I wish I could adequately explain how giddy I am to write this post for you today. This introduction has been a long time coming and we have all been grinning from ear to ear for weeks. You would think we had won the lottery or brought home our first baby or figured out how to drink Dr. Pepper and still be skinny — we have all been that excited. But let’s start at the beginning.
It’s almost been twenty one months exactly since Beemer died. The day we buried her, we removed all dog related items from our house and deep cleaned. We filled a garbage sack full of toys, her bed, and every pet related item we had ever owned. We kept photographs, her favorite leash, and the pink collar she wore for the previous ten years — but I had no desire to walk into our room and find an empty bed at the end of the day. My heart couldn’t take it.
We have friends who have gotten new dogs in the days and weeks after a loss, but Josh and I just weren’t in the right frame of mind. The girls were both sick with grief — in fact, Sophie has cried over Beemer’s death as recently as a few weeks ago and still regularly walks out to stand near her grave. Josh said numerous times that he didn’t know if could bury another dog, so as I grieved, I prayed he would change his mind.
We first started talking seriously about getting a puppy shortly after the anniversary of B’s death. Josh was adamant that it be an outside dog and I couldn’t disagree more. We argued for weeks until he had a sudden (and miraculous) change of heart. We contacted a breeder on a whim and found out he would have a litter of puppies ready for new homes around the first of the year. Just days after their delivery, Josh told me he wasn’t ready. I cried and called the breeder to let him know we wanted to wait.
In early May, Josh told me he was ready for a puppy — you better believe I called the breeder back in a matter of moments! We were surprised to hear there was one female puppy not spoken for and she would be ready to come home the weekend after our summer vacation. I have never been so ready to come home from the beach in my life. We all joked that the only thing that could make us cut our vacation short by a day was this little girl.
Josh and I drove the few hours to pick her up on Sunday afternoon. We debated whether or not to carry the girls, but they were hesitant to spend four hours in the car after the previous day’s five hour drive and we were all a little worried about the added anxiety for Scoop. They happily played at Josh’s parents house and we had the most perfect day date ever! Of course, I packed my camera, but I didn’t get a single decent photo from our adventure because I was too excited to meet her.
Ella’s reaction has surprised us the most. She was pretty nervous about getting a puppy — all she’s ever known are adult dogs who did exactly what you told them to and didn’t require much attention (from her). I’m guessing you can tell from these photographs just how unfounded those fears really were! Her face lit up when I handed Scoop over and they’ve barely been in a different room since. She is in our room first thing every morning to wake her up and Josh says she’s been taking great care of her while I’m at work. She is handling crate training and house training like a champ and hasn’t complained about the dirty work a single time. I feel sure the novelty will wear off, but I’m anticipating a lifelong friendship between these two.
Sophie was a little more wary, but is warming up to her every day. She tells us all the time how much she loves her, but she’s very concerned that Scoop will replace Beemer in our hearts. She asks lots of questions about who we love more and how we can love them the same and gets a little anxious when we talk about B. She’s also a tiny bit jealous, so we have to be careful with the words we use to describe Scoop and how we react when they are both in the room at the same time. She’s already gotten on to me for calling her “little bit” (I occasionally call Soph that) and when her daddy used the exact same phrase about snuggling Scoop that he usually reserves for Soph, she got a little teary eyed. I think with some practice — and patience — they will come a long way in the coming days.
And because I know you guys probably have a ton of questions, I’m going to preemptively answer as many as I can think of. If there is anything I’m missing, feel free to sound off in the comments and I’ll update the post as necessary!
Why Scoop? Last summer was the first time we had a family discussion about getting a dog. It was the first time Josh admitted he might be willing to have another one and the girls were immediately beside themselves. We were on a car ride and talked at length about what we name her. We all threw out suggestions and Josh decided it should be a competition. I’m honestly not sure who suggested Scoop first, but it was a unanimous win pretty much immediately. First, because it was reminiscent of our favorite ice cream shop in the world. But when Josh started singing the phrase Scoop Doggie Dogg, we were all smitten. We still joke that Sophie sings it constantly and has no idea of it’s origin!
Why a German Shorthaired Pointer? I’ll admit that we chose Beemer based on looks alone. I worked at an art museum in college and fell in love with weims during a William Wegman exhibition. Josh promised if I agreed to an inside dog, that I could pick the breed. We’ve both always loved the look of a GSP and given their physical and temperamental similarities with weimaraners, we were comfortable pursuing that as a possibility. The girls were used to a large breed dog and we felt like we knew what to expect and that she would look similar enough to B to soothe our aches without looking into that same face every day.
Why not a rescue? I really dreaded answering this question, because I know that pet owners (bloggers especially, it seems) catch a lot of flack for buying a dog instead of rescuing one. It wasn’t completely off the table and we did look into it, but we opted to locate a reputable breeder instead. One of the biggest reasons was for the longevity of her life. GSPs have a slightly longer lifespan that weims (15-16 years as opposed to 10-12) and we knew we wanted an opportunity to have her around as long as possible. Barring any tragedies, we have the potential to enjoy her company well after the girls are out of school! We also wanted an opportunity to experience the puppy stage with our girls and to be fully aware of any behavioral problems from the get go. Our girls might not be babies and toddlers anymore, but dog safety is still a huge concern and I was especially worried about dealing with animals with a past we knew nothing about. We did look into GSP rescues in our area, but all of the dogs available for adoption were well over an age we were comfortable with and almost always required they be the only pet (we have a cat that isn’t going anywhere). It might be a controversial decision, but we feel very comfortable with all of the reasons we made it and, respectfully, we don’t have to defend it to anyone. I’m not planning to share the breeder details here on the blog, but if you are local and need a recommendation, please feel free to send me an email. We had a wonderful experience and could not have been more pleased with the owner and his facility.
Since we picked her up on the day after our vacation ended, we were desperately missing home cooked meals. We invited my sister’s family and my granddad over to grill out and since my mom is at the beach for one more week by herself, my dad was home, too! We spent the night chasing Scoop around the pool and watching her figure out the lay of the land. My sister brought her camera and snapped a few family photos for us to remember the day. I love that they aren’t staged and we’re all a hot mess, because this is our actual life right now.
Scoop seems to be adapting well to her surroundings and once we figure out how not to tinkle every seven and a half minutes, we’ll all be doing a whole lot better! We never crate trained B (which we came to regret something fierce), so we are all learning a lot about raising a well mannered pup. We’re headed to the vet for a well visit this morning and to get us started on vaccinations and medications to keep us nice and healthy. I’m aware she isn’t a human child, but I’m thinking we’ll share a pupdate post every so often to let you know how things are going and how we’re all adjusting to life with this little ice cream scoop in our home!
Are there any questions I failed to answer? Please let me know if you want to know anything else about our new adventure in pet ownership!
