Puppy love.

Last Friday at Friday school (so weird how that lands on just the right day) at our church, our friends brought their new puppy Cupcake. She was the stinking cutest thing I've ever seen, and she was so soft. So cute in fact that it made me not even care that after petting her (and eating nachos at the same time, ew) my kids reeked of puppy breath. I talked to the parents a bit and found out she was a Catahoula, which I had never heard of before in my life, and that they had gotten her from the shelter.

Since my mom yanked back the dog she had offered me last week (no bitterness), getting a second dog has been plaguing my mind while I waited for her next bout of fickleness. So when those friends brought their little puppy to church and I saw how in love my daughter was, the kids and I decided to make an impromptu visit to the shelter after school.

I'm still not sure if that was a good idea or bad.

Let's just say we've been to the shelter 3 times in the past week, and at least once every time Mama sheds a teeny tiny little tear.

The first day we went, Friday, I found this adorable little puppy that I wanted so bad. It was small (which we generally are not crazy about small breeds, something about needing a dog big enough to withstand my kids' "love") and had the hugest ears.

It was so sweet and just wanted attention. There was a sign on his/her (formalities) cage that read "Exposed to Parvo/ No Other Dogs!"

So yeah. I'm naive. I immediately thought "Well Roxy has already had Parvo, so she'd be safe and it would be okay to take this dog because he couldn't affect her." Never occurred to me that that wouldn't happen, and that little homeboy would never see a home. :( I asked, believe me. Stupidly, even if I did take this dog home (that surely could not even fight off Parvo being so tiny), it's not like I could commit to the money it would cost to fight the Parvo. But I may have mentioned before, I'm naive.

I asked the front office about him, and they said the only reason he hadn't been put down yet was because they had owner information. They would NOT adopt him out, and basically were just waiting for him to either die, or for the waiting period to end so they could rush that along (my words, not hers). When we went back the next day he was still there, but very lethargic and wouldn't even raise his head. I was so sad. Granted, it could easily be due to the late time we visited (and I'm sure Saturdays are their busiest day), so I'm going with that. All I know is his little cage was empty on Monday when we went back.

So moving on. Well, the 3 of us- the kids & I- fell in love with this little puppy in cage 16. So adorable. She is 5 months old and some sort of shepherd mix, though I've never seen a shepherd so small. That must be one tiny crook.

I'm sure I'm the only one laughing here, and I'm okay with that.

Anyway, I would think at 5 months old she'd be a lot bigger than this if she were a shepherd mix. Regardless, she weasled her way into my kids hearts (and okay, mine) and is the reason we've gone back twice since then. We have all but named her (the kiss of death); in my kids' eyes she is already a member of our family.

The stinky thing is when we asked last Friday, they told us she isn't available until April 2nd. Do you know how LONG 6 days is for a child when they want a puppy? I'll tell you. 565 times of hearing "How many days until the puppy can be adopted?" have made that very clear to me.

But we're almost there. And as my little guy put it yesterday when talking to his sister, "This is like a race and we started out with 6 laps, and tomorrow will be the final lap." So there you are folks. The final lap. The kid is deep.

We have to get there by 9:45am to fill out the application. Then, if there are other people interested in her, they do a raffle to see who gets her. Fun. I always have soooo much luck with raffles. *End sarcasm* But I have faith that if she is meant to come home with us, she will. Despite the ridiculous adoption fee and needing to brainwash my husband in the next 24 hours.

But she does have talent, that dog. If only I could make some money off of her.

She can make her own poop disappear.