Porkchop Barksdale Smith

 We have always adopted older dogs, preferable senior dogs. There is something special about giving a home to an old dog so they can live out their last few years comfortably. Selfishly, I love that they are house trained, calm, slow, sleepy, snuggly, and just chill, even when they come with some baggage. The kids however, feel very differently. They have asked for years for a puppy. A friend, who they can train and play with and run around with, who has lots of energy. We all agreed that once we got settled here, we would look for a puppy. We thought it was a good idea because Biscuit did best with a friend. When we made a really hard decision to re-home Biscuit (see past blog), the pleas for a puppy grew quite loud. 

We acquiesced. 

We drove out to a farm ran by a lovely family of 8 and met lots of dogs. They not only breed dogs, they sell goat milk products, honey, fruits, and veggies! They are busy. There was one puppy in particular we fell in love with. They wanted to sell him at a discount, apologizing for his strange coloring. Are you kidding me? That was our favorite thing about him! They had no idea their dogs had the blue merle trait, and this puppy was the first to exhibit it. A few visits over a few weeks later and we brought home Porkchop. 

Y'all. This has been SO hard. We have never had a puppy. We are all tired! lol. They are a lot of work. We have fought and argued over who was going to clean up after him, who was going to walk him in the rain, who was going to play with him at 5am, who was going to clean up after he ate stuff he wasn't supposed to and got sick everywhere, who was going to run after him when he got out the door, who was going to check him for ticks....

We have also fought over who gets to snuggle him, who gets to dress him in warm sweaters, who gets to teach him a new trick, who gets to feed him the good treats, who gets to introduce him and walk him around, who gets to buckle him into his seatbelt....

#TeamSmith has been put through the gauntlet! And we are finally starting to see the other side. The consistency is paying off. The new trainer is giving us lots of good tips. And Porkchop is settling into a routine with us just as much as we are adapting to him. I love this puppy.  And...I will never get another puppy again! We may not go total senior route next time, but a dog a few years older will be a good goal one day. For now, Porkchop Barksdale Smith is a magnificent friend and animal who we all adore.