Why........NOT???

So........one might ask what does a person need that already has four kids (the youngest with SPD), 2 dogs, 1 cat, 1 horse, a full-time appraisal business, a husband with a full-time career and a part-time football coaching job, and a home with large yard?  If you say "happy pills" I would tend to agree.  Or maybe sleep?  But a puppy???  Why.........NOT?

Go back and look at the list of animals we already have and you can tell that we are animal lovers.  Let me take it a step further and state that I believe strongly in the power of animals for children.  Before I was a parent myself, I was a 4-H Horse Program Superintendent for years.  And then the boys showed dogs in 4-H for many years, each earning a 4-H State Obedience Championship in different years with their Shetland Sheepdogs.  (Yes......we still have the shelties.  Note "2 dogs" above.  But they are geriatric and rather crabby, and Parker has a severe hypothyroid condition for which he has to take two pills per day for the rest of his life.  Sigh.)

Over the summer, with the rollercoaster experience that was soccer, I began contemplating the benefits of getting Jennica a puppy.  The opportunity to have some responsibility......the perpetual wagging tail regardless of how rough her day at school was........blah blah blah.  Once we started looking into breeds, the poodle crosses immediately came to the forefront due to their temperaments, and reputation for hypo-allergenic, non-shedding coats. 

Long story short.......over a little time, I became fixated on Goldendoodles.  And then, we decided to wait until next Spring/Summer.  Enough on our plates right now.....football......blah blah blah.  And then, we got a call from a breeder that we had been speaking with.  A female puppy that had been professionally temperament tested and, subsequently, specifically reserved for a 4-year-old autistic boy with 6 brothers and sisters was suddenly available!  For whatever reason, the little boy's family couldn't take her at the last minute.

And so.....we have a puppy.  She is not quite four months old and the girls named her Sophie.  Cute cute cute!  But what was my free-time is now my puppy training and poop-scooping time.  :)  Oh well.  When you're already this busy...........Why...NOT???  And Jen LOVES her!