I blocked myself from Petfinder.

But I forgot to block Facebook.

A week or so ago, one of my high school buddies on Facebook posted that he had to find a new home for his baby. I saw he was online and proceeded to berate him via instant message. How could he give up his dog!? What is WRONG with people?!

Then I realized that he really was upset, and I made it my mission to find his baby a new home. What if it were June that needed a new home because we were moving? I would be devastated! High School buddy lives 4 states away, but his status said to "check out her pictures," so I did. I had to giggle when I saw this:

Not exactly the finest sales pitch for her :-)

I asked all the questions to try to find her a good home. UP lives near him and I thought he might have some dog lovers that could take her, so here are the stats:

* She's a brittnay spaniel

* She'll be 2 in July

* She's house trained, crate trained and has basic stuff down

* She doesn't pull on the leash

Hmmmm. Sounds promising.

The more I thought about the next pup for us, the less I liked the idea of a puppy. Sure, puppies are cute, but adopting a pound puppy is like playing Russian roulette. With June, I got her at 3 months. She weighed 5 lbs. Every vet appointment, her doc would say, "I don't think she'll get much bigger," and she would inevitably double in size. I finally told the doc to be quiet, a 40lb dog was all the dog I wanted!

Also, puppies will require all of the basic training. Sure, I got June broken in fine and quickly, but that was 10 years ago!! And then there's the chewing and the barking and the tearing up of things. Did we really want to go through all of that again? I had been looking at older dogs to rescue, but they were all 8-10, and I just didn't have it in me to adopt a dog to bury. I wasn't ready for that, and I couldn't put the kids through that.

But back to this baby! I put out my feelers and started researching the breed. The definition of BS's? AWESOME!! They are about 35 lbs max and love to run and play. They are super smart and easy to train. They are extremely loyal to their owners, but are great when re-homed because they bond quickly. They are great family pets and sport pets.

I immediately begin to judge all interested families.

Hubs leaves for another week of travel and it's just me and the kids. I am so lonely. I am so sad. Even my new baby wasn't perking me up. I couldn't sleep and I quickly realized it was because I was on edge with Hubs away. With June, I knew I had a bark and a growl to alert me, but without her, I had nothing (and I'm a heavy sleeper!).

I broke down, swallowed my pride and emailed Hubs professing my love for this pup. Hubs managed to avoid and evade the issue all week.

He had me second guessing her from the moment he walked in the door Friday. We sat down with our calendars and plotted his trips. Nothing but big lines saying, "Hubs in ________" week after week after week. UGH. I couldn't stand the thought of being alone that much. I wanted this dog. I needed this dog. He wasn't even going to be around, heck he might not even notice if I got her. At least until July!

Then Saturday, our anniversary, he gave me his sweet card. And in it, he said he had talked to my buddy and she was ours if I wanted her!

Hubs got up at 4 am this morning and started driving. He went 2 states south and our buddy went 2 states north. They met in the middle and we became a family of 5 again.

The kids and I went to church, then lunch and made a stop into Petsmart to get a few little things for our new pup. Every person we met along the way, they had to tell that, "We have to get home! Daddy will be here soon with our new doggie!!" Hubs called after he picked her up to tell me, "She's not your dog. She is SO my dog!"

They arrived in the driveway at 5:29 and by 5:30, she had us wrapped around her paw! You could tell that she was well loved, and she was a little skittish at first, but she warmed up quickly to the family. We let her out in the backyard, and she.took.OFF! WOW that dog is fast! Strip initially wanted her middle name (since she already came with a name) to be Daisy, but after 10 minutes with her, she said, "I think her middle name should be Zip! She's so fast!"

My main hesitation with her was that she had never been around kids before, but you wouldn't know it! She's been great with both of them, although I'm keeping a super close eye. She's better behaved than Nugget and she loves to be loved. During one of our chats, Trey told me, "She's so intense. It's like...she wants to be inside you...she gets that close." And man he wasn't lying! Is there such a thing that's closer than a shadow? Whatever it is, it's this dog. She LOVES to be loved and snuggle. As I type, she's managed to weasel her way into Hubs' lap and is lying on her back, paws in the air.

She'll never replace June, and she'll forever be Trey's baby, but we are welcoming the opportunity to have her in our family as well! So meet the newest chick in the mommychick family, Zoe!

I'll try to get some better pictures, but Zoe "Zip" is quick, even for my Nikon!