First of all, in case you missed the discussion on Instagram, WonderDog has a new name. In a crazy-weird coincidence, one of our adopted kids’ real name was way too close to our dog’s name. What are the odds of that!?!  Anyway, for the past year we tried to make it work but it finally became too doggone {pun intended!} confusing. So now, our WonderDog is called Daisy. She’s having no trouble with the change but it’s hard for us humans to get used to!

Now introducing: Piper!

We have a new member of the family: another adopted rescue dog from a local animal shelter. After much discussion, we’ve decided to call her Piper.

She is estimated to be about 7 months old. We have absolutely no idea what combination of breeds our mystery mutt is made of, but a number of people have suggested Dutch Shepherd, and I’m inclined to agree. However, her size indicates she’s also clearly mixed with something much smaller, and at the moment I’m guessing something like a rat terrier may be in the mix, too.

Adopting a pet is a big deal.

On average, dogs live about 15 years; that’s a long term commitment! It’s been 7 years since we had a puppy in the house, and I must’ve had selective amnesia on how challenging that can be; we’ve had major ups and downs this week since bringing her home last Saturday.

Piper has a sweet snuggly-bunny side and likes to follows me everywhere I go. But when she gets into play mode, she turns into the Tasmanian Devil. There’s no aggression to it, but her play-bites can hurt; I was most concerned about Daisy because Piper gets so intense in their play. Once again, I have to say Daisy is SUCH a wonderful dog and although she doesn’t love being pounced on with sharp teeth all day long, she’s doing fabulous adjusting to life with this little whippersnapper.

a few highlights from Piper’s first week home:

Piper is already learning, though, and she’ll mellow out in the coming months. And in the meantime, I’ll likely get in a better exercise routine because daily walks help the dogs be calm and helps them bond, so I have much more motivation to get my booty out the door to keep BatDog (those ears!) from driving us batty!

I remember how crazy Daisy made us in the beginning. She was about the same age, just six months, when we adopted her from a rescue group.

Daisy was a play-biter, too. Also, in the first few months she ate several shoes (never a matched pair), a couple of Kathryn’s toys (including a vintage doll that had been mine), countless socks, the cord to the Dyson vacuum (thankfully, they sell replacement parts), and even part of a door. But now, despite a few quirks, she’s the best dog ever and has been fantastic and patient with two children who had never been around dogs before they joined our family. So we know from previous experience that with a whole lot of patience and persistence from us, Piper the puppy tornado will get there.

Eventually.

Until then, she’ll woo us with this cute face and we’ll forgive her puppy antics.

Someday, when my littles are a lot bigger, I’m going to be the crazy dog lady who adopts ALL the dogs and my neighbors will see me strolling every day with my little herd of canines. 😉 If you’re a bit dog-crazy, too, you might enjoy my new “for the love of dogs” Pinterest board.

Piper was the biggest part of our week, but we did plenty of learning — and not just about dogs. Kathryn is making me proud with her diligence in getting her work done. Scout’s biggest focus this week has been her Little Passports stuff, and of course Jem is still building the coolest LEGO creations of any 5-year-old I know. So I’m joining Kris’ Weekly Wrap-Up and Mary’s Collage Friday; pop over for a peek into other homeschoolers’ lives, or join the link-ups yourself!

Jamie

Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it’s lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »