Puppy!!!

I am a sucker for cute baby things.  Just ask my husband or my parents.  If it is a cute baby anything I want it.  So, you might be surprised that the only reason my husband & I didn't get a puppy immediately after we got married was because I said no.

When we expected Brian to be deployed in the spring, I thought a puppy would be a mistake.  I was worried that with him out of the dog's life for 6 months, that when he got back, the dog wouldn't see him as an owner.  And would maybe even be mad that some guy came home, and was taking all his mama's attention...  I was also not keen on taking care of a young dog all by myself while he was away.

A lot of people tried to tell us we should get one...  Our apartment complex is very dog friendly, and when we'd go to the office, management would always ask why we hadn't gotten a dog.  Some of Brian's Navy coworkers have dogs & one of his good friends on board is a recent puppy owner...  PEER PRESSURE!

But I stuck to my guns and said "not yet."

Then.  The schedule was thrown out the window & we realized that Brian would most likely not be deployed again...  That realization lead to us adjusting many of our life plans, but one of the funnest adjustments we could make was a puppy!  When the issue of a dog came up again, I said "now that you'll be home, we can get a dog anytime... how about tomorrow!?"

Tomorrow was a little too soon for us.  For starters, we are moving in March (more on that in another post)...  We wanted to wait until we were in our new place (first floor) before we got a little buddy.

Secondly...  I tend to over-research things.  And I hadn't done any research on puppies.

So, for the last month I've been reading books, visiting websites, hitting up people at the SPCA, and getting as much information as I could.

We decided we wanted a medium sized dog.  I am a fan of bigger dogs, but that isn't fair in an apartment.  So a medium seemed like a good compromise...  I had it narrowed down to a Springer Spaniel and and Australian Shepherd.  Both are good sizes, very friendly, smart and easy to train.  Brian liked Aussies a little more, so we zeroed in on those (want to see what an adult Australian Shepherd?  Click here).

We found a breeder with a litter about 2 hours from us and made arrangements to go for a visit yesterday.  All the puppies were very very cute...  When we got there, they were all sleeping in a puppy pile, and we had to wake them up.  I was in love with all of them, so it was up to my husband to pick the one for us.

He picked "yellow collar," who the breeder recommended for us.  She is so sweet and lovey!!!  On the way home, we decided to name her Molly.  That wasn't my first choice before we met her, but once we did, she just looked like a Molly :-)

Right now our little girl is just 5 weeks old.  We won't pick her up until she is 9 weeks, so the next month will be long as we wait for her!!

Here are some pictures of our sweet buddy:

We are so excited to have a little fluffy friend!  And can't wait to have adventures with her!!!!

We are going to crate train her, and start using a clicker to train her for basic obedience as soon as she comes home.  Anyone else have any puppy tips for us?  Or any dog products you can't live without??