Puppy Love

Since the Memphis Chockleys are notorious for being NOTadogfamily, I'm sure most of you were surprised when we actually got one last week.

We simply couldn't ignore our kids about this subject anymore. The guilt overwhelmed us. Or more particularly, overwhelmed Steph, since she's the NON-dog person around here.  But I really admire her for being the one to say "You know what?  We gotta do this.  It's what our kids want more than just about anything in the world."

So this is Gidget:

We got her through the adoption agency that sets up at the Memphis Farmer's Market every week.  Connor fell in love with her there, and we had her at our house a few days later.  This is still technically a two-week "trial," but she's really fitting in well.

Well, with 3 of us.

She's about 14 months old, and already house-trained.  She can sit, shake and sometimes stay.  She's a quick learner too-- after nearly losing my arm on our Alaskan dogsled-style first walk, we read up on how to walk a dog the "right" way and she picked it right up.  She's crate-trained, so that helps cut the impact of her biggest fault-- she likes to pick something and chew it until it's completely destroyed.  She's a relatively calm dog, though-- none of the spastic jumping-on-people stuff.

We're new to the dog thing (I haven't had one since I was a little kid, and Steph of course never had one), so we're still learning.  It's remarkably like having a new kid in the house-- everyone's routines are impacted, and there is an adjustment period.  But it's worth it-- she already brings a lot of joy to the house.

Most of the house. 

But especially this occupant of the house: