Friday, March 09, 2007

Puppies!!!!!!

To make a long story short...we have puppies!!!! But I wouldn't want to do that...it would take all the fun out of it...... :) So here's the long story.

Ken's mom, as some of you know, lives in the country about 50 miles out of Dallas. And if any of you know anything about living in the country, you know that dumped animals are a major problem out there. People, for some reason, think it's better to dump a dog or cat out in the country than to take it to a shelter or, heaven forbid, shoot it. They'd rather let it be someone else's problem or let the animal starve to death or get killed by coyotes or feral dogs or wild hogs. Okay, sorry, I got off on a bit of a tangent......back to the long story.

As I said about two posts ago, we had a wonderful mixed-lab-breed dog that we got from Ken's mom about 14 years ago. He was one of 8 puppies in a litter that came from a dumped dog. We had to help her find homes for them, and Bear had stolen our hearts from the very beginning, so he found our home. Anyway, after 12 great years, we had to put him to sleep a year and a half ago when he got too old and feeble and was having trouble getting around and was struggling to breathe. I sat there in the floor at the vet's office with tears streaming down my face and held his head in my lap, petting him and talking to him, as he took his last few breaths. It literally broke our hearts, he was much more than a dog, he was a part of the family. Anyway, we weren't sure we would ever want to get another dog.

That is, until the same thing happened again. Yep, a small version of a golden retriever-mix dog turned up at Ken's mom's house in the country around Thanksgiving. Right before Christmas, she gave birth to 6 puppies...none of which look anything like her. We think maybe she stood on the corner and serviced every male dog in the area because they look like a mix of chow/wolf pups, a boxer pup, a St. Bernard pup, and something else that God only knows what it was. Anyway, we got the phone call from his mom saying she needed help finding homes for the puppies and......oh my gosh, we had avoided going out there all that time because we were afraid of what might happen. We fought it as hard as we could, but yep, you guessed it, one of them stole our hearts and found his way to our house. Not only that, our son in New Mexico, who is about to move home in less than 2 months, wanted us to take one for him as well. He can't have one where he is right now. So, now we have 2 puppies in our backyard......

Anyway, meet the latest additions to our household......Kevin's St. Bernard-looking pup, Sierra, on the left; and our wolf/chow-looking pup, Gus, on the right. (Yes, he does have black spots on his tongue.) Now tell me the truth......could you have resisted these faces????

Having the 2 of them in the backyard together has made the transition from their mother much easier for them, there hasn't been much whining or anything. We just laugh our heads off when we watch them wrestle and play. Any time one of them gets something, even if it's just a leaf, the other one wants it and the tug of war or chase is on. I'm telling you, it's hysterical. Honestly, puppies, or kittens for that matter, offer some of the best therapy for someone who needs to laugh and smile. Guaranteed...... :)