Our Newest Addition!

Lesson learned: Never say never! Matt and I finally caved this Christmas and told the girls we could get a puppy! From the very start they were very specific in what they wanted: a Molly dog...a female bichon/bichon-poo. After searching for weeks (this is was one of those times when I seriously considered putting myself on medication for OCD) we found this little guy (yes, I said guy) right here in Colorado. We have not actually brought him home yet, but I wanted to introduce you to him! Why a boy you may be asking, when the girls were so very adament in their specifications?!?! My research took me to many different places - rescues, pet stores, and classified ads, and in the end we compromised on the gender issue because others became more important. Just a few highlights from our search:

• We went through the application process (paperwork AND homevisit) to adopt a tiny Bichon from a rescue. After learning she had a heart murmur, we anxiously waited for a call from the foster mom to see if adopting her would be good for our family. We were denied since she is a fragile dog and we have small kids! Boo-hoo - we were pretty sad about that one. Upon visiting with them further we got the sense that they would never place a Bichon with us, as they are usually more traumatize than other dogs and we have small children.
• We considered going through another rescue, but their requirements were even more stringent (they wanted references) and since we have so many skeletons in our closet ;) we didn't want to take that risk. Plus we got the distinct feeling they were a bit on the Dog Nazi side of things!
• I tried the local classifieds and found a Maltese/Poodle that needed adoption, but after communicating with a person with poor grammar skills s/he informed me that the puppy would need to be shipped from Africa!!! I wouldn't call that local.
• I learned a lot about puppy mills, so our early visits to the pet stores were a waste of time. One was particularly sad - poor little pups, but things are much worse for their parents! I hope our nephew Brad is proud of our decision :) !

After some soul searching we decided to look for a breeder within the state - someone we could meet face-to-face, and wasn't over-the-top expensive. We found this little guy and are anxiously awaiting the day we can bring him home. We plan to call him "Bear" and had hoped to pick him up tomorrow (the 25th), but heavy snow in the mountains (where we are picking him up) is making it look doubtful that we will be able to make it. One more week won't kill us, but we are anxious to get him home and into the family!