LUCY

On Tuesday, Elise, Owen and myself drove an hour and a half away to go pick out a puppy.  Dan and I had discussed it over the years and we are now at a time in our lives where we want to add a pet into the mix.  I had researched years ago what sort of dog we should get.  I was partial to soft breeds like labs and golden retrievers, but we wanted a dog with much shorter hair that wouldn't be as big of a nuisance when it shed.  Plus, our future children could have the potential for some allergies.  Anyway, BEAGLES are great family dogs and they are awfully cute, so we decided to get one!

Our little pup, Lucy, is actually a mini beagle so she should weigh less than 20 pounds.  So, she will be a medium size dog.  Lucy is just over 7 weeks... kind of a young pup, but she was eating so great already that they felt comfortable selling her.  She has a wonderful temperament.  Lucy is all about the kisses and loves playing with the kids.  She isn't completely housebroken, but she has done a lot better than I thought she would!!  I have cleaned up WAY messier messes than what she has left.  Like I said, she is incredibly playful and doesn't mind being held by the kids at all.  She loves being around people and is just a sweet little puppy.

Lucy has two tags so they clink together and make a little noise.  We did this because sometimes she goes off under the couches or other places and we can't find her.  She is still a young puppy so sleeps a lot but at least with the noise her tags make we can figure out the area of the house she might be in.  Lucy is about 4 pounds right now.  We are working on crate training her, but this requires some tough love of letting her 'cry it out' and not running to the rescue as soon as she starts whining (sound familiar??  Yeah, you have to do the same with kids!)  All of the puppies are gorgeous so the way that I picked a puppy out was by seeing which puppy tolerated the endless holding of Ellie and Owen.  I think we did alright.

All of us love Lucy.  She is a great addition and we are working to train her the right way.  I've been watching "The Dog Whisperer" a bit and have actually learned a lot of parenting tips from my buddy Cesar Millan!!! :)  Turns out I need to be a better pack leader in my own home. :)  Dan loves Lucy too.  I thought it might take awhile, but I think he fell hard for her right away.  So, welcome Lucy to the family!