Puppy Love

We have been talking about getting Lucy a puppy for quite awhile.  Since she turned two, probably.  We thought we could start researching it then, and by the time she was older, we would know what dog to get her, and that she would be able to appreciate it a little more. 

I did my research on and off, and had narrowed it down to a breed I thought sounded the best suited to our lifestyle, and to be a companion for her.  The problem was that these dogs were upwards of $1,000, and were rare breeds only available in certain areas of the country - and nowhere close to us. 

On the website for these dogs, though, I noticed that the breeders handled another breed of dogs - Coton de Tulears.  I looked them up and found that they had many of the qualities we were looking for; they have hair, not fur, so they are hypo-allergenic, they are calm, gentle, friendly, highly trainable, and are great companion dogs.  Still had the same problem, though - they were over a thousand dollars, and a bit farther away than we could travel.  I put it to rest.

On and off, I looked at puppies as Lucy got older.  I always came back to these Cotons, but everywhere I could find them, they were just too expensive.  As I was searching through the local classifieds online late one night, I saw a small white puppy, called a Havaton (a cross between the Havanese and Coton de Tulear) - for much less than $1,000!  AND the breeder was less than an hour from our house.  Bingo!

We contacted them and found they were going to have a litter of pure Cotons available at the end of November, so we set up a day to go visit them.

Well, hello!

 

We headed to Mueller's Woodville Kennels today to check out their litter of puppies.  Four furballs were brought in for our inspection.  Two were squeaky, one was rambunctious - and then there was this guy.  Quiet, still, calm.  I picked him up, and he didn't clamor to get out of my hands like the others did.  Just quietly, calmly stared at Lucy.  

 

So fuzzy!

 

The whole time I held him, he was calm.  I put him down to see how he interacted with the others, and he was calm.  No yipping, just a little sniffing around.  We found our match.

 

At the very end, he was a bit more sprightly; hopping around and getting his head stuck in the baby gate.  That's good, because he's going to need to be a bit of a clown to entertain Lucy.  She was all about the yippy ones - yippy puppies are her favorite ;)

We have to wait another month, as they are too young to leave their mother yet.  But he's marked as ours.  I can't wait to officially add another member to our family.  I'm hoping he's the perfect match for our Lucy.  Stay tuned - in a month we will have a formal introduction!

 

 

Oh Yeah... It's D-Day!

Another year farther away from the day we were told that Lucy had SMA.  And where are we now?  Lucy is in school (at home, we're not that brave yet ;)), she is rapidly outgrowing her 4T clothes (giantess, much?), and life continues on in our normal.  No illnesses to speak of, though there has been a little more loss of movement.

 I sew Lucy pajamas, and what does she do?  Try to outgrown them immediately.

Almost forgot about it this year!  I was thinking about it beforehand, but today I didn't remember until halfway through, then kept forgetting.  I'll take that as a good sign :)  Lucy is three.  What's up now, Dr. Montgomery?

She's also very good about smiling for pictures now!  Diva.

Unfortunately, there are still scores of kiddos diagnosed with SMA that don't make it this far.  It's not fair.  Please keep their families in your prayers, and help us fight back against this cruel disease.  Check out the"How You Can Help" tab above for ways to make a difference.