My Life With Sadie (My Reactive Dog)

Sadie, my reactive dog In May 1996, I went to the local animal shelter in Napa, CA just to look at dogs. I was getting married later that year and my fiancé and I wanted to get a dog together. I was looking for an “easy” lab or golden retriever. Of course, there were no labs or goldens but they did have a Flat Coated Retriever there and the staff told me that if she was not adopted that day, she would be euthanized the next day. So, of course, I don’t have to explain that we adopted her that day. Sadie had some mild anxiety when we brought her home but overall, she was a loving, sweet girl. She never met a human she did not like, and she seemed to be ok with the few dogs she interacted with. We lived in fairly good harmony with Sadie for about a year. In July of 1997, we adopted a Jack Russell Terrier we named Buster. Sadie and Buster seemed to get along quite well, until, well…. they did not. Approximately 6 months after adopting Buster, I got a call from my roommate while I was at [...]