a tale of 2 pups

I thought I'd take a moment to share with you the full story of how I got {new puppy} Tucker. It all started when Robbie decided he wanted to get a dog.  We started looking online at the shelters and even visited a few of the local city ones here.  Whenever I go into those places, my heart strings pull, but I have pretty good restraint when it comes to taking one home.  

You need to know...I have grown up with dogs...in fact, I have had 11 dogs in my family [McGhee, Morgan, Bubba, Snickers, Larry, Mosey Girl, Bella, Jack, Rudy, Izzy & Olive.  My parents currently have Bella, Izzy & Rudy and Erin has Olive].  We are dog people, for sure. 

Back to the story.  Robbie saw lots of cute dogs, but never "the one".  Then, on a whim, we decided to go to Operation Kindness, an hour before they closed.  And we saw this guy:

That's Bear.  Robbie instantly knew he was the one.  So, he adopted him on Monday, and he would be ready for pick-up on Thursday.  (He had to get neutered, that's their policy).  Of course, I browsed through all the puppies and saw this little guy:

Hi name was Brian at the time, and he was all by himself since his brother and sister had just been adopted.  I petted him through his cage as he slept but never got him out.  Adopting him was not in my mind at that time.

The next day I woke up thinking of "Brian".  I could not stop thinking about him...which is so unlike me.  I see cute little dogs all the time, especially at work, because my boss has a rescue org., so she constantly has dogs in her office from the streets.  "Brian" was different.  There was something about him.  After I finished some stuff for work I headed to Robbie's; he wanted me to go to the pet supply store with him to get ready for Bear.  I told him I could not stop thinking about "Brian". So, we went back to Operation Kindness to see him. After much "should I or shouldn't I", and text messages to my mom & sister, they all told me to get him.  So, I adopted him.  He got to come home that day (because he was already fixed) and the rest is history.

Last week was CRAZY.  New puppy that I did not plan on getting = very unorganized kelly.  It was nuts around here. Olive has been a bit territorial; she is used to being the only dog. Hopefully they will be best buds soon!  Bear and Tuck LOVE each other.  It's fun to see them play.

Overall he is a great puppy.  He is very cuddly, sleeps A LOT (is that a puppy thing?) & loves walks (he does awesome on a leash).  Now we are working on crate training, although I let him sleep in my bed.  {I can't resist...he is so little and cuddly and sleeps through the night that way!}  I would love any ideas on crate training.  It will be for when I am not home or need him out of the way.

If you made it to the end of this {long, possibly boring post} then you are probably a dog person.  Ha ha.  Like I said...let me know your crate training/potty training secrets.  Just leave me a comment...I could use the help!!

P.S.  Everyone asks what kind of dog he is (on our walks, especially).  He is a mutt, but we think he has terrier, maybe some beagle, maybe some dachshund. Is it crazy that I am thinking of getting the doggie DNA kit?  I saw someone {on a blog, of course} do one and it looked like it worked.  I am curious...  (UPDATED:  Tucker is a border terrier mix....and no, I did not get the doggie DNA test.  Ha!)