A New Family Member (of the canine variety)

My kids have been praying for a new dog.

My daughter's kindergarten journal prompt on Friday was, "I wish". She wrote, "I wish for a new dog."

We spent a good part of last week perusing Petfinder.com and much of Saturday driving to various shelters and rescue groups around our city in the hopes of finding a new dog, a dog who needed a family just as much as we need a dog.

Obviously we are a family that loves adoption, redeemed lives, and I really wanted to find our new dog at the shelter, but we didn't.

What we did find were tons and tons of pit bulls and pit bull mixes, which I'd never consider allowing near my children. The force at which they jumped up and hit their pens barking at us terrified my 2 younger kids.

We wanted to find a young girl dog, preferably a puppy, who'd grow into an adult dog of 40 lbs or less, a breed or mix of breeds that typically do well with children.

But, all the puppies were going to be really big dogs, like german sheperds and rottweilers, and all the small dogs were around 8 years old. Having just lost a dog and going through several expensive senior years with her, we're ready to begin with a young dog and looking forward to several good, playful, healthy years.

We did find a little rat terrier girl puppy, only 6 weeks old and so cute, you could hold her in the palm of your hand. But, she was likely only going to grow up to be 8 to 10 lbs and we worried that a dog that small may not fare well in our house of 3 or 4 young children. How terrible would it be if one of the kids accidentally smushed the puppy or dropped it and injured it badly?!!

So, we decided with our specific dog criteria that is required right now in life with small children, we'd better go the breeder route. And we're so excited that we've found one with the absolute perfect puppy for us!

We haven't seen the puppy in person, yet, only pictures, because the breeder lives a few hours away from us, but we know enough and trust the breeder, so we've reserved a puppy who is a little over 6 weeks old and we'll be able to bring her home in less than 2 weeks! She is a mini goldendoodle -- a dog that is a cross between a golden retriever and a poodle. She's a second generation cross, meaning both her parents are goldendoodles. I had a poodle that was my 7th birthday present who lived 19 years, I also had a golden retriever as a teenager, so I'm very familiar with both breeds and can't wait to see the combination! Our puppy is considered a mini and she'll only be 25 to 35 lbs. at maximum adult weight. Goldendoodles have wonderful personalities, very smart, great around kids and typically either non-shedding or very low-shedding due to the poodle genetics! She and her 7 litter-mates are seriously the cutest puppies I've ever seen - - blondish-reddish-apricot coat color with a slight curl to it.

I'm so thankful to have these happy pictures posted in our house now, to be debating dog names amongst ourselves. Such a blessing to the five of us as we grieve the loss of our Isabella dog and wait what sometimes feels an unending wait for the Baby Sister from Ethiopia.

One of those precious pups is our new baby! And that baby girl is coming home very soon! Can't wait to hold her!

Oh, and the best part? Her breeder family that she lives inside the house with has 5 young kids, even a 3 year old that interacts with her regularly, so this little girl is already used to a chaotic, kid-filled house!