Puppy Luv

In my last post, I mentioned that Addie's little dog, Camper, died just over a week ago. It was a terrible accident, and it happened with Grouchy at the wheel of his truck, and he and Addie have been so upset. Addie is seriously mourning the loss of her beloved dog, and Grouchy feels responsible and helpless and crushed for Addie. Then Addie is feeling bad for her daddy and trying to help console him. WHAT A SAD MESS!!! We knew Addie would want another puppy to raise and train, and she likes her personal pooch to be small, but we thought it would be a while before she would want one. As I watched her slip in and out of a depression of sorts every day, I finally asked her if she felt like looking for another pup, and through tears, she said that she would like very much to look now. One or two nights on Craigslist led us to a lady only 4-5 miles from our house (and there just aren't that many people in rural Idaho within that radius), had pups that were 8 weeks old and were 3/4 Pug and 1/4 terrier of some variety. So here they are!!!! Addie got the male who she named Eli. He is the traditional Pug tan color with a black head and face. Eli was Camper's animal shelter name, so she did this in Camper's memory. Ainslee asked so sweetly and with her birthday this week we caved and also got Eli's little sister who is black and named Joy. Last night they all slept well, and they are doing great with crate and potty training. You can see in this first photo that Eli jumped right into school today by sleeping on Addie's desk!!!! They are both so stinkin' precious and cute.....and I know, faces only a mother could possibly love. Cooler yet is that Grouchy is absolutely smitten with them both!!!

Oh, and meanwhile, last week we adopted a three year old male lab named Sonny from a man in Boise who traveled too much to keep him. It was a tearful exchange, and after a day and a half of nervous pacing and fetching, Sonny is now settled in......so settled in , in fact, that as my little girls doze in their bedroom tonight, he is asleep beside the bed lying on a HUGE soft blanket which has him propped against a beanbag. Truly rotten!!!! So the huge yellow lab is Sonny.

Whew, the animal kingdom is cranking up around here, but there are still many, many tears to be shed over our sweet Camper. I have a really amazing photo I took of Camper and Addie while he was on her desk during school his last day. I cannot post it yet because if my mom sees it, she will shoot me all the way from the hotel in South Dakota tonight!!

Meet Eli. He already loves doing school with Addie!!!

And here is cross-eyed, neurotic fetching maniac and very, very sweet 110 pound Sonny!

Yes, this is a girl pup. Her name is Joy, and like Ainslee, her mom, she is energetic and wild!!

And this is probably the most precious face I have seen on a dog!!! This is sweet little Eli, the very kind, calm and quite lazy pup God sent into Addie's world to help heal her broken heart. This little pup is just perfectly precious and already loves to curl up on Addie while she reads in her bed!!!

Godspeed from the Funny Farm!!

Clara-Leigh