A Member of the Family

        I don’t like dogs. Yes…I said that. On a blog about dogs. I’m actually a cat person. My whole life I’ve loved and identified with cats. Cat posters, cat figurines, funny cat videos, actual living cats. I loved and owned a polydactyl Siamese looking beauty named Kiara for 16 years until she got cancer and I bawled for weeks…but that’s a different story. THIS story is about a black-haired, brown-eyed beauty named Raven. She had a little bit of a rocky start at birth, but you may have already heard a little about that through Eric’s Facebook and Instagram posts. If not, backstory will come later to get you up to date.

We had a family dog while growing up, but I didn’t really have much to do with her. To me, she was kind of an afterthought. The brothers and mom took care of her and she was just always there in the backyard. Like I mentioned before…cat person here! Sadly and honestly, I don’t really remember much about her. L 

But…I had a dog once. Her name was Gizmo. She was a fluffy Bichon Frise.

Gizmo-First day home

That’s right. You’ve seen them. They look like little toy teddy bears and are ridiculously high maintenance if you keep them groomed. But this little rodent was like a ball of sunshine and she captured my heart. You always hear that you don’t pick the dog, the dog picks you. That is absolutely true! I wasn’t planning on getting a dog. Cat person. Loved my cat wholeheartedly. Maybe I was “persuaded” by my now ex-mother in-law. Maybe it was pregnancy hormones since I was six months preggo with Daegon. I really don’t know but Gizmo came home and the puppy-moon lasted exactly one hour before she pooped and peed all over my carpet and chewed up a throw pillow. Oh…and the cat HATED the little barking, bouncing ball of fluff! Gizmo was only part of my life for a short time due to life circumstances, but during our brief time together, I learned SO much about puppyhood and the loads of work required to take care of these darling fur babies. 

Gizmo-6 months old

Raven Mae-Rose Stam

I thought I was prepared for a new puppy when we made the decision to bring Raven into our family. I was so confident I could bring this little girl home and everything would be perfect. Boy was I wrong!