Our New Baby - Homie Mijo

After our Chipper passed away it was hard to even think about getting another dog. We didn't want to feel like we were replacing him. But, we knew some day we'd want to get a companion for Javie. She was so good for Chip and we knew we wanted her to have a friend, too.

Our friends had watched Javie for us one weekend and liked the dynamic of 2 dogs. So, they started looking. Which led to us looking. They found a place in Eden Valley that had a variety of puppies.

We had run across a couple of Australian Sheppard's in our path. A lady I roomed with at Camp Pepin with had one. We saw one at Minnehaha Falls. I started to research them and turns out they are very popular, intelligent, family dogs.

This place our friends found had a couple. A white one and a couple brown ones. Obviously the white one caught our attention. It had such cool markings and baby blue eyes.

Our friends ended up going there and choosing a puppy for their family and named him Rocky. This just heightened our want for one, too. So, over Memorial weekend we took the trip there. We went in telling the girls we were "just looking", but knew damn well we'd be coming home with a dog.

We got there and the room with the puppies was very small. There were several behind glass and several more in a crate in the middle of the floor. I was overwhelmed and claustrophobic almost immediately. The girls both asked to hold the white Australian Sheppard right away and I went for a small black Yorkie poo. Immediately after I handed him to Adam, he peed all over his shirt. So, he was a no go. The girls would not let go of the Aussie. I had to heavily encourage them to look at the other puppies. We can't just pick one in the first second we are here. As we had gotten the white Aussie out to hold, another family had taken the little brown one out, but soon put him back. So, the girls picked him up, too, convinced we would just get them both. They were in love.

I was starting to loose my breath and felt myself spiral. I quickly befriended a woman who was sitting in a chair holding a little black and white pup. She was overwhelmed, too. Finally, I told Adam I just couldn't take it anymore. I wanted to leave. This wasn't the time. I couldn't make a decision like this. This was a huge decision and a big commitment and I wanted to be sure we were getting the right dog. And the girls had already made up their minds.

As always, Adam quickly saw that I was serious and either had to get me out of there or handle the situation. He asked a worker if we could take the 2 Aussie's outside, away from all the people. He allowed us to take them to a private carpeted area in their gift shop. My new friend (Brenda) and her husband did the same thing.

The white Aussie was super cute, but I noticed that her hips were dropping when she walked and she was pretty skiddish and just wanted to hide behind us. The little brown one wanted to hide, too, but when Lilli laid down on the floor on her back, he crawled right up on top of her and licked her face. SOLD!

It was the exact sign I needed that this was the dog for us. Lilli's favorite thing to do is to lay on the floor and play with her puppies and this dog would play with her and love on her. We made the decision and then talked to Brenda and her husband for a bit and helped convince them to get the little pup they were playing with. We both agreed, it was meant to be.

We brought them to purchase and they both got taken back to get a nice bath so they were fresh and clean for us to take them home.

We had a few names picked out and immediately knew this was our little Homie. The name came from our favorite contestant on American Idol, who called everyone his Homie.

We got him to the car and he snuggled right into Alexa's lap and laid his head in her hands. He was so sleepy and slept most of the way home. We stopped for lunch and let him walk around in the grass, which he didn't like very much. We stopped at Chuck and Dons to get him a leash and harness and then to Target to find a bell so we could train him. While Adam and Alexa ran into the store Lilli and I had him out in the grass running around. He was so cute and playful.

When we got home we had the girls bring the blanket he used into the house to have Javie sniff it and Adam and I took Homie to the back yard to get acquainted. Then we let the girls bring Javie out to meet her new brother. The did the sniff test to each other. Homie wanted more to do with her than she did with him, but they quickly became friends and ran around and played with each other and chased the ball. We spent all afternoon outside with them.

We miss our Chipper so much and he will never be 'replaced', but we are so grateful to have Homie join our family and are looking forward to the memories we'll make with him.