no longer a one dog household

It happened! I adopted a NAID!

My breeder, Jeanine, contacted me about 2 weeks ago to let me know that she knew a family that was giving up their female NAID and asked if I'd be interested. I was and she gave me their contact information. We e-mailed back and forth until we met Saturday, June 26th.

I felt VERY good about the whole thing. It all seemed right. Not to mention, the previous owners were LDS, so I felt that I had a connection with them and that I could trust them. It was a LONG two weeks.

They live in Denver, so we met halfway in Grand Junction. This meeting was to make sure that she and Poli would be okay together and that my mom was not allergic. After driving 4 hours, Spencer, Mom, Lindsey, and I arrived with Poli. We fell in love with the NAID(Tala) and after watching her and Poli for a bit, decided that they would eventually do great together(Poli was a little freaked).

I took her for a walk in the park before choosing for sure. She had never been trained to walk on leash without pulling. After only a few minutes, she understood and stayed with me pretty well. Once both parties decided this was the right decision, I left them to say their goodbyes and wrote the check. When we traded check and dog, her kids asked me to trade for Poli. It was cute but sad.

We drove home in near silence. My mother was astonished because neither dog was whimpering or whining and she had expected out new girl to be frothing at the mouth. We got home, I gave her a bath at Ruff House, and we are all doing well. She can jump our fence, but hasn't tried yet. She is a very smart girl, but rather shy. Poli avoids her mostly, but on Sunday he played with her. Although I was set on the name Missy, it didn't feel right. We named her Ari, still short for Artemis. She is already responding to it.

I took her to the vet today, and she is healthy. We got her vaccinated for rabies and licensed. We also printed a BYU tag at PETCO to put her name and our information. Now she jingles just like her brother. What a weekend!!!!

Puppy?

Well, after months of weirdness, we may be getting her. BUT, she will be a Siberian Indian Dog if we get this one. She will be 75% NAID, 25% Husky. There are two that are the right coloring, but one is "more favorite". This is her:
It just so happens that I got a grant for last year's schooling. It totaled $6400. Half is for my dad to pay him back for the portion that he paid last year, but the rest is going towards this next school year. This is the reason I can now get my puppy. Yay me!

No Missy

Well, we finally received the news. Leia delivered on Friday, February 19th, but had only one puppy due to a difficult delivery. The vet decided that that should be her last. The breeders are keeping the puppy in order to continue Leia's bloodlines, so we are not getting a puppy this go-around.

I admit that I am rather disappointed, but I understand that for some reason, the Lord did not want me to have Missy at this time. I think that the reason it all seemed to be working out perfectly was so that He could show me that he was overseeing the whole thing. I know that I will someday get my little girl, but now is not yet the right time. I have been blessed with this experience, and I am so glad that the Lord loves me enough to test me and try my patience.

I have my adorable Poli, who couldn't love me any more than he does now. He is seriously my little ball of sunshine! He always knows when I need his companionship, and I couldn't make it through college without him. He has been growing so much, and I'm so proud to call him mine. I cannot wait for the day when I can share him with a husband and children. When that day finally comes, it will be well worth the wait.

Thanks for reading! God bless!

Missy?

Well, we haven't heard yet if Leia and Solo had puppies. It's becoming very difficult for me to just wait. In fact, I cracked today and e-mailed the breeders again. I feel so bad for them. I swear, I must be the most annoying person on the planet! Hopefully, we'll find out by the end of today if Leia had the puppies, and if we get one by the end of next week.

Poli has grown so much since I first began work at Ruff House! I guess I've grown too. I've become much more assertive and ready to handle what comes. It's great how a job can have such a profound influence on you. ;)

One thing I'm very excited about is this:I feel that if Poli can climb up to a big boy like Shep(who looks very much like what I want Missy to look like) and lie down, then not care when Shep's baby sister, Zola, Lies on top of him, He's ready to get a sister! Bye for now, but I'll update as soon as I know!

Missy...

wow. Well, the breeders are about 90% positive that leia is pregnant, and if she is, the puppies will be born around the week of February 14th. I'm going crazy here! I also found out where i am on the list...16th):

they said that 8 of the people in front of me are waiting to get a puppy, and only three of the remaining have also expressed an interest in leia and solo's litter. We are all hoping and praying for a large litter!

