Tippy

A little over four years ago (has it been that long?) we adopted "Tippy". We were looking for a medium-sized dog, but other than that we didn't have any other parameters. Neither HE nor I had ever owned a dog.

When I was a kid we had several.

"Went through" is really a more accurate term. Unfortunately our home closely bordered a road that was not too frequently traveled, but the speed limit was 55. Most of our dogs seemed to think that the road was part of our property and therefore they needed to chase off any large metal intruders. We lost several dogs this way and for some reason in the early years my parents never tried to prevent this by erecting a fence or tying up the dogs while they were outside. We had 5 acres, so I think they wanted the dogs to roam freely on our property and the dogs didn't understand that the road did not fall into the category of our property.

Anyhoo, never owned a dog as an adult. Never had to think about temperament, length of fur, breed characteristics....

And as we moved through the phase of looking for a dog, we didn't spend a whole lot of time looking at those factors either. We spent some time investigating the types of dogs we thought would be better for a family with cats and small children, but we figured if we adopted a puppy, we could train the dog from the start, rather than having to re-train someone else's dog.

We found her on Petfinder. It was love at first sight.

Actually, we fell in love with her and all of her 8 brothers and sisters.

The local Petsmart worked with local shelters and rescues, hosting "meet-n-greet" types of events. The shelter or rescue organization would bring their adoptable animals to the store and folks could adopt them, if you had all of your paperwork in order.

I had already taken a look at these adorable puppies online and hoped that by the time we got to the store, at least one of them would still be available for adoption. I had contacted the rescue and filled out an application ahead of time, thinking that if one of these puppies didn't work out, we would be "pre-approved" for the next time around.

As the kids and I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a woman filling a shopping cart full of puppies (how cute is that?). We quickly jumped out of the car and "oohed and aahed" at those puppies. The kids wanted all of them. We followed the woman into the store, giggling and melting over those 9 cuties.

Once inside the store, the puppies were placed in an enclosure, wherein every person in the store descended upon them.

I stood back and watched my kids.

And watched the puppies.

Okay, okay--I was in there too, petting and playing with the little balls of joy.

But I was also observing.

Some of them were barking and jumping. Others seemed frightened and nervous. Some were chewing on the enclosure.

One of them seemed interested but calm.

That was the dog I wanted. I checked with the woman from the rescue and discovered that "Tippy" (the name her foster mom had given her) was available. Several of her litter-mates had already been spoken for. I filled out the actual adoption form and handed the woman a check for the adoption fee.

Then the kids and I went through the store and bought about $2,000 worth of dog supplies.

We paid for our store purchases, loaded them into the car and then went back inside to get our puppy.

I couldn't believe they were just going to let us take her home! Didn't we have to pass a test or something? It was kinda like taking Erica home from the hospital-- I was a nervous wreck!

Tippy was shivering in my arms as I carried her to the car. The poor thing whined the entire way home. We all talked to her and told her it would be okay--that she was going home and we loved her so much.

We are so fortunate. She has been the best companion we could have hoped for. She's smart, sweet and obedient (well, most of the time). I don't think we can take a whole lot of credit for her amazing personality: I think she was just born that way. 

We discovered that she was part australian shepherd, part lab. She stays close to home (the road and cars are too far away to bother with) and mostly wants to be around her people. She barks whenever someone comes over, but settles down quickly. She protects us and we lavish love and treats upon her.

She was cute as a button when she was a pup:

She got along with the kitties from the start:

She loves a good cuddle:

She adores grandpa (and pretty much everyone else):

She's smarter than me:

She is loyal and takes her job quite seriously:

Beautiful Tippy, we are so blessed to have you in our family.

And we love you so much.