Really?

Here's the new picture of our dog Bella. For those of you who know us well, you're probably thinking "really???" Clint and are are not really dog people. I grew up with dogs and I like them- I just never consider them part of the family. I'm not someone who would spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on a dog medically if they get hurt etc. Clint is pretty much the same way- but we do both like dogs. Our kids LOVE dogs. They always want to have one, and whenever we've tried it, it works for a while and then soooo DOESN'T! We had a golden lab someone gave us once and she chewed up EVERYTHING while we were gone one day. She didn't last long at all! We had a dog in Hawaii who lasted a few months. We had two (yes... I can't believe it either) dogs in Chehalis who were lab puppies and who pooped everywhere. It was so gross and stinky and our kids were horrible about cleaning it up. Then, we had our beagle Scout who lasted a whole 3 years. He was a pretty good dog for the most part, but he would RUN everytime the door opened. He's a hunting breed and just wanted to go explore. He could never be outside without being on a leash. He also wasn't really good with the house breaking thing- he was always having accidents which didn't go over well in our new house. So we found him a good home and although the kids were sad, they handled it really well. Clint and I agreed that that was it.. no more dogs (and Clint is WAY more against it than me).

So, out of the blue the other day, Clint says, "let's go to the pound and look" (without the kids of course so they wouldn't get their hopes up). I was really in shock that he was even interested, and so we took a couple of days to look and narrowed it down to two dogs. There was a Staffordshire Bull Terrier mix that was SO cute and very sweet and friendly and the German Shepherd who was shy and quiet. We took the kids there last night and they loved the Shepherd. I think I would have picked the Terrier because of her friendly demeanor, but the kids loved the look of Bella. Actually, the terrier was named Bella and the Shepherd was named Leila but the pound gives them those names so we changed it and my girlfriends reading this will know why the "Bella" name (think Twilight!).

So far, she's been perfect. She's not a barker and she's very docile. She really has to get used to our family to come out of her shell a bit. We agreed NO PUPPIES, so Bella is about a year they think. We got a big crate so she can sleep in it and be in it while we're gone to help train her. She didn't want anything to do with the stairs in our house, but I'm sure that will change. It's weird not knowing anything about her history, but the vet said she looks healthy and fine this morning.

Time will tell how Bella does in the Armitage house...