Parents know it is unwise to promise anything to their children. But we do it anyways. We had promised our kids that we could get a dog when we moved back to Minnesota. And so it was to be. The original plan involved entering this doggie business in the spring of 2015, because we figured springtime was the ideal time of the year to make this addition.
However, when you start thinking about dogs, guess what? You want a dog!
After much internet searching and checking out library books about dog breeds, we remained perplexed. How can a person choose a dog breed? They all seem wonderful. Many people encouraged us to adopt a dog or puppy from the Humane Society or a Rescue Organization. We signed up for many alerts and visited the centers. It was painfully difficult to leave without agreeing to save an animal! The kids left in tears, despite the fact that we were very clear about just visiting and getting to know dog breeds. Even when a dog breed did seem like a good fit for our family, that led to internet searches to see where we could actually get puppies of that breed, which often led to disappointment - often they were very far away, unavailable, or ridiculously expensive! Finally, a great friend (JH!) mentioned that she knew two families from our church who both had a certain dog mix that they loved. The mix checked all our boxes of what we wanted. We decided to visit both dogs and see for ourselves. After meeting Tucker and Pepper, we were sold. We wanted a border collie-poodle mix for our family!! We loved the idea of a non-shedding dog. We didn't want too big or too small. We wanted an active, smart, trainable, family-friendly dog.
Even though Finchley (named after Finchley Road in London, from the area - St Johns Wood/Swiss Cottage - where we lived for 3.5 years) came from quite far away in Idaho, they ship their dogs all over the US regularly and their prices are reasonable.
Finchley was a lot of work for the first month. A LOT of work. We had to get up with her at night to take her outside (in January in MN mind you) to pee/poo, and she had to be watched for every second because she was biting/eating everything. After about a month she began to enjoy her crate, calm down a bit, and she was responding so well to our training (sit, stay, crate, "go potty", etc.). She arrived on December 23rd, and on January 15th she was trained on the underground fence. Around that time we also let her go all night in her crate without taking her out. So by the end of January, she was happy to go in her crate, potty trained, and trained on the underground fence. All three of those factors made our life so much easier! We have been attending simple dog obedience classes.
Our lives have been changed by a dog. We all adore her. Yes, it's a lot of work - she needs to go on walks, continue with training, and cannot be left in her crate all day of course. But we wouldn't trade her for the world. We can't imagine our family without her! And now we understand what the big deal is about having a dog, and why people love their dogs so much! What a joy!! We love Finchley!!
