Loo.me

We have some new additions to the Lewhouse (and Teubner) families.  Here’s what happened…

My brother-in-law, The Boss (aka Mike Teubner), has been researching dog kennels and breeders.  He and Liz previously had a German Shepard and loved him. They loved the intelligence of Moose but didn’t like the killer instinct and protectiveness. Sometimes it was too much. There was a period where Moose wouldn’t let anyone, even Liz’s best friend, into the apartment.  So, Boss wanted to find a German Shepard type but a bit sweeter, a bit more like a Golden Retriever but still with high intellect. It turns out that he found a place that has dogs just like that. It’s on the border of Colorado and Kansas, a 2.5 hour drive from their home in Denver.

Over Christmas break I was talking with The Boss and he mentioned that he was headed out there just after New Years. I said it sounded interesting and decided to book a ticket to tag along with him.  Maybe we’d see a dog we like too as we’re in the market for a new dog. Worst case scenario is that I learn more about dogs and spend some good time with my family.

When we got to the location, we saw all sorts of dogs. Some are a bit older (1 and 2 years) and well trained. Mike was looking at those dogs and getting to know them. While that happened, I was introduced to a 6-month female puppy who I immediately fell in love with. She and I connected immediately (at the time I used the word “imprinted”) and it was game over. I had to take her home with me.  We’re calling her Leia.

At the same time, my niece had a dog who came up and adopted her. For the remainder of the trip, these two were inseparable.  It was clear to Liz and Boss that if they wanted to get a dog that they liked, it would be in addition to this dog as Reagan was never going to let this cute little puppy go (she also got the name Waffles).

We thought we were done and heading home.  But before we go we saw a cute little 4-month old puppy that was super friendly and well behaved. We asked about him and it turns out that it is Leia’s half-brother (same dad, different mom) who has a tail that was messed up at birth and had to be docked (cut off) as it was rat-like.  The kennel-owner said that nobody really wants him due to the tail issues.  All his siblings have been adopted and now with Leia, he’s out of siblings. Well that was enough for us to hear. Diane and I talked briefly and both immediately agreed, we’ll be taking him too!

We left with 3 adorable puppies.

The next challenge was figuring out how I get my two puppies home.

My Southwest flight wouldn’t allow me to take them with me via air and I had to get home. So, we decided to road trip.  Luckily my brother-in-law is awesome and without a second thought volunteered to join me on the trip.  I cancelled my flight, rented a car, bought two dog crates, purchased an extra pair of undies and socks and we hit the road on Sunday to drive from Denver to the Bay Area.

We made it in 1.5 days and had a great trip. We battled a monster storm that was dumping snow on Nevada and rain on California. We also got to catch up more and listen to a great book (I am Pilgrim).

I’m now home with two puppies. The kids are over the moon and getting up early to help us walk, feed and watch the dogs. We’ve had hours of discussion over what their names are. There are some interesting rejected names of Sprinkles, Nyk, Fury, and Bandit. We’ve settled on Leia and Emmett (full name Doctor Emmett Brown).  Emmett’s name is from (a) his docked tail, (b) he looks like a brownie, and (c) my brother loved the film Back to the Future and Dr. Brown was a favorite of ours growing up. The film was probably our most rewatched movie as kids.

Everyone told me that having a puppy is no joke and I can confirm that it’s very similar to having a toddler that doesn’t wear a diaper. Our lives have been thrown upside down but we’re excited to get used to our bigger and more chaotic family.