Addison caught Amy in a moment of weakness and distraction one day when she started to beg for a lizard gecko of all things as a pet -- Amy responded with "no way, you'd have better luck getting a puppy than a lizard!" Well, you can well imagine where that went. Amy is very well versed in how to say "no" but the more we thought about it, we decided that perhaps a puppy would be a good addition to the family so we began the process. Kaleb wanted a bernedoodle (Amy is allergic to dogs so it had to be a hypoallergenic dog for sure) and as we researched their personalities, we decided its mix of playfulness and relaxed spirit would be a good fit. Next we found a breeder Crockett Doodles (thanks to our friend Lisa) that had puppies with the qualities that we were hoping for - mix of playful and relaxed, female, and would have the black, brown and white coloring and a MEDIUM size. Medium size was important as the male Zs wanted a big dog and the ladies wanted a small dog - so Amy said let's meet in the middle. We found just the right pup - Aria, and even better is that she had an A name already - which means that all of the ladies in the Z family have an A name! She is supposed to be 35-55 lbs but looking at her paws, pretty sure she will be all of 55 pounds by the time that she is done growing!
 |
This is the picture of Aria at around 10 weeks.
|
She arrived late January much to Addison's delight and was about 12-13 weeks old. Amy spent the few weeks prior trying to "puppy proof" the house, it was like nesting for a new baby but with all of the small things around we needed to de-clutter so that she wouldn't have choking hazards or things to chew on everywhere. Zachary was pretty happy to have a dog as well, but Kaleb was non too pleased to now have a puppy to deal with potty accidents, chewing mishaps, and lots of mouthing/nipping. Stone cold Kaleb is what we teasingly called him for a few weeks, although he is now warming up to her.
 |
| She has arrived! |
 |
| Getting to know one another |
When the puppy arrived, Amy had a grand idea of putting the dog in a crate in the foyer just outside of our room. Well, we learned on night 1 that Aria is a people dog and does NOT like to be by herself - she whined and barked and howled in the middle of the night. We thought "maybe she'll stop" but she didn't until Addison woke up and came to ask "can't you hear Aria barking?" Yes, yes, yes we can. So Amy went out and laid down on the tile beside her crate so that Addison could go back to bed -- and then repeated it again the next night. Two nights on hard tile - forget it, and we had to move the crate into our bedroom just so that we could have some sleep. Having a dog in our room with the rustling, clinking of the crate, panting of the dog -- it was rough sleeping for a while until she aged to a point that Amy had had enough and moved her into a pen in our living room. What a dream, blessed quiet sleep again after several months!
 |
| The crate all ready to go |
 |
| Zachary spending some time with Aria in her pen |
 |
| Loving on the dog! |
 |
| Why are we picking her up like a baby is what I want to know!? |
So far having a dog has been an adjustment, but a fairly happy one. Figuring out what to do when we're out of town has been an interesting hurdle but one that we've managed so far, and Amy's Mom has decided that she is Grandma to Aria, so likely will take care of her most of the time when we're out of town.
So now the Z family has grown to 6 - evenly matched girls and boys!
