Say It With Me People....AWWWWWWWWW

Awwww...wittle baby!!!!

Heidi Mamma

Our beautiful Heidi number 3 (long story but she is the third Heidi we have owned...first one we had to leave behind in the states because we couldn't afford the quarantine cost to bring her to Norway and number 2 was pretty much the same story, the second time we tried to make a go of it in the states and got Heidi number 2 and then changed our minds and came back to Norwayand couldn't afford to bring her with us) Heidi number three came into our lives and has been exactly what we wanted and hoped for in a family dog. She was never considered for showing, we never planned to have pups with her (she arranged her one and only litter on her own) She was simply meant to be a very well loved family pet and that she has been and still is. She has always been a joy, when she was younger and not sterilized she was a much fitter and more active Heidi. Her biggest hobby has been stones...she loves them. You could throw stones in the water for her and she would FEEL for the stone you threw with her paw, dunk her head underwater and come up with exactly that stone! When we would go up in the mountains, she would always find stones and carry them back down the mountain with us. Needless to say this habit has not been to her teeth's best interest!!! But she has never had problems eating, in fact, she has never had ANY problems...she has been healthy as a horse!

But her age is showing....more and more for everyday. This coming September she will be 13. We hope we can have her here with us as long as possible but we see that it's getting harder for her, even with the help of Rimydal. If it gets much worse then it is we will have to consider doing what is best for her and not us...but we are all hoping we don't have to play God yet again with one of our animals...and that nature will take it's course when it's time and everything will be peaceful. Isn't that how we all wish it could be when we lose one of our best buddies?? Knowing we will be facing a future without Heidi has made us begin looking for a replacement for her as our family mascot. We have been looking for awhile at various breeds, everything from Dachs, Shetland Sheepdogs, Jack Russells, Border Collies and Australian Shepherds...we want something small to medium in size since we already have the lionesses and that's enough BIG doggies in the house, we want something smart so we can do a lot of the fun activities we have read about like freestyle dancing and agility and flyball and frisbee tossing and not that a Leo can't learn these activities but you could never compete with a leo in these events and I can tell you I wouldn't want a leo to run up and over my back in order to catch a frisbee I was tossing....thank you very much.....

Darling hubby, aka Captain, is a smart man who appreciates a smart animal which is why he's been attracted to the Jack Russell but it just hasn't clicked with me and the JR breed...I can't put my finger on it but there is something that says that breed would NOT do well here.

The other night Sarah and I were looking at a friend's blog and she was posting pictures of her new litter of Australian Shepherds. Sarah begged me to ask her on MSN if all the pups were sold, which I did...and she of course answered NO!!! Huff....ok...well, to make a long story short which is just about impossible for me...after listening to a fantastic offer we couldn't really possibly say no too (well we could...but when it involves adorable puppies who in their right mind would say no??) we came to the decision that our next mascot would be an Australian Shepherd from my friend's litter. Sarah was over the top thrilled, finally we were going to be getting her dream dog! I told her not to tell her dad anything just yet...the Captain has to be gently persuaded into thoughts of more fur babies in the house...it's a delicate thing that takes time to figure out how best to present it too him....

Well, a day or two went by...I'm guessing no more then two days because Sarah and I were walking around the house like giggling girlfriends with THE biggest coolest most wonderful secret ever and SOOOOO ready to tell the world!!!! I had over the period of those two days shown some puppy photos to Stig...just randomly...."oh aren't these adorable honey??" and he would barely look up from his Ipod...finally I got up the nerve while I was at work....called him during a break and we were talking about Heidi's state at the moment and I said, "well, it sure will be nice when the new puppy comes and we will continue to have a mascot even after Heidi's gone" "Oh?" I heard on the other end of the phone....to which I began telling him about the most adorable puppies that we had decided we wanted as our next mascot and how smart they were so he could have his smart dog even though it wouldn't be a JR and so on and so on....To my great surprise he simply asked when the pup was coming and how much and that's it. Not a drop of hesitation or any attempts to tell me this was NOT an idea he agreed too...nothing...When I got home I showed him the photos Sarah and I had been oogling at the last couple days and pointing out which ones could possibly be our new girl...that Sarah and I had also thought we'd like to name, Jenny. He looked a bit thoughtful about the name Jenny and we started throwing out some other possible names and he was giving us his opinion...which means he had an interest...which is good...very good!!! And after a couple more days this is the little girl I think we have all lost our heart too....

Say it with me people........awwwwwwwwwwww