As you can tell from my header on my blog, my Husband and I have 4 dogs. You can read about us and them here. In honor of Adopt a Dog Month I decided to share our story of "My Pups" in hopes of sparking some love for our furry friends or in my case my furry "children". Although we didn't adopt from a shelter and had the opportunity to receive from a family member, doesn't mean I don't support adopting or that at some point down the road in our lives we won't find ourselves in a shelter. Wayne and I actually took many trips and spent many afternoons at the Humane Society (Golden Valley) visiting the homeless animals before we received ours.
A little history from me is that up until Bella and Puckett, I had never owned a dog, much less a pet before...not even a fish. My parents weren't the pet having type and I didn't have much choice. I knew I liked pets, more specifically dogs, but didn't know if I would actually own one in my lifetime as I had allergies and I couldn't imagine the dog hair. I was also younger, naive and ignorant on the topic.
Now almost 4 years later, I couldn't imagine them not in my life or quite honestly my life dog-less. I believe dogs bring so much happiness into ones life, home, and more importantly family. Don't get me wrong, they are a lot of work at times, but for me the positives out-weigh the negatives by far.
I was fortunate to marry a dog-lover who came from a dog loving family. He had many dogs and cats while growing up and throughout his childhood. We had many a discussions about one day getting a dog of our own and as stated above, even went to the Humane Society on occasion to see what was available. After meeting him and dating for a couple years, I knew at some point I would become a dog owner. In the end it was all fate and worked out the way it was supposed to.
In the late summer of 2006, Wayne's cousin, Kari, had brought to our attention that her cocker spaniel, Buffy, was pregnant. She had mentioned to us that if we wanted one of the puppies once they were born we could take a look. We were super excited and agreed that when they were born we would visit them and then decide at that time. We lived in Waite Park at the time in a two bedroom apartment, but it was NOT dog friendly. We knew that if we were serious about this that we would have to start looking for a dog friendly place to live and it would mean more changes.
Well, just a few months later, on November 10, 2006, 10 little puppies were born, only 7 actually survived, and it happened to be the day before our wedding (rehearsal day). I remember waking up that morning and Wayne getting a text message from Kari saying "You're parents." Wayne took off early in the morning to complete some last minute wedding errands and I stayed at my parents to also complete some last minute wedding projects. What he didn't tell me was that he planned on stopping at Kari's house to see the newborn puppies. He texted me a picture of him holding one of the pups...saying "Hi Mama" or something to that effect. It was so cute and made my day.
We were officially starting our life together the next day and how ironic that the puppies happen to be born the day before. Like I said above I feel like it was all meant to be and it brought the two of us even closer together.
After our whirlwind wedding weekend a/k/a one of the best weekends of my life to date...we seriously started hunting for a new place. We found a two bedroom townhome, put in our notice at our current place and started packing. We were married 11/11/2006, moved into our new place in mid-January and brought the pups home about a week after that.
Yes, pups meaning plural. We had planned on only getting one to start with since I had never had a dog of my own before and wanted to ease into the new role. After a couple of weeks after their birth we went to visit them (Thanksgiving) and each Wayne and I held one. I held a black female and Wayne picked up a buff colored male. We were trying to decide which one we wanted and just couldn't decide on the spot as they each had made such an impact on us in such a short amount of time. They weren't even opening their eyes up yet at this point and were as small as gerbils. Here is me with each one:
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Look at how tiny they were at 2 weeks. Well, after we left there and continued our debate and discussions, Kari ended up calling us and asking us if we wanted the TWO we had held, because they had decided they really wanted to try and keep all 7 of the litter in the family. We said we would think about it and get back to her. Honestly, who were we kidding? I told myself that if I had to train 1, it would be just as easier with 2 and that way they would have a playmate 24/7. We decided that we would just take a leap of faith and jump in head first. So from there on out...we were now getting 2! It was such a fun time getting to see them grow up and visiting them those first 2 months while still with Mama. I have shared my Scrapblog of the puppies first year here. I am also working on the subsequent years to present.
That is the story of how we became parents to Bella and Pucket.
Stay tuned for part 2.
Leah
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