A simple trip to Holiday World with some family, some casual discussion about the Rison's new dog (named Max, by the way), and some dog research the next day when we were home.... it all ended up with a sudden addition to mine and HeeLa's family on July 1st.
For some time now, especially since she graduated, HeeLa had been wanting a dog to keep her company whenever I was away at work or something - as long as it was small. Neither of us like the big, jumping, slobbering beasts. I also was intrigued by the idea, but worried about "small dog syndrome" (that yappy, ankle-biting stereotype). I also worried about the poor health that the "toy" breeds were prone to. So, discussion had moved toward a medium-energy, healthy dog that was incredibly smart. Vickie had mentioned a breed called "Papillon" (French for "butterfly") that was supposed to be the 8th smartest breed in the world (1-7 were larger breeds), very healthy, but fairly rare to come by.
The next day, we decided to look around at some pet stores (just to see and observe different breeds, in person, to better make a decision). I know, I know... pet stores are evil puppy mill participants ~ more on that in a later post!
Little did we know that the very last cage at Uncle Bill's Pet Store would contain a 10 week old Papillon puppy... seemingly just calmly waiting and watching us walk down toward her. She was sitting there calm, with huge ears pointing up and at us, gently tilting her head at us, as though she were trying to figure something out... I must admit, we could see a sort of intelligence there, compared to the other breeds. When we played with her, she had enough energy and interest to chase the toy around (if you played with it, with her), but would instantly go into a Zen state when you held her.
So, with no intention of buying a dog anytime soon, we went home with one that very day.
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