A Southern State Of Mind: and our wolfpack....it grew by one

WE GOT A PUPPY!!!!
The week before Krystal and Josh got here, we found out that the little yellow lab we put in an application for was going to be ours!

I'll start at the beginning. A few weeks ago John and I were going to Blockbuster. We happened to see a Petco and decided to go in and see if they had any puppies. We had been talking about getting a puppy for a long time now and so we just wanted to look. In Petco, the humane society was there putting pets up for adoption. There happened to be a little black lab! John and I decided that lab would be the best for us at this point in our life. She was SO cute! We decided we couldnt make a decision that fast, because our plan was to just look. We went home and talked about it and decided that the next day after I got off work, we would go back and adopt her. We named her on the way and were SO excited! When we got there though, she had been adopted a few hours earlier. I started crying in the store. lol. I am such a baby.

Well that event put us on the lookout for a dog. We really wanted a yellow lab that was a male, and happened to find one the Abondon Pet Rescue in Fort Lauderdale. It was far, but we really wanted him. We went up and met the people and put in an application. We also got to see the puppies. They were SO cute! There were about 6 or 7 of them. The lady told us that they had not been seen by the vet yet and they would need to make decisions about who they wanted to give the puppies too. She told me she would be in contact. It took FOREVER! I called SO many times! Finally, the week before Krystal and Josh got here they called and said he was ours! His name was Butterscotch at the rescue. We went and visited him that day and played with him for about an hour. He was adorable. She told us it would be about 2 more weeks because he had to be neutered. We went and visited him one more time before we could take him home.

During the meantime at home, we got our home ready and went and got a bunch of stuff for him. We also started thinking of names, but would not commit until it got closer because after naming the other one and not getting her- it was too hard.

The Sunday Julie was here, we went and picked him up! We named him Carter. He is 11 weeks old, 16lbs, and was born on Dec. 24th :D I LOVE HIM!

He was SO scared to leave the Rescue. Then he fell asleep in my lap on the car ride home. We ended up having to stop because we thought he had to use the bathroom. LOL. When we got him home we played with him and tried getting him to walk around the lake. He refused to walk most of the way. We realized later that it is all so new to him that he was probably terrified. He was really good though. Now we are taking him a little ways at a time so he can get used to the area. It seems to be working MUCH better!

We are also working on potty training. It's exhausting and frustrating. Good training for a baby I am sure. He has had a few accident and is still learning the routine, but nothing major :D poop stinks. lol. Crate training seems to be working though. He loves his crate too :D He will just walk in it whenever and sit down:D I think it helps we play with him near it and feed him in it.

He is also VERY smart! We have already taught him sit and down. He knows the hand signals better than the words for now. But we are working on it. We are also working on name recognition, stay, and shake.

Carter is SO easygoing! I hope this lasts forever. He is really one of the sweetest puppies and loves cuddling with us! He is still very scared to be by himself. The first time we left him for 2 minutes and he peed all over his crate he was so scared:( we have been working up from there. We are up to about 30 minutes now. I think because he was with other puppies for his whole life and has never been by himself that it will definitely take some adjusting.

We have sliding glass doors in our apartment and at night he can see his reflection and he barks at himself. He is too cute. He also LOVES sticks! he has brought SO many to our back door! haha. He also LOVES the sand! We have a volleyball court that he can run in because it's fenced. He is so confused by the sand, but has so much fun in it :D I have SO much more to share, but I think this post is long enough. I will tell you all more later! Here are some pictures :D
First family picture! At the rescue still