A furry new family member

Our family has expanded and I'm happy to say that I didn't have to go through labor this time!

We got a puppy.

My husband and kids have been wearing me down to get a dog since our precious dog Maysie died two years ago. I really didn't want to get another dog. I love dogs, don't get me wrong, its just that we have a small house and adding another body too it didn't seem like the best idea.

But, they wore me down! 

Once I had embraced the idea of another dog we decided that a puppy was the way to go. In hindsight, I'm not so sure! ;)

I wanted a puppy because my littlest is scared of bigger dogs, and we wanted one that could grow up with him {and the rest of the kids for that matter}.

This is what we ended up with:

He's a Plott Hound and his name is Copper. You know, from 'Fox and the Hound'. {Which incidentally my kids are watching right at this moment}.

Plott Hounds are bred for hunting and treeing bears. We don't plan on him treeing any bears or even hunting for that matter but it would be nice if he could keep the pesky squirrel out of the back yard and away from my bird feeders! ;)

My husband picked this guy, I left that decision up to him. Hounds are friendly and loyal and good with kids. 

I will add that we tried to go through a shelter and seriously got rejected! {Isn't it enough that I've kept four human children alive?} ;) They check references, those shelters, and they didn't like the fact that we didn't have dental cleanings for our last dog. I kid you not!

So we couldn't do the responsible thing and "rescue" a shelter dog. But we rescued this guy instead.

I will say that its a good thing he's cute! Puppies are not for the faint of heart!

This guy is up twice at night and has decided that 5:30am is wake up time. Because of too many house accidents we are doing what's called "umbilical training". This basically means that he's always on a leash. This has significantly cut down on the accidents in the house and keeps him off the dining room table, but limits how much I can get done in a day.

We decided that summer was the best time for us to get a dog because even though I work two days a week out of the home, my kids are here everyday with their nanny {or me when I'm home}. Come fall we hope he'll be trained.

The kids love him except when he goes into 'furry shark' mode.

Once he's sleeping through the night I'm sure we'll become fast friends. Until then, he's a lot of work!