Bella's Introduction

The picture above is not ours. Ours looks just like this one though. Our "T-Zones" for our camera isn't working so I am unable to post a picture of her. I'll get one up soon enough though.

Well, as some of you already know, we purchased a puppy! Erin and I have both wanted a dog for a while. After researching the different dog types and what we would like, we ended up with a miniature dachshund. (Sorry Sadie, it just wasn't meant to be. I did fight for ya though.)

Erin's Criteria: Tiny when fully grown (no more than 15 pounds), no shedding, not a "jumper", mellow, and basically one that will sit on your lap and be very "pretty".

Bernt's Criteria: A dog that was alive.
(Ok, so I was a little bit pickier but I think you get my point.)

We swore that we would never purchase a dog at a pet shop. Oops. Last night we had been talking it over and visited the HarMar mall in Roseville. We were originally thinking about getting a Puggle (Pug and Beagle mix). Very cute. Unfortunately they are the hottest things right now. So unless you want to pay $670 for a female, your outta luck. Two puggles were sold while we were at the pet shop.

When Erin had finished Awana, Anna and I picked her up and scooted very quickly over to the Pet Connection. Before we even told Anna which one we were looking at, she pointed out the dachshund and said it was her favorite. 30 minutes later, I was in the front seat and the two girls were in the backseat arguing over who gets to hold the latest edition to the Eidsmoe's. (And don't think my wife went easy on four year old Anna. "My turn, my turn, when's it gonna be my turn", came out of both of them.)

The half-hour ride home consisted of the three of us shouting out random names for the puppy. Mimi, Brownie, Gus Gus (that was my favorite), Balloony (that was Anna's favorite), Buttercup, etc. Then Erin, sticking with a Disney theme, came up with Bella. Beauty and the Beast's Belle, just replacing the "e" with "a". Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner!

Bella fits our criteria to a "T", minus the shedding part that is. It won't be a lot, but she will shed. She will weigh 11 pounds when fully grown (she is 3 pounds right now). She is not a "jumper" and is very calm but has a little bit of spunk/playfulness to her. We haven't even heard her bark yet. The most noise she made is when she woke up at 5:00 am so I took her outside. She didn't like the cold morning and huddled next to the door whimpering. (She did eventually go to the bathroom outside before we left for work this morning.)

Right now she is at our townhome quarentined in the kitchen/bathroom on the first floor. She didn't whine when we left so that made leaving just a little bit easier. Although I'm assuming the whining and barking will soon veer it's annoying little head.

That's it for now.

—b