Post #7: Katie

We decided to buy a new dog soon after Spike died.  I wanted a dog like Spike, but knew that would be unlikely.  Especially since we did not even know for sure what breeds had mixed to create Spike.

So, I began to do a bit of research.  I asked some friends for recommendations and looked around on the fledging internet a bit.  The beagle had come up as a possible breed.  Kathy and I bought a book on beagles and read a bit about them.  We decided that a beagle would be great.  Who wouldn’t want Snoopy for a pet?

A search of the local paper revealed a family in Flour Bluff had some beagle puppies for sale.  We all piled into our minivan and headed across the bridge in search of the breeder’s home.

The puppies were adorable.  I mean really, have you ever seen a puppy that wasn’t?  There were several little balls of black and white fur romping in the grass and playing with each other.  Some seemed interested in us, and others were content to play with their siblings.

One puppy was a bit rounder than the others.  This little roly-poly puppy kept attacking my shoe laces.  Obviously, she had selected us for her new home.  And we decided that this was the little puppy that we wanted.

I’m not sure exactly how she came to be named “Katie.”  I am sure that I was relieved that this little girl would have a girl’s name.

We took Katie to the vet for her first check up and her first round of shots.  We discovered that there was a reason for that little fat tummy.  Katie was full of worms.

Katie was de-wormed and received all of the appropriate shots.  AND, we started her on heartworm prevention.  That was one lesson well-learned.  Of course we were still not experts in dog-care.  We were better.  But we still had a lot to learn.

Katie was such a tiny puppy. And we put her in a really big back yard.  We had bought her to be another “outside dog.”  Katie cried her first night in her new yard.  She didn’t have her mom or her siblings, and even the dog house we had for her was a bit big. 

At this point in my life, I wish that we had understood more about dogs (and my allergies) and that we had brought her into the house.  But I was worried about my asthma, and we were determined to make her an “outside dog.”  Katie did learn to be an outside dog.  She grew confident and comfortable in her new back yard.  Eventually, she was uncomfortable on those times that we allowed her to come into the house.

But still, I will always wonder about our decision.