Hi, sorry I forgot who it was:

I was just wondering on an update an the 2 Llasa puppies you added to your family recently. How is it going? I am curious as we are intensifying a search for a little dog to add to our family and I am wondering how the adjustment was. I never knew looking for a new pet could be so difficult.

BTW, anyone in the MA area have any leads for us? We have found one that is adorable online, but waiting to do a real-life meeting to see if it is a good match. Sheesh - this is more time consuming and stressful than I thought - lol. But well worth it I am sure. We don't want to pay a ton of money and aren't interested in papers, breeding, etc.... but want to find a good little pet for our kids, friendly, not too big or too small. Any suggestions - other than shelters - have done local checks and nothing that would work well for us.

Jan
Mom to 5 blessings
Ricky 17, Matthew 11, Jared, Brandon & Lisa, age 5 (33.1 wks)

JW
b 20 b 14 b/b/g 8

"I am too blessed to be stressed"

I know you weren't asking for large dog recommendations, but I can't help putting in a vote for Greyhounds! We adopted a retired racing dog when the trips were about 3. I couldn't handle potty training one more living creature! Greyhounds are very gentle dogs and don't need much care. They are great with kids because they aren't aggressive, if a child scares them or hurts them they will just run away. A big misconception is that they need lots of exercise, that just isn't true, they don't need any more than any other dog. They are very tall animals, but not big, our male weighs less than 70 pounds. The really great thing is that most adoption groups put them into foster care before they place them with a family. This way they are completely house trained before they come to the adoptive family. In our case, we requested that we get a dog that had been in "foster care" in a home with small children so that he was already used to kids. On top of that, many people who are allergic to dogs aren't allergic to Greys, they don't shed much, and don't really bark much (ours might bark a couple of times per year). Greyhounds are one of the purest breeds and the adoption costs aren't too much. Our Grey was 3 years old when we adopted him, he just wasn't a fast runner so they retired him, before the adoption program he would have been put to sleep when the track was done with him. The other great thing for us, one of our boys loves animals but can't handle hyper puppies (he is mildly autistic), he bonded immediately with our Grey and they have been best buddies for the last six years. Best of luck on your search for the perfect pet!

Take care,
Kristin
Mom to Hayden, Evan, Conner-13 and Kelsey-11
www.cure4conner.org

Hi Jan, have you tried www.petfinder.org ? Sometimes, too, breeders have puppies that are imperfect to show/breed because of small imperfections, and they will sell them for cheaper.

We are on the South Shore and are looking ourselves at the moment. I just heard from a girl I work with that there is a woman in Hanover, a Hannah Coffee (don't know number), who breeds labradors and gives them good socialisation. However, I don't know if I want a lab as her puppy sounds like a lot of work!

Mom of a princess, age six, and two princes, age 4

Hi Jan,

That was me!!!! We got them on 1/2/04 we had to wait a few extra days because one of them had to have surgery. He had a hernia repaired, and is doing great now.
The adjustment has been a change. Let me start by saying first we had two major adjustments in one week. The puppies came on that Friday and were with us over the weekend. My husband worked over the weekend so that was hard. Then on Monday the kids started preschool/daycare. My husband has been working the 2pm-10pm shift and now is going days so the kids go to preschool 4 mornings a week while I work. I didn't get anything done this week but play with puppies and clean up messes. Now that they have been here for a week the potty training is going better.


As for the kids, my dh and I said we could of just bought a kennel and dog toys and gave them to the kids. LOL The kids are more interested in just playing with the toys, so we have to remind them to play and pet the puppies too. Alex will get right down and let the puppies climb on him and kiss him to death, too cute. The puppies are doing the normal biting stuff, but we make sure they have plenty of toys and the kids know of give them a toy if they start biting. Jessica is the only one that is kind of afraid of them, they love her hair and Jessica hates them on her. Anyway, things are going good with everyone.

I don't think I can help much with a breeder though, our breeder doesn't do it much and is not in it for the money. I also live in Iowa.

If you have any more questions, please let me know.

I will try to post a picture soon. I haven't been on much this week and haven't taken any good pictures yet.

Debbie
Mom to Jessica, Alex, & Tracie