Welcome Albert!

Drew and I recently returned from a vacation back east where we saw the wonderful sites of Disney World, visited our good friend Courtney, and attended the wedding of my best friend Mary. Now, you may be wondering what this adventure has to do with us adding a new friend to our family. Well, it was a combination of factors. Adding a second dog to our home has been on our minds for over a year now. We saw how much Annabelle loved playing with other dogs at the dog park, and we thought it would be great for her to have another companion around the house. Then, while we have been on vacation, she stayed with a couple of different friends who had dogs and seemed to really enjoy being around different playmates all the time. We also spent time with Courtney and her huge family of dogs, and Drew got the bug for a new dog again after meeting a couple of the rescues that she is trying to place right now. It became a part of our everyday discussions.

Drew then began to rationalize and be logical about why this would be the best time for us to get a second dog. He will be working nights for the next 6 weeks, and so he will be home during the day to work with a puppy that needs a lot of training and discipline. Annabelle is in a really good place right now, and it seemed only fair to get her a companion of her own size. It became harder and harder for me to come up with counter-arguments, and I started getting on board. Then, at the end of last week, my mom came into to town. She would certainly be one to voice any concerns that we might not have been seeing ourselves, but instead she seemed just as excited.

On Thursday afternoon, she and Drew went to the Humane shelter just to see what was available, and to start getting an idea of what we might like. We knew we wanted a puppy, and we were looking for something with equal or less energy than Annabelle (who certainly has plenty on her own to keep us busy). We were also thinking that someone about the same size as Annabelle would be a good fit to our house. We also knew we wanted a rescue. Because it is hard to find puppies in rescue a lot of the time, we thought it might be a while before we found someone just right... boy, were we wrong.


At the Humane shelter, they were packed. They had quite a few dogs of all shapes and sizes, including a number of puppies. Albert (then known as Cecil) was one of the first dogs Drew and my mom laid eyes on. His kennel companions were all over the place, but he just came calmly to the front and sat down and looked at them. Drew noticed he was a boxer mix, and made a note to come back to him. They continued to meet and greet a number of different dogs and puppies at the shelter but kept coming back to Cecil the boxer mix (though many of the shelter employees think he is a pure bred). (A little side note: Drew's family has a history of owning boxers, so he is definitely partial to the breed.) I received a text, cell phone call, work phone call, and e-mail message that I would have to come and meet this little guy after work that afternoon. Since he was so young, he would be quick to adopt, and Drew didn't want to lose our chance. From the second I heard Drew talk about him, I knew he was going to be ours. I went back to the shelter Thursday evening to meet him myself. He was very playful, but also very sweet and curious. He was friendly to all of us, and after about 20 minutes of playing with him outside, I too was convinced that he would be a good addition.

We knew boxers were a lot of energy, but also that they are very sweet-natured and loyal dogs. We learned about Cecil's story. He had been picked up 4 days earlier by himself, covered in ticks and very malnourished. He responded quickly to treatments and seemed to be in good shape other than being very skinny. He had "played well with others" since he had been at the shelter, and all the staff were sad and excited to see him go. He was a very popular little guy. They thought he would be a great companion for our Annabelle. So, he joined our family.

We brought him home on Friday afternoon, and he and Annabelle have been feeling each other out the past couple of days. He is not quite housetrained, but we are working on it, and Annabelle is also letting him know who's boss. They really want to play with each other, but Annabelle is being gentle with him right now because he is so much smaller. She has really stepped up to the plate and seems a bit older and wiser than she did a few days before.

Drew and I know we are in for a challenge, and that having a new puppy around is going to be life-changing. But, so far so good, and we are very in love with little Albert. So, without further adieu, meet the newest member of the Phy-Sanders family!

Albert, cooling offAnnabelle, watching over her baby brother...see that tail wagging?! :-D

Albert, aka "little guy" totally pooped

Bert, the squirt