New Puppy!!

So, we finally gave in.  After Lindsey asked for a doggy EVERY DAY for two or three years, it just sort of happened.  We weren't planning on it.  We didn't seek it out.  It just found us...at WalMart.   We got him two weeks ago when he was two months old.  The first night was more horrible than the worst night we've had with any of the girls.  We put him in the bathroom and he whined and cried and cried and whined.  After an hour of this we couldn't take it anymore so Mark played the role of momma and slept on the couch with the dog in his cardboard box on the floor.  Most of the night Mark had a hand on the dog to make it feel like it was cuddled up to his brothers.  He had to take him out to "piddle" four times and by the time morning came, we had made up our minds to take him back.   Emily was heartbroken, Lindsey took the news like a trooper, which completely shocked me because she was the one who wanted a dog so bad in the first place and Em had been indifferent about it.  

We made arrangements to take him back to the owners after we ate dinner at gma and gpa's house but after spending a couple of hours talking about the virtues of having a dog, my dad had us talked into giving him a couple of more days to work out his loneliness.  The second night was much better...he slept in the garage with a hot water bottle to keep him warm.  The third night was even better and then we finally got him a crate to sleep in.  He loved it.  We put him on the back patio with his new home and some blankets and he stayed warm and toasty. 

Two weeks later, we still have him.  I guess he's part of the family now.  He's a pretty silly puppy.  He's a border collie/red heeler mix but he looks like a fluffy black lab.  At two months, he's already got the instincts of both breeds.  When we walk him, he stays right at my heel and when the kids run, he tries so hard to stay with them and herd them like their little cows or sheep.  This is Dash.