Willow Newman wakes up each morning when her eighteen-year-old owner, Cayla Newman, comes sleepily down the stairs and begins classes. She hopes the entirety of Cresskill High School and the world will sympathize with her, as she waits for approximately two minutes to be walked and fed. This wait is often long and cruel, and she whimpers loudly until she is impossible to ignore. The rest of her days include sleeping and wandering around the house looking for people to pet her.

Willow is a two year old sheepdog poodle mix, who enjoys running outside, eating sticks, and playing with other dogs. She has a 13-year-old sister named Maddie, who is a goldendoodle. Willow often spends her time trying to bite Maddie’s legs and stealing her food. She loves her family, and will sit for hours letting them pet her and scratching at them when they stop for more than a few seconds. She also does a fair amount of training, and has learned to sit, lay down, go to a spot, roll over, and various other tricks of all different purposes.

Despite living a life of luxury, life is not all easy for Willow. She struggles with her weight, an issue that the veterinarian has repeatedly brought up. “Her breed should be fifty pounds,” the vet says. “Willow weighs eighty.” Because of this, her diet has been reduced to only one scoop of food for each meal, and careful monitoring so she does not eat Maddie’s food as well. While Willow is not an English speaker, her difficulty with this is evident from her persistent cries when she is only allowed her ration of food.

Young Willow wants the press to know that she is continuously working on this issue, and is truly a very happy dog. Her future plans include passing her therapy dog test and meeting as many pups as possible! One of her current best friends, Hazel, was adopted from Home For Good Dog Rescue in NJ. Please consider donating to or adopting from this organization, and helping puppies live lives as amazing as Willow.