Jay!

Christmas morning I received a envelope from Dan...expecting it to be a gift card or something I opened it up. I was surprised to find it was a card "from the dog." I was a little confused until I opened it up and found several snapshots of doggies that needed homes that Dan had found on various rescue sites. The very next day I set out on my search for the perfect pet. I emailed several rescue organizations and foster families regarding dogs I had seen online that I thought looked cute and met our criteria. Saturday morning I got a call from one of the foster families and she was anxious to set up a meeting with us and her foster dog JJ. I agreed thinking we would do it sometime in the next week or so assuming she was probably somewhere in the Inland Empire or LA or somewhere else inconvenient and out of the way. To my surprise she said she lived in Mission Viejo..."Perfect!" I thought; since we were on our way up to my mom's that day anyhow. The kids were really anxious to meet JJ and I was skeptical. There was no way we were going to find our perfect dog immediately...or so I thought. The second she opened the door
and we saw his adorable face and big brown eyes we were sold! He is already house trained, knows his commands; sit, lay, roll over etc. He LOVES the kids and is the perfect size with the required non-shedding coat. We played for a bit then agreed to come get him the following day on our way back down to Vista. Well, we got him and he is pretty darn perfect thus far!! He adores the yard and the kids and of course Dan. Although he is supposed to be "my" dog he has really taken to Dan and for the most part can be found cuddling downstairs on the couch with him watching TV or playing video games. He loves me also but having a new baby isn't real conducive to forming a good bond with a dog that requires a lot of cuddling and attention. In addition I don't think he really appreciated my bathing and brushing him yesterday. We'll get there eventually ;).
To the left are some pictures from Monday in the back yard, he was super hyper, running around jumping and generally having a great time with his new family!! Although not our first choice, we have opted (for the sake of some continuity) to keep his original name, JJ. However we are trying to shorten it a bit to just Jay! He is by far the best Christmas present I have received in a very long time! We are all very excited to have our very first family dog!