Everyone, meet Gus. He is our new 9 week-old Goldendoodle. His full name is Gustafson (because we live in Minnesota now, dontcha know?). He's black now, but he'll his coat will change to silver as he gets a little older.
Probably still drunk off the high of having gotten an offer on the Charlotte house (we are officially "under contract"), we decided to be spontaneous and just go get the new dog we'd been fantasizing about for a while. We took a trip to the local humane society on Friday night, hoping to find a boxer or boxer mix (we are in love with my brother's boxer). During that excursion, we learned quite a few things about our eldest son. We knew he seemingly had sensitive hearing, but the poor kid absolutely lost it upon entering a kennel full of about 20 barking dogs. He was crying uncontrollably, with hands pressed against his ears, begging to leave. So Matt and I took turns waiting in the hall with the boys while the other scoped out the dogs. We decided to ask for an outdoor visit with Tank, a 7-month old, super cute boxer mix. It was then that we learned how much Noah hates big dogs. We knew he wasn't a huge fan, but he wanted NOTHING to do with poor Tank, who admittedly was pretty hyper and very strong and not exactly gentle with the boys. No matter how we tried to convince him otherwise, he remained completely freaked out by that dog and adamently opposed the idea of us taking him home. So we left the pound empty-handed and headed to the Chiptole for dinner (yum).
Our dilemma was that Noah was going to be perpetually freaked out by any large dog or yappy dog or any other dog with a persistent bark (thankfully ruling out Matt's request for a coonhound). But Matt & I really, really wanted a "big"dog. Mabel is great and all, but she's not much for fetch and can barely tolerate a walk around the block. She sleeps approximately 23 hours of the day. We wanted a golden retriever or a labrador -- a fantastic family dog, known for being gentle on the munckins -- to take on hikes and trips to the lake, but we didn't want the shedding. So we decided on a doodle, and we knew that we had to get a puppy, so Noah would have time to get used to it before it got too big.
And voila, Mabel has a baby brother. Wish us luck.
UPDATE: Day 1 and a half, and Gus is doing great. He made it basically the whole night without having an accident (Matt took him out early this morning and waited to do his business until he was outside), and barely whimpered at all during the night (or maybe he did, but we just couldn't hear him because he insisted on sleeping under our bed). When Mabel pees (which she only does outside, God bless her), Gus pees. Mabel is clearly in charge, and Gus seems to gladly submit. But he desperately wants to be outside, and only occasionally and with much hesitancy is he willing to leave his spot on the rug by the backdoor. We're off to the vet at 3 to have him checked out. I think this is going to be great!
