Puppy Post. Day 3.

This little guy is just about the sweetest little puppy I have ever seen. Okay, I'm not around puppies all that much, so this may be the ONLY puppy that I have seen in about a decade.  He is definitely growing on me, but that isn't to say that it hasn't been a bit of a challenge for my Howard Hughes mannerisms and OCD (self-diagnosed) tendencies.

I have to admit, I'm not much of a "pet person."  I grew up on a large ranch and animals were always OUTSIDE.  Since I can remember, my family had horses, chickens, pigs, goats, sheep, a lama, dogs, cats, a donkey and cattle.  In fact, I won the county fair cow milking contest at the ripe old age of 11.  The silver mug that I won is one of my prize possessions and still sits on one of the shelves on my bookcase in my office. It's weathered and tarnished and now holds old buttons, pennies and other little trinkets, but whenever I look at it—I still get a sense of cow milker's pride.

  Me with my prize-winning cow.  We wasted the competition!    

So, I've established that animals aren't foreign to me since I had them growing up, but I never really fell IN LOVE with them either.  That was mainly due in part to the fact that I showed steers, sheep and pigs at the local county and state fairs when I was a kid in 4-H... and well, I never named them because I never wanted to grow too attached to them.  That is because once the fair was over, they were sold to the highest bidder and would usually meet their demise by the end of the week.  That is probably why I'm not much of a meat eater to this day.  The idea of "WHO am I eating?" always seems to cross my mind when a slab of meat crosses my plate.

Growing up, I always had a horse.  I always adored my horse and rode him for hours each and every day, but it was different.  My horse usually slept in a barn and never needed to be house trained.  That goes for all the animals that we had, including the cats and dogs.  Not a one of them stepped foot in our home.  So, it's a bit different now that our new little pup has come to stay.

My parents, my big brother and wee little ol' me at age 3.
Even back then, I was fearless..

This little guy is breaking new ground for me. I'll admit, I'm a bit frazzled.  I've never had to housebreak ANYTHING, and it's a bit more of an undertaking than I had anticipated.  Every time he stretches or starts to chase his tail; without question, I scoop him up and we hightail it out of the house. At times, my loud screeching and GET OUT OF MY WAY! is a bit much, but we're both managing.

Now that I have pleaded my very shaky case with this new little pup, know that when I do feel like I am a bit too overwhelmed, I just have to sit him in Lily's lap.  Her face lights up, she instantly laughs, sways and then I say to myself, "He is worth it."

Here is Lily waiting for her bus yesterday morning.  Look how our little guy makes her giggle and giggle.  He is so worth every penny and sleepless moment when I catch that smile on my little girl's face.  Yes, our puppy is here to stay, and I am here to tell you that it was one of the best decisions that Martin and I have ever made.

A pup with no name... STILL.  What is with us?

Our pow wow efforts turned into snoozer efforts as Martin and I were bushed last night and couldn't come to a consensus of what our little bowzer should be named.  We're getting there, but remember, it almost took us two weeks to name Lily!  This is how we roll...