I try to remind myself that this whole journey has been because i feel that the Lord wants me to want and get this dog. I have been led and guided through this whole process and I know that if the Lord does want me to have Missy now, I will get her, and if not, then I wont. Because of this, I pray to accept whatever the outcome and for Leia to have whatever puppies she is supposed to. "it's really hard for me".

In an interesting twist of events: Poli found our hair sample. This is the hair that Dan and Barb(the breeders) sent us so my mom could test her allergies. Poli likes to get into it, tear the plastic and reveal some hair, and just smell it. I think he may put it in his mouth too, but so far I've only experienced him smelling it. He is calm and happy when he does this, so we are all taking it to mean he wont do too bad with Missy.

Poli also gets to go into the vet on Monday for his annual vaccinations. I'm actually really excited for this because he does so well, thanks to all the training I've done with him. Last time, the vet was amazed at how well-mannered he was. He doesn't even jerk OR wimper when he gets his shots.

Sadly, as I tried to readjust my ever-duller blade for my grooming clipper, it basically broke. I now have to order a new blade (only about $10), but shipping is so dang expensive! I'm going to try and convince my boss to have me purchase stuff for ruffhouse along with it so I don't need to pay shipping etc.

Ruff house if doing puppy socialization now which I am so excited for. This will be great for me as a trainer/enthusiast, and for Missy when she eventually comes. Well, lets hope it all works out!!!!!

Ruff House

So, I'm still working at that awesome Doggy-Daycare, Ruff House. I love it! I am privileged to work Monday, Friday, and Saturday. Poli is just not a fan of having dogs swarm him, but he puts up with it, and will readily get into the car to go with me. He will play as long as there is no chance of another dog "sneaking up on him". I love his guts!

Poli hadn't had a bath in about 3 weeks, so he was pretty dirty, but I gave him a bath and he looks great! He's such a fluffer duffer!
He has played with this little girl:
She's the white one. The brown one is her brother, and he hates playing just as much a Poli. Leyah is still a puppy, but she looked just like Poli as a puppy. She is a Coton de Tulear.

I'm so freaking excited for our new puppy! I'm still not sure when we'll get her, but we'll know if the mom I want is pregnant in just a few weeks. The litter would then be born in the middle of February and we'd do a major road-trip to Michigan RIGHT after finals(April) to pick her up. The, hopefully, mom and dad are Leia and Solo from Terra Pines: http://terrapines.com/images/Leia/Leia%206%20months.jpg AND http://terrapines.com/images/Solo/Solo%202%20and%20half%20years.jpgthese two have gorgeous pups! Anyway, more updates to come!

...

Hello again to those, my sister, who read this. It's been a crazy year etc. but I'm lovin' every minute of it.
Poli is still a crazy character, but maybe a little better behaved. I've been working at Ruff House Mondays, Fridays, and most Saturdays since April. I still take Poli nearly every time. I've been going to school too. Last semester I took Biological diversity: plants, Ecology, Geography 211, intro. to Archaeology and The first half of the New Testament. It was great! I even earned a 3.78. I'm very proud of that GPA!
This semester I've had some changes and last minute class adds/drops. I'm 90% certain I will stay with what I have now, but we'll see. I have 3 classes for my major(which I have officially declared to be Wildlife and Wildlands Conservation) and 2 Science of Family Life classes...maybe for a minor?
I've also gone through a very special summer. I made a deal with my father that if i lost 35 lbs, I could get another dog...a Native American Indian Dog. I accomplished this feat, and hopefully we will get our girl in April right after finals. We are waiting to hear if the mother, Leia, is pregnant, and then in mid-February the pups will be born. We are all so excited!
The breeder is in Michigan and they are wonderful people. It's called Terra Pines. When we know for sure if our perfect girl will be available for us, we will finalize plans, but for now we plan to take a roadtrip. We, meaning me, Linz, Spencer, Mom, and Dad, will go see some church history sites and then visit our cousins in Chicago. we will then pick up Artemis(Missy) and drive home. (If you think Artemis is a boy's name, you are uneducated!!! Look it up in the dictionary or any Classical Mythology text)
I may add pictures soon, but we'll see if I have the time...