Puppy Days of Summer

Pre-warning, this post is going to start on a bit of a sad note, but I promise it will end happy. So please read on.

About 5 weeks ago my boyfriend and I lost our beagle Berfert to old age. We had him about 6 1/2 years and he was our baby. He was a stray that walked up to us one cold winter morning and I joke that he saw us and said "Oooh! Suckers!" He filled our lives and so many others which much happiness and puppy love. We kept forgetting that he was already an adult when we found him, and loosing him was a great shock. One we were not prepared for. I would break down into tears daily for the first week and then it became a bit less. I still miss him very much. Granted, we were partial, but we always said that he was the best dog ever and he will always, always hold a special place in my heart.
We always knew that he wouldn't be around forever, and we knew that he was older and eventually we would get another dog. Dave told me that he was interested in English Bulldogs. When he told me that I raised and eyebrow and though huh....bulldog? I never disliked bulldogs, but had never thought about having one in our home. After we lost Bert we started talking about getting another dog. We are very much dog people and the though of not having a dog was not something we wanted. So...we began discussing adoptions, rescues, breeders...we looked into all of them. I started to do research on bulldogs and breeders in our area and came a across a few that we visited. We finally decided on one that just happened to have a litter of puppies that were to be born in May. The pups would be ready to go home the middle of July when they would be 8 weeks old, but could I wait that long? Well, after much discussion and the fact that we really liked the breeder, I decided that I could handle waiting. We saw pictures of them the day they were born, saw then when they were a week old, and today we went and saw them at 3 1/2 weeks. We had seen recent pictures, but wanted to meet them in person before making a decision, and today was decision day. We left for the breeder at 11:45 am getting there a little after one. So amazingly cute! So, without further adieu, let me introduce you to Chappy. (So named for the Charlie Chaplain like mustache marking under his nose).

And Chappy saying I'm happy with my new parents!
Welcome to our family Chappy. You'll be in your new home in 4 weeks. We're very excited.

I promise that the next post will have knitting, gardening, and all that good stuff, and maybe an additional Chappy picture. :)