A routine of meals, walks, treats, and lots of soothing speaking tones made Sunday more comfortable!
Just a day and a half after picking her up, Sunday found a spot in the sun, curling up in a too-small bed. She promptly dozed off, snored, and let her guard down for the first time. Right then we knew she just wanted to be home and that she was here to stay. We wondered how long it’d take her to know it, too.
Eight months later, Sunday is the chillest dog ever, especially when she's home in her comfort zone, napping 90% of the day! She enjoys off-leash time in our backyard, rolling around on the grass and playing tag with her brothers. It's adorable to watch them play or to find one of them spontaneously cuddling her. She’s incredibly patient with other dogs, never reactive when barked at on the street (she's decidedly less so when one of us is eating fruit; she uses little oinks and honks to beg for some until we remind her not to)!
We love our golden girl so much and are thrilled that she’s part of our family. Her anxiety with new situations is something that we now can handle and is only a minuscule part of her gentle personality. Those first days with a new pup are not indicative of who that dog really is, and even though Sunday got more comfortable within a few days, it took a few months for her to feel that she was truly home. Those signs of settling in are so rewarding—from the first time they fall asleep with their head in your lap, to the one walk where you realize they know their way back home. Sunday starts each night in one of her beds in the living room, and by morning she's made her way into her crate in our bedroom. We wake up to her soft snores every day: a familiar and loved sound.
