Monkey the Dog

Today we got a new addition to the family. His name is Monkey and he is a 3 year old lhasa apso/shih tzu mix dog. Ever since we made our labs outdoor dogs P has been asking for another dog. At first Rob didn't agree to it. Then he said when we had to put Holly down we could. Then in the past month he realized that P really wanted a small dog so he gave in. I had visions of getting a puppy and doing the newborn thing together all over again. Been there, done that and it made me sad to have to give the last puppy away after a month or so. I'm a firm believer in "Once you adopt an animal it is your responsibility until it dies". So I wanted to do my research and find us the perfect forever dog. I had to find one that didn't shed and was good with kids and other dogs. I emailed 1-2 dozen people about dogs that I had found on the Internet but without much success in finding our perfect dog. P and I even drove an hour to some guy's house yesterday to look at his dog but we walked away knowing he wasn't a perfect match for us (It did break my heart to leave the dog though, knowing its living conditions were less than ideal). While the boys napped yesterday I got on Craigslist for the upteenth time (I traded my addiction with FB for an addiction with Craigslist). That's when I found Hotchi. I immediately called his owner after reading how perfect he is. Luckily I found the listing for him so quickly because his owner said she had several people calling about him and one lady begged her to come see him. The only glitch was that he was in Sacto. I called my parents and asked if the boys and I could stay with them last night so we could get to the lady's house first thing this morning. As soon as we pulled up and saw Hotchi I was in love. As was P. The lady told us that she had had Hotchi for a couple months. He had lived with an older gentleman who only fed him people food for his entire life (Sound familiar anyone?? HA!). Recently the guy got to the point where he couldn't care for Hotchi and took him to a shelter. Brenda (the lady who we bought him from) fell in love and immediately adopted him. She taught him to only eat dog food and to do his "business" on the lawn instead of the cement. She fell in love with him....but her older lhasa didn't. He attacked Hotchi last week and got his eye pretty good. Brenda realized that it wasn't fair for Hotchi to be in a house where he'd be attacked. That's where we come in. We adopted him and P quickly renamed him "Monkey". He's now home and the entire family has fallen in love with him (Other than Holly who has yet to meet him and may not ever meet him). Monkey follows P everywhere and stands at the door, whining, when he goes in the backyard without him. I'm very thankful that our patience has paid off. I think that Monkey is going to be the perfect addition!