Welcoming the Newest Addition to our Family

My youngest child is nearly 4.5 years old. My kids have asked me when we'll have another kid. I've constantly been asked by people when I'm due because my belly protrudes.
Well the thing is... Today we added another member to my family. But this time I didn't have to go through 9 months of hell and labor to have this baby. No, this baby is a fur baby, and to have her join our family the only labor was taking a long bus to and from another part of my country to bring this baby home.

Meet Snickers, our new puppy. Well, puppy is a relative term, as she is approximately 15 months old. She had been living with a family that didn't have the ability to give her enough attention and hence looked for a family that can give it to her.


I've literally wanted a dog ever since I was a kid, and my mom told me that when I'm grown up and have a house of my own I can get a dog. Well, for the first few years we had a few little babies and having a dog wasn't an option. After that a few more years in a tiny apartment with no yard and more babies. Definitely no dog then.

But now? My kids are more grown up. They need less hands on care than do toddlers and babies. And we have a yard. And room to have a dog. As long as she's not too big.

While my oldest, Lee, and I were away last week, we talked about a lot of things and issues and one thing that came up was his desire to have a pet. We try to give each child in our family what he needs in terms of education, and for Lee homeschooling is what works best, so we'll be homeschooling him this coming year while his three other siblings are in school all day. We considered sending him to school but the four options we considered for him all didn't work out so he's home for the time being. He likes homeschooling but has admitted that he's lonely during the hours his siblings are in school, and we thought that getting a dog would help with that, and a few other issues we have in our family. After consulting with my therapist, herself a dog owner, we were convinced that we will get a dog. And we're really excited.

We were told to look specifically for a dog that isn't a puppy, that is already house trained and trained in general, but not one from a shelter because those often have traumas which could affect how she'd interact with our family.

We found the perfect answer in this dog, literally the day we started looking. Already house trained and well behaved and calm and not a big barker. She's been at someone that I already know for online, and she is just looking for the best home for this dog, hence being willing for us to trial to make sure this dog is the perfect fit for our family. This way if it doesn't work out we won't be stuck, because this is a trial.

Everyone is warning me how much money a dog costs, but I was told that that's not necessarily true. Yes, medical issues come up but fortunately she's a healthy dog and hopefully there won't come up often. Additionally, she's already vaccinated and spayed so that isn't a cost, other than yearly rabies shots. Her previous owners fed her a real food diet of leftovers of their families meals and chicken and fish scraps, all stuff I have on hand and can get cheap enough. And no, we didn't pay for her, we were gifted her.

So far my only expenses have been buying her a muzzle and a leash so I can take her on the bus with me (less than 15 dollars) and the bus fare round trip (approximately 15 dollars).

But even if she does end up costing us money, that's OK with us! We're pro spending on things that make our life worthwhile, not just spending as little as possible whenever possible.

I'm really hoping our family and Snickers have a smooth transition into becoming a cohesive unit.

As for the name Snickers, we went through many names as a family at a family meeting and this was the one everyone agreed on. I'm kinda partial to Snickerdoodle so that might be my nickname for her. Snickers was chosen because of her coloring (like caramel and nougat) and sweetness. Originally her name was Skye but our family was less of a fan of that name and we were told switching names isn't a problem.

Her previous owners have been using an effective and positive discipline dog training method that they're teaching us to do, and I have to say I really love the concept because it's in line with Gordon Neufeld's parenting method, in which you keep your kids adult oriented instead of peer oriented and keep your place as alpha on the family. This dog training method is specifically about keeping you as the alpha and having the dog be oriented to you.

Anyhow, I'm really excited to share this news. Something I've literally been waiting for since I was a kid!

And as for the rest of the family? I only got home with her less than an hour ago, and so far everyone is in love with her, and she's behaving beautifully.



Any one have a dog? What's your dog's name? What type is she? How much would you say you end up spending on your dog?