"This post is dedicated to you old friend.
I know we would have made you proud Zoie..."
When Zoie was young and frisky, she would get all riled up when she needed to go outside and would run around the house in wild bursts of energy. Late at night, just before bed, she would tare up and down the halls running in, around, on top and underneath things. With the speeds she would hit, her ears would be drawn back as though she was going through a wind tunnel. Chad and I lovingly refereed to this as "The Midnight Express".
Many of you may read this and wonder how we could even consider getting another dog so soon. I can understand that, after my brother lost his cat I felt the same way. The very day Ashes passed, they went out and got another one. I remember thinking to myself, how in the world could they do that... or how disrespectful to the memory of their former cat Ashes. Things are always easy to criticize when you aren't the one actually living in the situation. Looking back now, I was wrong and I completely understand.
As a pet owner, you know from the beginning you will outlive your friend when you take on the responsibility of a pet. I was even ignorant enough to believe I knew how I would handle Zoie's passing. I can honestly say there is no way to prepare oneself to lose a friend after 12 years. Zoie will always have a special meaning to Chad and I because she was there from the beginning. She seen us grow into adults and start our family. We had said several times we would take at least a year break after we lost her.
However, it only took us coming home to an empty house once to know we wanted another friend. Not one to replace - because that isn't possible, but a new friend to help ease the pain of our loss and remind us why we were pet owners in the first place... because of the joy they bring to your life.
SO, to the story...
Who would have thought finding a puppy would be so hard! The closest good dog breeder we could find with a litter ready to pick from was in Iowa. Yep an 8.5 hour drive one way. We had seen several breeders in other areas, but the puppies were either all gone, only male, only black & white or they were buff. After Zoie, there was no way we were going to get another black and white one. Seeing a puppy with her coloring would be to hard for us. Buff was also out because we wanted to respect Maggie, Chad's parent's Cocker who passed less than a month ago. We also wanted a female again.
Durring our search I came across the cutest puppy with a coloring I had never seen before. I laughed and told Chad she looked like an Ewok from Star Wars (the little bear dudes from the 6th episode). Even Xander and Chessen laughed and agreed. We had left a message for the breeder to call us back for more information. We waited all day and by super time, Chad and I were once again thinking we were out of luck and they had all found homes already. Deb, our dog's breeder called us at 8:45PM. You know how when you talk to someone for the first time and things just click. That is how we felt about Deb. She was such a nice lady and very understanding of the situation we were in with the recent passing of Zoie.
At 9:30PM we found ourselves in the van and packed to go pick out the next member of the Coleman Crew. Was it crazy!?! Yes! But it felt so good to do something positive when we were feeling so down. We were still driving a little after midnight trying to get to Minneapolis to stop for the night when Chad looked at the clock and said, "look at what time it is...we're really doing The Midnight Express." I agreed and laughed to myself thinking Zoie would be so proud of us...flying down the interstate with the wind whipping away at the van."
After a very short night in the hotel... I say short because even though the older boys got about 6 hours of sleep, Chad and I are estimating we got about 2.5. Thatcher slept between us and between the foot taps, "mamas," singing tunes, and playing with his blanket... we were lucky if we got even that small amount of sleep. We headed out around 7:30 and continued our adventure. The boys did great, sleeping a large chunk of the way.
We got to Deb's place around 1 in the afternoon. One of the things we wanted for the boys was them to have the experience of picking out their puppy from a litter. There is something to be said for having a bunch of cute puppies crawling all over you to get your attention, and we wanted that for them.
I know we would have made you proud Zoie..."
When Zoie was young and frisky, she would get all riled up when she needed to go outside and would run around the house in wild bursts of energy. Late at night, just before bed, she would tare up and down the halls running in, around, on top and underneath things. With the speeds she would hit, her ears would be drawn back as though she was going through a wind tunnel. Chad and I lovingly refereed to this as "The Midnight Express".
Many of you may read this and wonder how we could even consider getting another dog so soon. I can understand that, after my brother lost his cat I felt the same way. The very day Ashes passed, they went out and got another one. I remember thinking to myself, how in the world could they do that... or how disrespectful to the memory of their former cat Ashes. Things are always easy to criticize when you aren't the one actually living in the situation. Looking back now, I was wrong and I completely understand.
As a pet owner, you know from the beginning you will outlive your friend when you take on the responsibility of a pet. I was even ignorant enough to believe I knew how I would handle Zoie's passing. I can honestly say there is no way to prepare oneself to lose a friend after 12 years. Zoie will always have a special meaning to Chad and I because she was there from the beginning. She seen us grow into adults and start our family. We had said several times we would take at least a year break after we lost her.
However, it only took us coming home to an empty house once to know we wanted another friend. Not one to replace - because that isn't possible, but a new friend to help ease the pain of our loss and remind us why we were pet owners in the first place... because of the joy they bring to your life.
SO, to the story...
Who would have thought finding a puppy would be so hard! The closest good dog breeder we could find with a litter ready to pick from was in Iowa. Yep an 8.5 hour drive one way. We had seen several breeders in other areas, but the puppies were either all gone, only male, only black & white or they were buff. After Zoie, there was no way we were going to get another black and white one. Seeing a puppy with her coloring would be to hard for us. Buff was also out because we wanted to respect Maggie, Chad's parent's Cocker who passed less than a month ago. We also wanted a female again.
Durring our search I came across the cutest puppy with a coloring I had never seen before. I laughed and told Chad she looked like an Ewok from Star Wars (the little bear dudes from the 6th episode). Even Xander and Chessen laughed and agreed. We had left a message for the breeder to call us back for more information. We waited all day and by super time, Chad and I were once again thinking we were out of luck and they had all found homes already. Deb, our dog's breeder called us at 8:45PM. You know how when you talk to someone for the first time and things just click. That is how we felt about Deb. She was such a nice lady and very understanding of the situation we were in with the recent passing of Zoie.
At 9:30PM we found ourselves in the van and packed to go pick out the next member of the Coleman Crew. Was it crazy!?! Yes! But it felt so good to do something positive when we were feeling so down. We were still driving a little after midnight trying to get to Minneapolis to stop for the night when Chad looked at the clock and said, "look at what time it is...we're really doing The Midnight Express." I agreed and laughed to myself thinking Zoie would be so proud of us...flying down the interstate with the wind whipping away at the van."
After a very short night in the hotel... I say short because even though the older boys got about 6 hours of sleep, Chad and I are estimating we got about 2.5. Thatcher slept between us and between the foot taps, "mamas," singing tunes, and playing with his blanket... we were lucky if we got even that small amount of sleep. We headed out around 7:30 and continued our adventure. The boys did great, sleeping a large chunk of the way.
We got to Deb's place around 1 in the afternoon. One of the things we wanted for the boys was them to have the experience of picking out their puppy from a litter. There is something to be said for having a bunch of cute puppies crawling all over you to get your attention, and we wanted that for them.
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