New Puppy

We've been through several dogs. We didn't mean to go through them so quickly.

The story begins with a boxer we called Canaan. He was awesome, obedient, playful, ginormous. Too ginormous. We had four small children at the time who just couldn't compete with the dog. After many thousands of dog related injuries, the dog had to go.

Then there was a bichon frise called Posy who we loved for four months before she died suddenly while we were not home one day. It was traumatic. Then came two dogs at once - a puggle called Nairobi and a long hair chihuahua called Dallas. We had Nairobi for two days before she got sick and had to go back to the breeder and died in the night. The breeder graciously replaced the puggle that died, which we creatively named Nairobi, just like the first one. Dallas made it for two years at our house before his unfriendliness earned him a one way ticket to my wonderful cousins house.

Through all of this my husband has dreamed of having a husky. It is is favorite dog. He literaly has dreams about huskies. But, after the boxer and the havoc ensuing from owning a large dog, I gently told him something like, "NO MORE BIG DOGS EVER!!"

But, I have a hard time sticking to my guns, so for his fortieth birthday I got him a beautiful siberian husky. She was gorgeous with silver hair and blue eyes. She was two years old, and I thought that was brilliant since an older dog would be housebroken. She wasn't. And she had this annoying habit of biting people. And making them bleed. She stayed with us six months before relocating to a dream house out in the country.

That settled it. Nairobi was the perfect dog for us. She was chubby, lazy, calm, nice. I loved her and told the family we would never get another dog because Nairobi was the only dog we needed. I clearly remember saying that as I sit here with my new husky puppy chewing a toy on the floor next to me, and I think to myself, "What happened?"

I'll tell you what happened. One calm evening my husband said we should go somewhere and loaded me and the kids up in the car and drove us to the animal rescue league. When we entered, we immediatley heard the whimpering of small puppies. Husky puppies. Five of them. Eight weeks old. Cuter than life itself. Five sets of begging, blue eyes and one puppy kiss later, we were driving home with our new puppy in my lap. I love puppy kisses.