Alumni feature: Levee is the "pride and joy" of the Gambill family (Richmond SPCA Blog)

Editor's note: We recently received a wonderful update about Papoose, now named Levee, a playful Shepherd/Collie mix who was adopted by her guardian family, the Gambills, in October of 2014. We are thrilled to hear that Levee is the perfect fit for her family and wish them many happy years together. The following was written by Dani Gambill.

My children and I had been talking a lot about adopting a dog, but my husband was on the fence. While he is a huge dog lover, life was "convenient" with no animals in the house. I checked the Richmond SPCA website daily to look at sweet adoptable dog faces, but figured I was going to have to put in a couple more months of convincing before I was issued the "go ahead." About a week went by and I did my daily check...well let's just say this picture of a little goofy puppy with big ears and floppy tongue made me jump off the couch and head straight down to the Richmond SPCA! I didn't eat lunch, didn't turn off the lights, just left.

I got there, and the adoption counselor put her in a room with me, and I was immediately in love. I stayed ALL day with her until my husband got off of work. He met me there with our children and was not extremely happy about it. As soon as he walked in, she peed on the floor and did some puppy nipping at the kids, and he said, "I'm so sorry, I'm just not ready for this." So with teary eyes, we walked out without this little sweet puppy. We got about 10 feet down the road, he looked at me, turned the car around, and we went back in and adopted what is now my husband's favorite living thing on earth!

We brought her home at 3 months of age. All that we knew of her history was that she came to Richmond from a center in New Orleans [the Louisiana SPCA]. So, because the levees protect the people of New Orleans, my children named her Levee!

We were expecting an up-all-night puppy experience, however, she has never cried. We bought her tons of toys hoping she would choose to chew on those instead of the couch or our children...and that's exactly what happened! She has never chewed on anything but her toys! Oh, and we just knew we'd follow her around cleaning up little puppy accidents because that's what puppies do, but can you believe she only peed in the house twice and that was it! She is the most amazing dog ever!

Levee's very favorite activities are chasing her balls outside for hours, snuggling with her human brothers and jumping in the leaf piles! Her love for a leaf pile makes us all laugh so hard. She will run a hundred miles an hour up and down the yard and just fly into the leaf piles. She really would be happy doing this all day! Needless to say, we are all absolutely smitten by her. She is as in love with my three boys as they are with her. She walks them to and from the bus stop everyday and they rush over to her after school like they haven't seen her in a year! My husband tells Levee every night when he says goodnight to her how thankful he is that we turned the car around and didn't leave her behind.

This family has never been so happy since she came to live with us. She is about 6 months old now and is our pride and joy. I encourage everyone to stop by the Richmond SPCA... You might leave with a brighter life, a happier family and a new best friend!

Thank you for the gift of this amazing dog,
The Gambills