We took the plunge! We are now the proud parents of 2 toddlers! We have Hayden, of course, who just turned 2, and Porter, our new black labradoodle puppy who is 3 1/2 months (he was born 5/14/06 - Mother's Day)!

Hayden is happy with his new sidekick. Although he can definitely do without the nibbling and barking that Porter tends to do in the morning when he is being rambunctious and playful. Typically, Hayden just stands perfectly still and screams at the top of his lungs. It is a little overwhelming to have this spunky little pup bounding and darting around you. Porter likes to pull on Hayden's clothes too. The other day I came into the room and Hayden was saying, "No, Porter, off!" just like we taught him, as Porter had a hold on his pajama sleeve, stretching it to 3 times its normal length! Silly dog.

His teeth are sharp, so the mouthing can hurt sometimes. He will get training...all in due time, he needs to finish his last round of shots and then we are good to go. He is already catching on to lots of things, so I think he will be a quick study. He still cannot be trusted alone in the house, so when we leave, he goes into the laundry room area (which is gated off with Hayden's old baby gate). He barks and whines when we leave, but even that has gotten better in the last day or so. We've had him since August 25th, and since then he has had a few accidents in the house. The lady we got him from said he was paper trained....hmmm, we beg to differ. And that myth that puppies will NEVER go potty where they sleep...totally FALSE (proven many times over). So...we just continue to take him out hourly.

He does great at night so far. No whining. He sleeps in our room on the floor. He hasn't had a nighttime accident....yet. We take him our right before bed (which can sometimes be a 20 minute ordeal since I want to make sure he's had AMPLE time to do the deed) and then we take him out at around 6-7am.

He's a mellow puppy. That's really why we chose him. Which brings me to how we even decided to get a puppy in the first place. The story goes something like this:

We met a Goldendoodle at a bike shop (she was the shop dog and just hung out there all day while the lady worked there). Her name was Rosey and she was the BEST dog, even though she was only like 6 months old! Hayden loved her. So we thought about it while we were in Wenatchee and then when we got home, we had to go back up to the bike store to get the part Cameron ordered and Rosey was there again. Then on the way home, Cameron was like...do you think we should look and see how available these dogs are and how easy it would be to get one? I was like, WHAT!?!?! YOU want a dog?!? But, she was so gentle and mild-mannered and Hayden just lights up around dogs, so we thought why not?

I looked in the paper and we found some blonde/red colored ones that were only 7 weeks old (so small and still nursing from mom if they wanted to). They were kept outside in a small fenced area and not trained at all of course. The people didn't look like they really knew what they were doing, and didn't know much about the dogs at all (they said that they just bought the poodle to breed with their lab to make the labradoodles...so I think they just wanted the money from them). Anyway, it was SO overwhelming! All of these crazy puppies running all over you. Neither of us has ever had a puppy before, so that freaked us out a little. We left thinking, maybe we shouldn't do this. But, then I called another ad and we went the next day. These dogs were running around free (she had a few different breeds there, mostly smaller breeds) and they had a lot of acreage. There were 3 labradoodles left (all black, 2 males, one female). They only had one male and the female out running around when we got there. So Hayden played with the 2 dogs (they were chasing him around) for about 2 hours. We wanted to see what they were like and how they behaved, etc. The girl was MUCH more hyper than the boy. So in the end, we decided to take the plunge and we got the boy and the rest is history.

I think Porter and Hayden will become the best of friends....after Porter stops attacking him that is! But, really...even when Porter is a little too rough while playing, Hayden never seems to really be afraid of him. The next second they are back playing together again. Hayden likes to throw balls for Porter to fetch and he is already tattling on him when he picks up something he shouldn't (which is pretty much everytime I turn around!).

I think Porter fits in very well with our family already. He is mellow and loving, and spunky when he wants to be. I can't wait to see how he grows up!

Check out pictures of our new little guy here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjm/sets/72157594254167491/ -- mam