So I promised you a post on my new addition. Meet Zoey. The name “Zoe” is of Greek origin and means “life.”

Zoey was born on October 6 and is entering her ninth week of life today.

We met for the first time eight days ago. She was the first pup I picked up…I was just drawn to her. I held her in my arms, looked her in the eyes and knew she was the one. She let me hold her belly up like a baby and locked eyes with me. I held all of her litter mates but none of them matched up to our connection. There was one person who got to pick ahead of me so I had to leave her there praying they wouldn’t pick her.

I got a text a few hours later letting me know she was mine. It was an amazing and emotional moment. I know this sounds crazy but as much as I was excited to welcome Zoey, I was really sad that Sullie was going to lose her only child status.

I did a lot of reading about introducing a new pup to your older dog and everything I read predicted that Sullie would ignore the pup for anywhere from 3 days to 3 months. I was over the moon happy when Sullie embraced her from the first moment.

I’m seriously almost in tears typing this. They have been inseparable and Sullie is being the best big sister ever. I am so proud of her.

The two of them are in one of two modes. Playing or sleeping. Zoey follows Sullie around everywhere and Sullie does her fair share of taunting, playing, correcting and loving. It’s so sweet. Sullie is so patient with the puppy but good about putting her in her place when needed…which I am so grateful for and praise her for doing. It’s like having a built in babysitter. Having a puppy is much easier this time around!

I’m now the happy mom of two golden girls and couldn’t be more thrilled. I have been wanting a puppy for the last year for several reasons…

– Sullie is eight and a half and still super active. I want her to stay active and I think a puppy will help keep her that way because she’s naturally so good natured and social.
– I have read so many things that say it’s good to get a puppy when you have an older dog. The older dog helps to train the puppy and the puppy falls into the pack/alpha order. The puppy also often takes on characteristics of the older dog.
– I share Sullie with my ex and I’m not going to lie…It’s really lonely when she’s not with me. We both love her so much that we can’t imagine living without her and I value our friendship so much that I would never want to change that shared aspect of it.
– Annnnddd my non-official facebook reason that “all my friends are having babies and I’m just over here having puppies” that my grandmother brought up again tonight! 🙂

I’ve received a lot of questions about how I can fit a puppy into my life…well…I have a pretty ideal schedule for it. I get up early to train or teach (right when she’s starting to cry to go out), I come home after my early clients/classes and work from home most of the day. I am able to take Zoey to the gym with me most mornings and she’s out of her crate and hanging out with me for 99% of the day while I work from home. She has a pretty sweet puppy life.

WARNING! I’ll be posting tons of puppy stuff over the next few months. Please let me know if you have any specific questions or topics you’d like for me to cover. I seriously LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my girls and couldn’t be happier right now! 🙂