Meet Olive!

SQUEEE!!!

Those of you who know me best know that I only reserve "Squeee!" for exceptionally small, exceedingly cute animals or babies.

Weeeellll.....

LOGAN SURPRISED ME AND GOT A PUPPY!!!

We just brought her home and she is wittle and sweet and black and has so much extra skin it's ludicrous. She has had a very big, very long day.

This is how it went: I have wanted a dog since...I dunno...2004 when I moved away from our family dog, Lady. But I lived in the dorms and they generally frown on the stashing of small animals in the 150 sq. ft. room. So no puppy for me. In 2005 after Logan left me to go on his mission, I got a kitten and treated her like a puppy. It was good enough for me at the time, and I now have the world's best cat.

Before we got married, I made it very clear that we would be owning a dog in the future. And ever-obliging Logan consented so long as it was well trained (which, of course she would be because I would train her). For the past year and a half I have brought up puppy ownership occasionally, and Logan would defer the discussion to another time. Well this week I got moony over puppies again and I kept looking for them on KSL classifieds. I asserted my desire with a bit more seriousness, and Logan kept teasing me and saying no which made me whine a little more, which made him tease even more...

But NEVER in my wildest dreams would I have suspected that Logan had long been hatching a Puppy Procurement Plan. Yesterday I slept in, judged the moot court competition, and drove to Sandy to see Jennie's new twins (which are so cute and wee, they are deserving of their own post). High on the 4 and 6 pound cuteness that are Camille and Joshua, we left the hospital. Just as we were out the door, Logan handed me a paper with a detailed spreadsheet of all the puppies I had fawned over on the KSL classifieds. He told me that he had contacted all the owners, researched all the breeds, and lastly, that I could have whichever one I wanted.

I promptly freaked out and asked him if he was sure about 100 times. When he assured me that he was, we called my favorite--no answer. We called my second favorite--again, no answer. Since the puppies I wanted most were up North, we decided to stick around to see if they would call. At IKEA we got a dog bed, a leash, a toy, and were disappointed when after hours of shopping for puppy paraphernalia, no one called. We killed more time waiting by getting puppy food and treats. It was getting late, and my heart was sinking as I realized I probably wouldn't get to go home with a puppy. It was a bit anticlimactic getting all the stuff and not having a puppy to show for it.

On a whim, I started searching the KSL classifieds on my iPhone to see if any new pups had been posted. I passed by a black lab ad in Payson a couple of times before finally clicking on it. It said simply: "Call us whenever! We're up late." So I did. The woman I called had gone to the grocery store earlier that day and bought a puppy from someone claiming to have found a litter abandoned in a ditch. When she got home to her small condo, she was struck with the realization that she should not have a black lab without space and a back yard, so she posted it online and I called 10 minutes later.

They stayed up for us as we drove from Sandy to Payson, and we thanked them profusely for the sweet little 6 week puppy. She slept hard for hours after we got her home. I tried to persuade her to play with bacon, and not even pure pork fat could wake her up. We tried to take her for a walk to get out her energy, but she was just dragged along. Since the humans were still up for walking, we visited the Ellises (and their resentful duo of cats) to introduce little Olive, who mostly slept in their arms the entire time.

Her powersleeping (and consequentially, ours) came to a halt late that night in our bedroom because she couldn't keep warm on her own. Today we broke down and bought her sweaters--which are SO cute!!! It's wonderful to have an excuse to dress up my doggie (and until he saw her shivering, Logan absolutely forbade me from doing so).

Today she is a complete and happy puppy. She barks and plays and fallaops and rolls and chews on her chew toy that is almost as big as herself. She tries to follow Mrs. R. all around the room and Mrs. R. looks back at her every few steps, completely annoyed. But I can already see that Olive is learning! The 2 concrete steps to our tiny backyard were insurmountable yesterday, but she has conquered them. AND she seems to be almost completely potty trained. I took her outside after her tinkle on the floor, and now she grunts, or walks to the door whenever she needs to go. We have had no accidents since.

After playing hard, she has finally given up and fallen asleep on her bed. I feel like a new parent who needs to steal a few hours of sleep while I can.

Goodnight!