A new family member has joined Sarah and her family in Illinois. And he’s just about the cutest–I said just about, Baxter, don’t worry.

In my last post I left you hanging with the announcement that we had someone new joining our family. I am proud to introduce Blitz!

Last year I introduced my sweet Treu, but what I have not really wanted to write about was that in January of this year he got really sick.

He fought pneumonia for a while and then he quit eating and then quit drinking anything. It was at that point that the vet felt we were fighting something much more severe, most likely cancer.

Treu was 2 months short of his 13th birthday and I could not justify putting him through any invasive diagnostics or treatments. So I made the heartbreaking decision to put him to sleep. It was by far the hardest decision that I have ever had to make.

I went through all spring and summer working in the yard and garden without my sidekick.

I needed some time to grieve for him, but it was really hard not to have a dog at my side. (I should note that we still have Steve’s Lab, Brody. We have not been completely without a dog. But Brody is very clearly Steve’s dog and I have been missing having “my” dog.)

Late this summer a friend who knows my love of German Shepherd dogs told me that he knew of a litter to be born late in August. It took me a little time to decide if I was ready or not, and finally I decided that this little monster needed to join our family.

It has been 13 years since I have had a puppy. I had forgotten a few things, but they came rushing back:

1. Puppies sleep a lot. They have times of intense energy and play and then they crash…HARD.

2. Puppies don’t sleep of long periods of time. They want to play tug at 2am. And again at 4am.

3. No matter how many toys you buy for them, no matter what size, color, shape, no matter if they make noises or do not, puppies will chew on things that they are not supposed to.

4. You will have to clean up a lot of bathroom messes. It never fails, the moment you bring a puppy inside from going to the bathroom; he will pee right in the middle of the floor.

But, the puppy breath, the cuddles, the fun from teaching him a new trick, offsets all of the bad stuff. He won’t be a puppy forever so I am going to focus on all of the fun that we plan to have.

And all of the chickens that we have to chase.

Awww. I loooove that photo at #4. It’s totally an “I’m sorry” look. You both look so happy. It’s so nice to meet you, Blitz!