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.
 

Pupdate

It's been two weeks since Milou came into our lives and man has she shaken things up. There isn't a room in this house that doesn't have puppy paraphernalia all over the floor, be it toys, beds, crates, blankets, bones etc. She's everywhere and it's hard to remember what our house looked like before we brought her home!

Lap Dog

Despite my desperate love of sleeping in, I am now up at the chipper hour of 7:30 to take her out to pee and begin defrosting her breakfast. We've decided to go with raw food for her and it takes a little bit of extra work, though it's totally worth it. Thus far we've been making our own since our freezer seems to have a never ending supply of frozen chicken but I think we'll order it from a friend's breeder once we've used up our stash.

Who could resist that face???

Every Saturday she goes to puppy class where we attempt to make her into a well behaved social butterfly. She's picking up on commands really quickly but is still a little distracted by all those other pooches in the room. Today was better since the instructor let them have some off-leash playtime/meet'n'greet but she still needs to work on being tethered and she might have accidentally peed on another puppy's towel. It seems we're constantly being told to keep her in her crate/tethered/locked up somewhere which is tough since I we want to spend time with her. Next Saturday class is cancelled so we'll have a whole two weeks to get her used to being tethered so she doesn't run back and forth like a ping pong ball when we tether her in class.

Haji and Milou: Staring Contest 2011

Since we brought her home, Milou has gained 4 pounds, bringing her up to 26lbs. According to the GSD growth chart that puts her at about where she should have been two weeks ago, so she's not quite caught up. It's difficult to gauge whether she's growing correctly and getting enough food but I think she's okay. I'm not sure if she'll make it to 36 pounds by 4 months but as long as she's growing we're happy.

Milou in Action

As the incredibly adorable puppy that she is, Milou is prone to fits of playfulness that could melt even the grinch's heart.  

Milou chasing her tail. I'd never actually seen a puppy do this in person before her. 

Milou running in what we call "Crazy Dog Mode"

Even with a bum thumb, Puppies make you feel like everything is right in the. Somehow, I need to turn this bundle of fluffy energy into this by August:

 

(Source)

This pooch is crazy talented. I know Milou is smart enough to learn it, I'm just not sure we're smart enough to teach it.

New Furry Baby!

Somehow, despite 10 million reasons not to,  our family has adopted a new fur baby! It was like all the planets aligned and she fell into our lap, too sweet and wonderful to refuse. She was dumped in the shady, should-I-be-wearing-this-color part of Silverlake with a note that read "2-3 month old GSD puppy" tied around her neck. I can't imagine how anyone could have abandoned that sweet face, but they did and miraculously she wasn't hurt by a car or stray dog. For the first few days, we had our friend who fosters for German Shepherd Rescue keep her since he was set up for another dog and we weren't sure if we could keep her. I brought my mom to meet her on Tuesday and by Thursday E and my sister L were meeting her and we were taking her home.

I know she looks giant in this picture but she's actually really small