meet birdie

It’s been a big week ’round these parts.

First, Jet was adopted.  I told myself before heading out to the meet-and-greet that (1) it would be the last one – if it didn’t go well, I’d keep Jet, and (2) I’d let Jet tell me what he wanted.  When we arrived, Jet made himself very much welcome.  He immediately began chasing and playing with Charlie, the existing dog.  Between wrestling bouts, Jet wandered up to each person there, giving everybody a chance to love on him.   He checked in with me occasionally, but really made himself right at home.  So… he chose.  I tried to wait until I left before crying, but didn’t quite make it.  I miss the little guy like crazy — and so does Belle.

But Jet’s adoption wasn’t the only big change…

Meet Birdie (maybe – I’m not sure about the name just yet – but imagine it said with more of a Texas accent than I normally have).  She’s a three month old border collie girl.  I’m not going to pretend like the hole Jet left wasn’t part of the reason for Birdie.

I’ve been considering adding a third dog for several months now.  Bear and Belle are 7 and almost 6 respectively – and both classified as seniors.  I came to the realization that if both live to their typical life expectancy, it would mean losing them both pretty close in time — something that will kill me.  So I started thinking about adding a third, younger dog, but realized I should do it sooner rather than later — while Bear and Belle are still young enough to enjoy a new little brother or sister (it needed to be a puppy for Belle’s sake – she’s much more accepting of puppies).  And though I’m all about the giant breeds, I thought #3 should be a medium-sized dog – and preferably one I could do some fun stuff with (i.e., maybe ability, obedience, etc.).

I started thinking perhaps an australian shepherd (basically another Finn, the one I let get away!), so I hopped on petfinder.com and searched for local aussies.  An adorable young male popped up (Tonka) popped up – a handsome tri-color, but an adult.  Nevertheless, it led me to check the other dogs available through the same rescue, Ruff Mutt Border Collie Rescue.  I’ve always thought border collies are such cool dogs – so smart, so striking, and so limitless (in fact, while watching Westminster this year, my dad and I texted each other as much).  So I checked the dogs and stumbled across little “Tulip,” a fuzzy baby panda cub of a pup.  Done.

Bear, Belle and I drove out to Terrell to meet “Tulip” / “Birdie” (?) on Thursday evening.  Out came the cutest little puppy ever.  She immediately burrowed into my lap, and rolled over for a belly rub.

She’s a busy, curious little girl.  She’s probably about equally active to Jet, but she’s much more mischievous.  While Jet would be bouncing off the walls, he’d always do it wherever I was in.  Birdie (?) feels there is much too much to explore and take in to just stay in one spot.  She’s pretty fearless.

She’s working on figuring out Belle and Bear.  She’s still quite small, so she can’t really get right in the middle of them wrestling.  But she’s quite fascinated with the both of them, Belle particularly, following them around pretty closely and dancing around them while they wrestle.  She and Bear have had a few play sessions (Bear is SUCH a great dog – I’m biased, but he really really is).  They’ve both been really good with her.

So, the Bryant dog pack has officially grown to 3.