Thanksgiving & Dog-giving.

When we first married, I longed for a dog. Finally, I had a home of my own with 3 sprawling acres, and I just knew we needed a dog. Chuck eventually put his animal-intolerance aside, and allowed me to get one. So, we adopted Hosea from the pound in Austin. He was a pup at the time, a 5 pound chihuahua completely full of sass, and convinced he had the stature of a pit bull.



But I never managed to housebreak him. Pretty sure I didn't really know how to do it. Or how to be consistent. So, when our firstborn came along, he became an outdoor dog, seeing as how we'd have a crawler on the floor.

But Hosea resented it. He didn't enjoy the outdoors, which was understandable...he was a chihuahua! But outside he went, for about 3-4 years, until my mom took pity on him and took him home with her. I'm happy to report he's now fat...and still sassy. And completely and utterly spoiled rotten. ;)



So I figured that would be the end of pets for us. I knew if we ever got another dog, we'd have to fence in our backyard first, and probably get a big dog...but that'd be a long ways off. No more indoor pets, that was for sure.

Yet, a few months ago as we were at a farmer's market, there was a display of dogs for adoption. Somehow we gravitated toward the chihuahuas of the group.





Ok, so about Thanksgiving...As we were on our way, I asked the boys what they were thankful for. Chandler promptly replied, "Puppy Dogs!". Chuck sighed, and I didn't think much about it. The boy loves puppies. But we have no fence, thus no dogs...so, end of story, right?

So we arrived at the lunch gathering of my Dad's large family (he's one of 10 kids, so there are lots of us!). We walked in the door and were ambushed. A few aunts immediately pounced on me and Chuck. My cousin had seen a dog being dumped at an intersection the night before, and promptly picked her up, hoping to find her a home among the family. "Oh, Chuck, y'all need a dog! Your boys need a dog!" It was not the first time we'd heard that...but I didn't expect it to work this time.

So I see this dog from across the room, and she runs up and gives my hand a lick.



And I'm thinking, "Aww, she's cute, but oh well."
And suddenly Chuck comes up and whispers in my ear, "Ok."

Wait, what?

"Ok."

Huh?

"Ok, we can have her."

Yeah, it threw me for a loop, too. It took me the next three hours to try to sort the matter in my mind. I observed her with the kids, and tried to think through having an indoor dog, and how I'd have to successfully house train her, etc. Honestly, I was less sure about it than my animal-intolerant husband. But by the end of the evening, the boys all looked at me with puppy dog eyes, and she was ours.

So, welcome to the family, Foxy.





You can imagine who's the most thankful for her, right?



And you thought I was going to say Chandler. ;)