Pinto

This past Saturday, I woke up just after five in the morning, picked up Leah, and we drove to a rest stop in Delaware. What motivated us to do something so specific and annoying?

We got a puppy!

Leah has had at least one dog for as long as she can remember, but the day of our first date was the day she put down her last dog, Roo. While that's sad, she still kept our date, partly because she liked me and partly because she wanted the distraction. However, since that day, she's been without a dog. And Leah loves dogs. If we're going for a walk and she sees someone with a dog, her face lights up like a kid on Christmas morning. Since Roo's passing, she's visited multiple shelters and watched adoption websites looking for a dog that would be a good fit. She needed a dog that would be good with other pets, specifically cats, and small children (since we're planning on having some of them in a few years). No dog met her criteria, so she kept looking.

Over Columbus Day weekend, Leah and her whole family (including her brother Rob, sister Allie, and niece Becca) searched multiple sites looking for the right dog. That's when Leah found Pinto, a blue heeler/black labrador mix. Pinto is a rescue. When he was found, he was the runt of his litter and he had pneumonia. Leah and her family immediately fell in love with him and she submitted an application. We didn't hear back until nearly two weeks later, but when we did, she was ecstatic. So much so, that making the early morning drive was easy.

Leah, moments after meeting Pinto

During the trip back, Pinto was quiet. We figured that he was having a hard time with the change, but we later found out that he doesn't like car rides. As soon as we made it back to Harford County, we went to Leah's parent's place to introduce them to the puppy. Once Pinto was out of the car, his demeanor immediately changed: he was wagging his tail so hard that it was hitting each side of his torso, making a thumping sound.

Leah snuck into her parents' room and plopped Pinto done on their bed in between them. They both were happy for that style of wake up.

Kisses for Mommy!

One thing we noticed pretty soon was Pinto's cough. Considering his recent history, we played it safe and Leah had me bring him into the vet's office where she works as a technician. He was so calm throughout the whole thing, not even flinching when Leah took his temperature.

Calm, but not exactly happy

The vet said that he was dealing with some mild congestion and it probably wasn't related to the pneumonia. Still, she gave us the option of antibiotics, which we took. His cough cleared up a couple of days later.

In the ensuing days, Pinto's personality has started showing. He likes to pile his toys together, which I think means he's trying to herd them. He loves food and we're still teaching him not to try to steal food off of our plates. He loves to go outside and either run around or go for a walk on a leash. He does like to softly bite at us, which has me a little concerned: not everyone will know that he's only playing and someone might act aggressively towards him. Still, he's such an easygoing puppy. I was nervous since the last time I had a dog, I was small enough to be scared of him, so I didn't know how things would go, but Pinto's been a breeze so far.

One of my favorite things to see is when I come home from work and he recognizes me and gets excited. The look of pure joy that he has makes me really happy. In fact, soon after we got him, I looked him in the eyes and thought: "How could anyone look at this face and claim there's no God?"

When Leah and I met, I considered myself a cat person, but Pinto is rapidly converting me to the dog-side.