Meet Penny!

Guess what? We're dog owners! I can't believe it either! Jeff had dogs growing up, so he has been ready to adopt as soon as he got the okay. I have always been staunchly anti-pet (I even hated the fish), but Clark is a born dog lover, and he's been asking for one of our own since he was about three. Last year, Dora got on board, and they slowly wore me down. Finally, in the spring, Jeff pointed out that if we were going to go the dog route, summer would be an excellent time to do so. 

We started visiting two local shelters and watching Petfinder to wait for the perfect pet to come along. Penny is a daschund-something mix who is under two years old (we think). She's so sweet and very well-behaved. 

Choosing a name was fun – we debated over whether she should have a people name or not. Jeff kept circling back to characters we like from books and movies. When he suggested the title character from one of Clark's favorite stories, the name clicked! Lucky penny, find a penny, plus she's the color of a penny ... it suits her! My cousin asked if her name was from Penny on Big Bang Theory, which I admit, we hadn't thought about. It will be interesting to see if she reacts when the show comes back on in the fall, since she already goes bananas every time there's a knock (even if it's on a table or from the tv.)

While Clark and Dora were over the moon, Theo was really not into the dog thing. Like really upset. Jeff and I had countless conversations: are we doing something damaging to one kid to bring a lot of joy to the other two? It's very much his personality to resist change ... my hunch was that it was more about things in our house changing than the dog itself. I told him that I wasn't really thrilled about the idea either, but was willing to give it a try. We also assured him that if a pet really was not a good fit for our family, that we'd have to find her a new home. 

Week one has been good. A few small accidents, which we were prepared for, but for the most part, she's fit in to our family very nicely. (She's also fiercely stubborn! Just like us!) The first day home was so fun. She was SO happy to be here. I'm enjoying the daily walks – it's much easier to get motivated to move when you've got a furry someone asking you to go. (Though I know when the cold weather comes, I'll be the crazy lady outside in pajamas and a parka shouting "Come on! Potty!") But the best thing of all is how quickly Theo bonded with her. At the end of the first day, he said that he couldn't remember why he didn't want a dog. He feeds her, takes her for walks, plays fetch with her and she'll snuggle up with him on the couch. Happily, she's very easy to love!