Oops we did it again...

This evening, we piled everyone into the car to go see a little sheltie girl we were hoping to add to our family. Her name is Karma, she's 5 years old and we were hoping she would love our family as much as we wanted to love her. When we finally got there an hour and change later, we were surprised to see that she really was quite a little girl, about the size of our cat Devlin and quite different than our boy Pippin was.

Karma. You can't tell but she's actually the size of a large cat. 

We brought Milou in the back and let them attempt to play together but Karma wasn't super into it. The real star of the show was a 10 month old boy named Troy. He was oversized just like Pippin was (about 6 pounds overweight actually, so really just like Pippin) and he and Milou hit it off instantly. We were really torn since we'd gone for Karma and weren't sure if we could handle a second puppy. We wanted an adult who wouldn't require as much training, who would be easy and calm.

It took us two hours of agonizing in the backyard with Milou, Troy and Karma and we were split pretty evenly about which dog we should get. E insisted that Karma was the one for us and initially my mom agreed with him, even though she prefers larger dogs. My sister L and I were increasingly feeling that Troy was the one for us. We went back and forth and back and forth and honestly I would have taken both dogs if they'd let me, they would have fulfilled different emotional needs.

Ultimately, we decided that while Karma might be the calm girl we want now, Troy would eventually grow into the better dog. Karma was already fairly set in her ways at 5 years old while Troy was young and maleable, easier to acclimate to our cats and train. He and Milou were perfectly matched and would grow up together. By the time E and I moved out, Troy would be the adult with the even temperament that my mom wanted. Karma might be the better dog for my mom by herself, but Troy was the better dog for our family.

Troy, 10 months and 34lbs of Pippin look-alike

He's going to need a new name and will require a lot of training but we just couldn't pass him up. We brought him home this evening and after being perfectly behaved in the car he's settling into life at our house. We're going to start crate training him and will put him on Milou's raw diet tomorrow morning.

He has a few health problems we need to keep an eye on, namely his weight, dull fur, urinary crystals, and weak back legs. It seems like a lot to be taking on but I'm fairly sure that all of it can be remedied with good nutrition. A raw diet should restore the oil to his fur, eliminate his urinary crystals and reduce his weight. The reduction in weight plus the building of muscle should strengthen his back legs and I'm hoping he'll be happy and healthy in no time.

In the meantime, does anyone have any suggestions for a name? We like weirder names, Pippin, Milou, Haji, Devlin etc.