Weighing in at 13lbs...
Otherwise known as my little hunky dunk, Bogie!
He turned 1 year old on December 13th, and our 1 year anniversary was January 27th. He's incredibly smart. He knows how to sit, stay, say please (beg), drop it, and is house broken even though we haven't had one training session. We paper trained him when he lived with Jason in his apartment, but when he moved back into Jason's parent's house with Jason, he house broke himself. His favorite activity is chasing his tail and playing fetch with his stuffed armadillo. He responds to 3-word sentances. People may say that dog's don't understand words, but I swear he has the vocabulary of a 3 year old. My favorite thing he does is when he hops up and down like a bunny because he's really excited about something instead of jumping with his front legs, or when he tries to use his front paws like hands because that's what he sees us doing. He has a very strong pack mentality and is the peace keeper with me and Jason. He knows Jason's the pack leader, I'm the second in command, and he's the squirt at the bottom of the totem pole, so he tries to keep us together and is happiest when we're all snuggled up together on the couch. It freaks him out when Jason and I are upset with each other and he seems to get worried when Jason and I are in seperate rooms. I'm not sure if it's a behavioral problem or an anxiety problem or not, but it's really endearing.
Jason and I decided we wanted to expand our family in January of last year. We really wanted to take our commitment to the next level, but we couldn't afford to get engaged yet. We knew it would be a huge undertaking, so we researched different breeds for months to find the right one for our personalities and our situation. Jason grew up with a shih-tzu and ever since she went to puppy heaven he has wanted another one. By the time she passed his parents were a little older and didn't want the undertaking of raising a puppy. He was in high school and wouldn't have had the time to do it himself. Now that we were out of college (later, Jason would go back but do online classes only) and had regular jobs, we felt like we were ready time-wise and fiscally, but we also felt like we were emotionally ready to invest love and time into something (or someone) else jointly. We felt like we were ready to love something else warts and all. Before we had Bogart, we felt like there was a little hole in our lives. It wasn't that we wanted something to love jointly, we needed it. We weren't financially ready to get engaged, so we certainly weren't ready for a family. But we had already been together for (at that point) 2 1/2 years and the need was there.
We researched and researched and literally pined for a puppy of our own for about 3 months, when we finally found a breeder close by. We had initially wanted to use a shih-tzu rescue, but we really wanted to start young and they didn't have any available that were any younger than 2 years old. The breeder was reputable, trustworthy, and had a long line of happy families with happy dogs. They also just happened to have a mommy dog that was due in the middle of December, which would mean that they would be ready to go home the last week of January. Jason wanted to give me a puppy for my birthday, so this was perfect. After a lot of communication back and forth and a rather lengthy interview, we were finally approved to pick out a puppy of our own. We went to meet the puppies the day of my birthday, and even though they were so young they already had very different personalities. We finally picked our puppy out, a docile tri-color that seemed to just want to snuggle rather than be hyper and play a lot. After that, we had 2 1/2 weeks to puppy-proof our home, and make sure we had everything we needed.
We finally picked Bogie up at 10:30 at night on January 27th. It was cold and wet, and we were so tired! We had to drive about an hour to get out to the farm the puppies were born on, but the ride back wasn't that bad. We went straight to Jason's mom and dad's house to show them our little bundle of joy. He was restless the whole car ride back to Birmingham, but as soon as Jason's mom held Bogie in her arms, he quieted down and went to sleep. We found during the night that followed that he was a very good sleeper, and didn't cry for his mom and siblings. He has been one of the best things to happen to mine and Jason's relationship, and has changed our lives forever.
More pictures of Bogie:
This is Bogie at 5 weeks when we picked him out. He looked more like a gerbil than a puppy!
This is Bogie at 8 weeks when we brought him home. He grew so much in that short amount of time! He is so handsome!
This is Bogie at around 3 months old. He was so cute! (He still is :))
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