Falling in Love
I had to surrender a beloved Westie I’d had for almost 10 years. The Westie cringed whenever our rambunctious 4 year old moved. Finally the Westie had had enough, and she lunged with teeth and claws as my little one knelt in front of her. The result: deep scratches beside my daughter’s eye, and worst of all, puncture marks two centimeters from her eyeball. A trip to the emergency room later, we knew what had to be done.
Fortunately, the Westie Rescue people are lovely. They’re warm, kind, fiercely devoted dog people. I can not say enough good things about them. They took in the dog who could no longer fit with our family and found her a wonderful new home.
But, for me, a home isn’t a home without a pet. Research combined with my husband’s experience owning a labrador retriever convinced us that a lab was a better choice for our family. More research introduced us to a few breeders. We ended up with a yellow lab puppy.
His name is Gabriel and he makes us all laugh. He’s smart and adorable and funny, loving and sweet and rambunctious, infectiously exuberant, tolerant, playful, and always willing to snuggle. Puppies are magical. We are all enamored of him.