Willow

In the spring, for family movie night, we watched Marley and Me. Rusty took from it that we needed to give the kids an opportunity to nuture a dog...from a pup. In essence, go through the whole bonding, life span, etc. of having a dog. So began our pursuit. Let me just say, I'm not a dog person, but I am supportive.

So after responsibility training and looking for the right breed, we thought we had narrowed down our options...medium sized, female, does well with children. On the first Saturday of June, Petsmart had adopt a pet. We thought we would go check it out with the OPTION to bring home a dog. As we were looking, Asa's baseball coach walked up with his family in tow. They had just had to put their long time pet down and were looking for another pet. He informed us that all the Petsmarts had adopt a pet that same day. After seeing our options close to home, we decided to venture out a little and go to another to see what they had to offer. We actually caravanned with our two cars and Asa's coach to the next Petsmart.

They children were excited and Rusty arrived ahead of our car. The family all got to the dogs before I did. As I meandered over to the dogs, I saw her.....



She was so 'doggone' cute! I was smitten and the kids thought she was great too! We took her home. They had already named her Willow and we all liked it so we voted to keep it.

3 1/2 months later, I'm not as smitten, but she's still cute. A good bit bigger, chews up more than I'd like, loves to steal away anything left out, and is a jumper (especially those little people she can pretty much tackle). Playful biting can get a little out of hand. So we continue to train, lead, and acclimate her to our pack. We're hoping to get through the first 15 months (half way there) and then she'll mellow. But for now, we buy chew toys, chew bones, tell her to sit, and read/watch videos on dog training.