Puppy Love!

I guess it's kind of official. We are soon to be the proud family of another dog.

Only this time the dog will be a puppy when she joins our family.

Oi!

What have we done?

We'd like you to meet Mercedes, lovingly nicknamed Sadie.

Mercedes 4 1/2 weeks

The story of how Mercedes came to be a part of our lives kind of starts back in November when

McCall passed away.

On that tough weekend MDH and Josh were away and I needed help taking care of McCall so I called our neighbor and asked him to help. Our neighbor and his wife came right over and were so much help with comforting the kids and taking care of McCall. I guess it was then that our neighbor decided he was going to breed his chocolate lab and give us one of the puppies.

Early this year he shared his plan with us and asked if we'd like a puppy.

Of course the kids said yes. MDH and I weren't sure if we were up for raising a puppy.

But.....

Once the puppies were born how could we resist?

I mean really, look at that face!

Mercedes 5 weeks

I know it's going to be hard and a lot of work raising a puppy but I also know it's going to be a lot of fun too. 

The kids are so excited and have had so much fun bringing her over for puppy play dates.

She is one of 11 from this litter and now I've seen where the term "dog pile" really comes from.

As we've watched her interact with her brothers and sisters she seems to be one of the mellowest

which is what I really want.

Hopefully she stays that way.

Dog pile!

An unexpected difficulty came in choosing a name. 

McCall was 7 or 8 years old when we got her so we had no say in her name 

but this time we get to choose and getting 7 different people to agree on 1 name was hard!

Finally I think it came down to the kids just being sick of hearing new names and throwing out ideas 

and they just said yes to what MDH and I liked.

Which is fine I guess.

So everyone does seem happy with it now 

and we're awaiting the day she comes to stay permanently with excitement and anxiety!

It was a rough weekend...

Last weekend was one of those times when everything just seemed heavy, wrong and difficult.

Earlier in the week our dog started eating less and having a bit less energy.

I guess we weren't too worried because she was getting older and she kind of normally acts that way when the weather changes.

But by Thursday evening she was not doing well.

First thing Friday morning I took her to the vet and her prognosis was not good.

I took her home and hoped to nurse her through the weekend until MDH and Duder got home.

Unfortunately, by Friday night it was apparent that she wasn't going to make it through the night.

Each of the kids said goodbye to her and we all cried.

She'd only been with us for a couple of years but she was truly a part of the family.

These pictures were taken the day we brought her to live with us.

Can you tell she especially loved MDH?

 She filled a place in our hearts we needed to have filled with unconditional, excited, happy, silly, slobbery, warm love.

Sweet Cheeks who started out being terrified of dogs, then called McCall her window dog because she like to watch her through the window, ended up being McCall's greatest fan.

Early Saturday morning McCall passed away in her sleep.

It was hard.

I wasn't sure what to do because I'd hurt my back Friday carrying our sweet dog to the car and back.

She wasn't a small dog.

So I called my neighbor and asked him if he could help me.

What a blessing good neighbors are.

He and his wife even helped to shovel the drive-way.

Calling my boy on the race and telling him about McCall was one of the hardest things I've ever done.

We were a pretty sorry sight around here all day Saturday, we were depressed and I was in pain.

So we went to see the movie Brave at the dollar theater. It was a nice distraction even if I did sleep through half of it.

Late Saturday, early Sunday morning, Sweet Cheeks  started throwing up........

As is often the case with little ones the stomach flu hit in the middle of the night and she didn't make it to someplace to contain the mess. Needless to say it was everywhere.

Around 4 AM MDH and Duder came through the door after driving all night, they were exhausted but happy and I was happy to have reinforcements arrive.

Unfortunately one of their team mates had gotten the stomach flu on the race and passed it around to everyone.

So my man and my boy got sick within a few hours of getting home.

I'm sure being exhausted from the race didn't help either.

Luckily only 3 of our 7 ended up getting it. That was a blessing too.

After spending Sunday cleaning and disinfecting and nursing I was exhausted both mentally and physically. And I was happy the weekend was over.

I think it's going to take a while for all of us to mourn our sweet McCall, but we are so grateful we were able to have her for the short time we did.

Today I looked out the back window into the yard and it just felt empty.

She was deeply loved. 

The neighbor who helped me this weekend has offered to give us a puppy when their dog has puppies in a couple of months.

I think I need a little time. It just feels too soon. The kids are split, a couple of them want a new dog right away a couple of them don't. I guess we'll see.

We were able to bury McCall by MDH's parent's house.

His mom even gave us a vase and silk flowers for us to put with her.

That really meant a lot to us.

Sorry if this post has been a bit depressing.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Dog - Happy Tuesday

picture compliments of Okapi Dude

Rescuing this dog was one of the best things we've ever done as a family.

Look at that smile!

Even at 8 she's still just a kid.

I'm so happy we could give her a home and we're so thankful her kind heart has helped our youngest get over her insane fear of dogs.

.....um...can you see the resemblance?

  

taken 2008