When our oldest daughter, Samantha, was around 9 she asked her Dad if she could get a little dog for her birthday. He told her no, that we already had a dog. She pleaded and begged and finally he told her that she could have a little dog all her own when she was 12, and old enough to take care of it herself.

She promptly took pen to paper and made up a contract stating that when she was 12 she could get a little dog all her own. We signed it. And then forgot all about it. Until she turned 10 the next year and happily proclaimed that she only had two years to wait until she could get her dog.

What dog, we asked? The one you told me I could get when I was 12. "We never told you that" I said. "Oh yes you did" our oldest daughter proclaimed smugly. "Seeeee" (as she produces the signed contract we had obviously forgotten about from the year before).

The contract jogged my memory and I knew we were in big trouble. She had saved it between her mattress that entire year. The next year she turned 11 and happily proclaimed she only had one year left until the dog would be hers.

Sigh. What do you think the odds are that she will forget about this by her next birthday I asked hubby? "Slim to none" he replied. "Yeah, I thought so" I said defeated.

I felt we really had enough on our plate without adding another animal. However, a deal was a deal. As her twelfth birthday approached this past April talk of the dog was at a fever pitch. The contract we had signed was hanging on our daughters wall. There was no getting out of this.

In March we told her we would honor the contract and get her a dog when she got out of school for the summer. That way she would have all summer to train her puppy and take care of his/her needs as she would be completely responsible for the dog.

We started looking and had a hard time finding her "dream dog" somewhere in our price range. I refused to pay $1,500 for a dog. We searched rescue agencies online and the local dog shelter weekly but never found just what she was looking for. Until three weeks ago.

We found her.....

All one and a half pounds of her. Meet Jo Jo. Our daughters dream come true. Her cute little 9 week old puppy.
This is our very tired daughter with her little dog. He doesn't really like to sleep at night yet.
I told her this is good training for when she becomes a mom. She bathes her, gives her medicine each day (she seems to have a low blood sugar problem) and rocks her to sleep. She is working on the potty training but the blades of grass are still bigger than the dog so she isn't real sure about going outside yet. She prefers the newspaper.

She is a really sweet dog and we have all fallen in love with her. Samantha is doing a great job and I can see that she will be a really good mommy some day. That's if she doesn't decide to go to law school first. Her legal mind is a little scary. and fun. and remarkable. Man I love that kid.

Labels: animals, Girl stuff