The Newest Member

We have yet another new member of our family. Sort of. I do not consider dogs to have equal standing as a member of a family, but she's new, she's living, and she will most likely be around for quite some time. I think. Haha! Depends on if she drives me crazy or not.

Also, I have officially found something harder to take a picture of than a little kid. This is Piper. This would have been a cute picture if I could have gotten her to hold still for at least one second. She can move really fast.



Or she's just more interested in attacking leaves.



Or sniffing the plethora of trash that line the streets of North Minneapolis. Each single piece of who knows what.



Even if the dog will hold still for more than a second, getting it to actually look at me for more than a millisecond is close to impossible. I am sure she will slow down in the upcoming months and I will be able to actually get some cute pictures of her. Because, regardless of whether or not I wanted a dog, which I didn't, I do think Piper is a very pretty dog.

Steve has been trying to convince me that we should get a dog for years and I have never wanted one. My really good and reasonable excuse is that we haven't had enough room or a yard - essentially we didn't have a house. (Not to mention my other reasons: they chew things, they smell, they are a lot of work, and in the city you have to pick up their poop with your hand anytime they poop somewhere besides your yard. And your yard is so small you will pick up the poop anyway so your kids don't have to play in it.) Well, now that we are in the process of getting a house (more on that later!!) I couldn't think of any good excuses anymore. Darn it.

But, certain requirements for a dog were as follows: Heidi, NO SHEDDING. Steve, big dog. Heidi, not being responsible for said animal. Steve, big dog.

So this is Piper, a German Short Hair Poodle Pointer. We considered getting a Goldendoodle or a Labradoodle, but neither of us thought they were especially cute dogs. Their hair gets so long and curly! But because Piper is half German Short Hair Pointer (GSHP), her hair will stay much shorter, and it might get a slight wave or it might stay fairly short and straight. Some of the mixes actually looked really similar to the GSHP, which I have always thought to be really pretty dogs. So we just happened to find a litter of these puppies about 20 miles away from Willmar and took a little road trip with Kyeson and our friend Gennae to get Piper.



Berlin finally gets her dog that she has been wanting her whole life - all of three years, but still :) One thing that Berlin didn't even realize is that she would finally get someone that she could boss around. Let's just say she is taking full advantage of her standing as Piper's boss. I am surprised Piper even likes her.



Speaking of, regardless of whether or not I wanted a dog, which I didn't, Piper is a pretty great dog. She is fairly smart, part Poodle remember, and is already responding to her training. She let's the girls do whatever they want and doesn't get mad. She's funny and runs around the yard in figure 8's barking and growling at nothing. And besides the fact that we will have to throw away our living room rug because it smells like dog pee, which if I hadn't already spilled a wine cooler on it the week Kye was born and it if hadn't left a big pink stain I would be really upset because I really liked the rug, Piper is alright.