a dog

So I've long been a fan of large dogs, having grown up with large sized dogs. Being in a house, we took the plunge and decided to look for a puppy, angling for a laborador. We started by looking online in classifieds locally, and found a number of ads for cute puppies, chocolate labs, black labs, etc. We found a chocolate lab named Miranda. She was with a foster family down in Batesville. We contacted them and let them know that we were interested. Meanwhile, we kept looking and also found Wolf-hybrid pups for sale, which was really appealing, but I figured we didnt need a part wolf dog right yet. We also found an ad for a black lab mix named Lexie at the animal shelter in Olive Branch. So Friday of last week rolled around and I decided it was time to move. We called the folks who cared for Miranda, and asked them if we could come have a look at her. They said sure, and better yet, they were headed up to Southaven saturday, and could meet us at Petco and let us have a look at her. So we were set! We figured we'd have a look and try to resist adopting her on the spot and then go look at other puppies.
Saturday morning rolls around and 15 minutes before we were to meet Miranda, her keeper called and told us that she just didnt think Miranda was ready to go to another home, that she was just so shy and timid and so forth. Krissi gave a knowing look and said that she had the impression that the keeper might be too attached and want to keep her. So we crossed Miranda off of our list. We headed out though, undaunted on our quest. We drove past the Horn Lake animal shelter, not far from our house, but saw that it was closed on saturdays. We had the address of the Olive Branch shelter with us, and wanted to go see Lexie. So we headed off in that direction. Upon our arrival we noticed that there was a vehicle in the parking lot, and a note on the door of the building that indicated that they had left to go to the vet at 9:15 and would return when finished. It was about 10:30 when we arrived, so we decided to wait, now being determined to see a dog. We waited. And then waited. And waited a bit more. Finally someone comes rolling up in an animal control vehicle at about 11:30 and tells us that they had a parvo outbreak, and weren't doing any adoptions. That was terrible news, but the fellow was less than polite or nice or friendly. And I was now sunburned. And there was someone in the place the whole time who just ignored our ringing of the doorbell and waiting out in the parking lot. Suck.
So, still somewhat undaunted, we went to drive to the Memphis Animal Shelter, just up the street from where we were. We arrived and took a look at the puppies (and the kittens too). After a few minutes of thinking about it, we selected a black lab mix puppy, seemingly about 6 to 8 weeks old, so still quite small. We played with her for a few, and then filled out some paperwork. We were then a little suprised to learn that they had to keep her to spay her, and that we could pick her up early the following week. So now successful in our endeavour, but having to leave our prize puppy behind, we went back home. We went that evening and watched UFC with John and Maddie and had a great time. But meanwhile, the puppy story continues.
Being impatient, I called the shelter on monday and asked when we could come and pick up the puppy. I was told that they needed to speak with me about the puppy, and that she seemed to have an upper-respiratory infection, that could either be kennel-cough, or distemper (!!!!). We were given the option of taking the puppy home, quarantining it, and treating its symptoms so that it would either eventually hopefully be cured of kennel cough, or would die of distemper, or we could find another puppy. Greatly distraught, we decided to find another puppy.
So Tuesday rolls around and I had a break in the day, and so picked up Maddie and we went to the Memphis Humane Society. There we looked at two black lab mix puppies. Baby Girl was an adorable little one, probably 10 weeks old, who seemed sweet but super shy. She pee'd three times in a two minute span, and had to be dragged away from the door for us to play with her outside. Then we looked a puppy they called Noodles. She was bigger than I had expected, and smelled terrible, but was playful and excited. We played with her for a couple of minutes and then took her back inside. I called Krissi and told her she needed to take lunch so we could come pick her up and let her see these dogs. She did- we all came back to the shelter and took another look at Baby Girl, who again managed to urinate frequently, and again was too shy to play outside, but was very sweet and a very good looking dog. Then we brought out Noodles again, and took her outside and played with her a little. Well, we made a decision. We filled out paperwork and took the dog-formerly-known-as-noodles home with us. Actually we took her and left her at Maddie's place, as I had to go back to work. Five minutes after leaving the dog though, I got a call to come back. The dog was just too much for the Williams' apartment, and needed to be taken to Horn Lake. Introductions to Maddie and John's dogs had gone relatively well. But the puppy wanted to swim in the water dish, and was chasing everyone around the apartment, super excited about all of these playmates! So we calmed her down a little, gave her a bath, and Maddie took them down to Horn Lake. The new puppy's name is Yazhi, which is a Navajo word for "Little One", which is a silly name, since she's 29 pounds currently.

Anyway, we already got a crate and a bunch of stuff for her. We're trying to train her, which seems to be going well. She already was okay at "sit", and we're improving on that, while still learning the new name. I'm feeling ambitious and thus have also started teaching her "rest" to lie down, and she is starting to pick up on it.

Tons of fun. Here are two pics:
http://slithytoves.sytes.net/~krissi/pics/Yazhi1.jpg
http://slithytoves.sytes.net/~krissi/pics/Yazhi2.jpg