Welcome Bilbo

After Brandi's death we immediately wanted to channel our love to another animal. Since the very first time I moved out on my own in my early twenties I have owned a dog.Small dogs, medium dogs, big dogs. Any kind of dog..mutts, pits, rottweilers, chihuahuas, etc.

Toby has the same affection for dogs. Since him and I have been together we have owned at least 8 or more dogs...not at a time of course. It was only natural that we wanted to "replace" Brandi. What better way to move on then to be able to give the love you had for one dog on to another that needs it.

So off to the shelter we headed. The shelter has to be one of the saddest places I know. The energy of doom, gloom and sadness there makes my heart ache.

There is no way I could ever adopt every dog in there but I can at least save one animals life and that's what I try to focus on.

My initial goal was to adopt another small dog. I prefer small dogs. Small dogs mean smaller messes and less trouble in my eyes. Although we have owned larger dogs, it's been a while since we have had one. Toby and Summer tend to prefer the larger more playful dogs and as we were walking by the cages checking out the many breeds I noticed they tended to be eyeing the bigger dogs.

I cringed but then I thought how selfish of me. I always get to choose what kind of dog we get. That said, I am the one that has the majority of the responsibility to care for it.....

Toby spotted one that he took a liking to. A year old black and white American Bulldog Mix. He had sad looking eyes but yet seemed friendly, not to hyper and yet playful. He was also listed as one of the volunteer favorites which was a plus in my eyes.

I myself spotted a little tri-colored Chihuahua mix that was adorable. I decided that we all could have what we wanted and adopt both of them. I wanted everyone to walk away happy and in the past have owned up to 3 dogs at a time so I am no stranger to multiple dog ownership.

We were required to have a meet and greet where we got both the dogs together to see how they interact. Well, as you would guess, the larger dog scared the littler one just because he was so much bigger. The shelter recommended that we not adopt them together. Sucked for me but I figured it was for the best anyway. After all, I wanted to get "Bo" home and get to know his personality before I added another smaller dog into our home.

We have now had "Bilbo"...I call him "Bo" for short, for two weeks and he is a wonderful dog...not perfect but better than I expected He learns fast and has adapted well into our home. Our largest dilemma has been his separation anxiety. He breaks out of his kennel when we leave him and has literally busted through our privacy fence....sigh..

We will begin obedience training soon to tweak out the few issues we have with our new family member.

Granted, I don't have that love connection with him yet but he grows on me a little every day and I hope that one day I will love him just as much as I did my little Brandi.

Meet Bo!