HELLO! Time to introduce ourselves!

We began our journey into the shelter world about a month ago.

We are a family of five:  Gman - age 12.  Jbird, age 10, and Dboy, age 6.  Gman and Jbird are my "cat" kids - they LOVE cats.  Especially my oldest. You could almost say it's an obsession for him.  Myself - I am the same way.  I love cats, adore cats, and just can hardly get enough of them.  My daughter is more like, "Animals are cuddly and cute and nice" in her attitude.  My youngest is our dog-child.  He will chase down ANYONE walking a dog, having to pet their dog whenever he can.  He reads dog stories, he sighs with joy whenever he sees a dog picture or puppy picture.  He LOVES dogs.  His bedroom is Snoopy.  Did I mention he enjoys dogs????  My husband is the mentally stable one when it comes to animals - loves them, but not obsessed.  So, he keeps us from becoming an animal shelter of our own, haha.

Our journey at the shelter began one night after my 6 year old started crying, telling me how much he wanted a dog. First off, I told him he needed to pray about it - and ask God to work in all of us - to let us know "when it was time" and we were ready as a family, to take on the responsibility of a dog.

Then, I started thinking of the dogs at the shelter/Humane Society in town, and how lonely they must feel at times.  So, we loaded up and went there to sign up as volunteers.

What astounds me is how quickly the dogs and cats have gotten to know us and recognize us.  Since we just got Teddy, we have taken a few days off of going, but we have not stopped being volunteers.  I just felt we needed some time to get used to our own new boy.

I have noticed myself wondering about the other dogs, and how they're doing.  Even Dboy had a dream last night about one of our doggy friends there - Cooper.  That was the first dog we took out on a walk. 

That was an interesting lesson for me.  For some odd reason, I assumed all dogs love kids.  Or at least want to play.  Not so with Cooper - he is friendly to my son, not mean, but rather aloof.  I noticed that immediately and realized that was not what I would want in a family pet.  Dboy loved him, just the same, and the last time we took Coop for a walk, he played ball, ran beside us outside, etc.  My son's favorite thing to do when walking Cooper is to hold his paw high in the air and sing, 'Here comes the king!  Make way for the King" every time we take him outside.  I usually carry the smaller dogs out side until we get out, then they can run and do their business.

Here's a pic of Cooper:

He is a sweet heart, but, as I said - rather aloof toward my youngest.  I knew if we were to get a dog, he would have to be readily accepting of my son, as he would hopefully become my youngest son's dog.

My favorite was a boy named Honey - Honey already has his forever home - I figured he'd find a home quickly.

Honey would shake and get all excited when he'd see me, and would snuggle in my arms.  I learned all about tiny dogs from Honey, and soon realized - that would NOT work in our home!  As awesome as this lil boy was, he would have been trampled in our VERY, VERY active home.

These are two dogs that were/are favorites of the family's. . . until Teddy, of course, lol.

Anyway - that is our family, these were two of the first dogs that "impacted me" from the Humane Society dog walking experience!

Next blog - I'll talk a little about the Cats in the cat room!