Shipwrecked!: Day 123: The Adventures of Onyx

We've considered getting a second dog for a while now.

It's been nearly 3 years since we lost Chance, our first dog, who turned aggressive to the kids when they were very young. Since then Juno has been Princess Dog in the house and gotten the 5 star treatment. She's the perfect dog, really, mellow and sweet and really wants nothing more than a spot on the couch to chill with us. And though she's infinitely patient with the kids, she's my and Brad's dog, not the kids, and there's little connection to them. We've tossed around the idea of getting a dog specifically for the kids for a year or so. But we kept putting it off, and even though I've frequented the shelter facebook sites to see if there's a young lab/pit mix that catches my eye, we were wanting to wait until Juno was significantly closer to her lifespan (she's 9 now) before becoming a 2 dog family again.

But that's not the way it always works out, is it?

Last night at the fair, we went to the World's Ugliest Dog Contest. And conveniently next to the contest were several event tents loaded with dogs available to adoption. And let me tell you, just about every dog in those tents looked ten times more adorable than normal when they're 15 feet away from these ugly effers. I mean really. Imagine coming to home to THAT in your home every day. Yikes.

We wandered through the tents with no intention of adopting a dog. But you know, God is funny and suddenly there's this tiny little black lab mix happily snoring on her bed amidst the chaos of the fair and a dozen other dogs in the fenced in area around her.

So we had to meet her.

The kids fell in love with her, and so did Brad and I. She's quiet, mild mannered, and liked the kids (instead of ignoring them like Juno does). We said goodbye and went on about our business at the fair but Brad and I kept chatting about the dog. Finally we made the decision that we'd take Juno to meet her the next day (today), and if they got along, we'd make a decision.

So we did this morning, and sure enough they got along. And sure enough we went home with a dog.

Suckers, we are.

The kids immediately started calling her Onyx the Coast Guard dog, named for the Adventures of Onyx children's book series about a black lab (named Onyx) that works at a Coast Guard small boat station. The name has stuck throughout the day, though I'm trying to convince the kids to name her Rufio, after the movie Hook. Because come on, who doesn't want to yell "Ruf-ee-OHHHH!!!" whenever you open your back door? Don't lie. You do.

She's been a great little dog so far. We don't know how old she is (somewhere between 10 and 18 months), if she's full grown, or what her back story is. But she's super sweet and cuddly, housebroken, extremely mild mannered, HATES water (dammit, another water hating dog!), doesn't give a crap about the cat (who is currently plotting our death), and loves to lounge on her back on the sofa in between me and Calen. We are working on her being very specifically the kids dog, so they feed her, walk her, play with her, and she alternates between sleeping on Calen and Cam's beds.

Not bad for a puppy.

I'm still working on Rufio.