After Layla passed away, we decided that we would wait for 6 months before getting another dog. Since I picked Layla's breed, the new dog would be John's pick. He really wanted a German Shepherd. I had a major reservation about this breed, as their nickname is German Shedder. I hated the thought of a dog that shed endlessly and profusely. Years ago, the kids and I went to a Police dog competition and I really admired the Belgian Malinois. BM look a lot like GS, but have a much shorter and less shedding coat. John began to investigate this breed and he kept reading, "high strung" and "driven". We interpreted this as meaning hyper and needy.
On Dec. 12, as he was computer surfing for dogs, John found a website that listed, "Shepinois's for sale". He showed me the pictures and I agreed that I liked the look and lack of shedding potential. We researched the breed and liked what we read. Then he discovered a breeder that currently had Shepinois puppies ready to go home. That Saturday night, I e mailed the breeder just for kicks and giggles. The breeder sent me back these pictures, which I saw Sunday after church.
One of the puppies
The Daddy...weighs about 100 lbs
The mom weighs about 40
The uncle (mom's brother) playing with the puppies.
I was smitten! I loved the look of the puppies, the lack of shedding, the price and the location. John loved that the breed was a combination of two very intelligent breeds. The naming rights were mine, since he had named Layla. He kept telling me how smart the dog would be, so I decided to name him, "Solomon". Both John, Jr and Daniel lobbied for the name, "Marvin". I thought that sounded like a goofball dog name.
Sunday after church, John called and talked to the breeder. He found out that there was one male left in the litter, and someone was coming to get a puppy that afternoon. The puppies had been born on Sept. 27th. The breeder was located in Mount Holly, which is right out of Charlotte, where we were going the next Saturday for John's family Christmas. The wheels began to turn. At one point, I told John, "Let's go get the dog!" As the words came out of my mouth, I wondered to myself what in the world had gotten in to me??? I really was enjoying the unencumbered feeling of not having a dog. When I got up that morning, I was not at all thinking about jumping into dog ownership again. And yet, here I was suggesting that we, at 2 pm, jump in the car and drive 2 and 1/2 hours to get a dog....nuts! I still can't explain it?
The day was beautiful and we had promised the kids to take a walk around our local lake. John suggested that we not drive all that way, with the chance that the male could be sold by the time we got there. Instead he suggested that we pray and ask God for guidance and wisdom. We asked the Lord to save the male, (John really wanted a male), for us, if this was the right dog for us. The person was supposed to be at the breeders by 3. We walked and talked about this little puppy. It became clear that we were all going to be disappointed if the person chose him.
The breeder had told John he would call him. We got home and no call came. We were so bummed, we figured the other person had gotten him. Finally, at 6, John called the breeder. The person had taken a female. If we sent a deposit, the breeder would hold the male for us until the next Saturday, then he sent us this picture.
Our puppy is the tall one in the back, along with two of his sisters.
Saturday, we drove to family Christmas and on the way went to get out dog.
This was the first time we laid eyes on "Solomon Marvin D*****"
Daddy's first time holding Solomon
Kisses for Daniel
Abbey had stayed the night with Beth, so she met Solomon at Beth's house
Beth loves puppy cuddles
We went straight to John's brother's house. If Solomon wasn't outside, he stayed in my lap.
Lou, Daniel's dog was with us. Solomon quickly bonded with him.
When I first help Solomon in my lap in the car, he went crazy. I thought, "Oh no, we have a wild one!" But once he was down in the back of the car, he calmed down.
He is a great dog. He has indeed lived up to his name, learning to sit after 24 hours and becoming house broken after a week.
and sooo stinkin' cute
He was a cuddle bug.
As puppies do, he is growing like a weed. At four and half months, he weighed 47.2 pounds. He can shake, sit and stay, get down and roll. He is quite a chewer and adores playing with his big human brother and sister's dogs.
His ears are wacky! They straighten out and then he grows and they flop again. I've read that by the time he's done teething, around 7 months, they will be permanently straight.
He rings this set of bells when he needs to go out to potty.
Almost 4 months
We all are smitten with this furry boy! He's won all of us over, me included. I still can't say what possessed me to want to get another dog, but I can say I'm glad we did!
