We have a dog. Yes, you read correctly...a DOG! For the past few years we've known we would eventually get one but my standard answer was always "when Noah is older". So did Noah miraculously potty train himself and both kids become independent? Nope, not even a little. However, my sister and her family got a dog so...we needed to one up them :) They got a beautiful golden retriever for free. We paid for our dog, however she came with training from a prison. Who wins for coolest story?? US! Boo-ya. Go Team Jernstad!
So about the dog. Her name is Bella. She's a terrier mix of some sort. (Read: Mutt) She's 16 months old but she still kinda looks like a puppy (see pics below and you'll understand what I mean!). She's a "medium" size dog, so about 40 lbs or so. We researched dogs forEVER and came across Bella while looking at websites for area shelters. She was at a county shelter in Newton. So off we went to look at her. We immediately fell in love. She was great with the kids, excited to have human interaction but calmed down very quickly. The shelter people told us she needed to complete her prison training. Shut. The. Front. Door. What? Did she commit a crime? Will she be out on probation? Apparently at this particular shelter, dogs go through obedience training at the state prison. The inmates train the dogs in basic commands and work with them to break bad behaviors that may prevent them from being adopted. The shelter told us that Bella had just started her 4-week stint but if we wanted her to skip the training, we could take her home right then. We opted to let her do it.
So fast forward to this past weekend when we were able to pick her up from the shelter. My kids were thrilled out of their minds. We have spent the past few days running around outside with her, cuddling on the couch, and taking walks. Well, let's be honest...it's more like a crawl. My kids aren't exactly fast walkers. Add a leash in there and we're tripping on each other. Joel has taken Bella on a few runs, which they LOVE. By the end of the day Bella is wiped out. Good thing she's still young. :)
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| She's so eager to show her skill of sitting. |
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| Sniffing Noah's hand. She probably licked his hand the next second. |
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| You can kinda tell how big she is. Sorta. |
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| See what I mean about the puppy face? I mean, seriously. How could you not love this face?? |
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