Chip!

Well it all started with a old school friend who visited us a bit this summer. Sonya and David came over a couple of times for supper and a farm tour. She even tried to come help butcher chickens but ended up coming the next day to help clean up instead as we were too fast and got them all done in 1 day while we had wisely left 2 open. The couple was only here for the summer as they both are in school. She worked with the school's lawn/clean up services and he worked as a firefighter. We really enjoyed getting to know them a bit this summer. Anyway after we returned from our trip we had them over one last time to say goodbye as they were going back to school (about 9 hours from here.) So they arrive and Sonya is super excited. SUPER!! And not about school so much as her parents black lab just had 2 puppies. A male and a female. This was Sunday and they'd been born on Wednesday. OH we just HAD to take the kids to go see, they would be the PERFECT dog for you!! She really does speak in capitals :) So we gave him a week or 2 to grow and called them up one Sunday afternoon. No he wasn't taken and yes we could go see him. So we piled in the Travelall and headed out. They live about 20 minutes from us so we had a nice little drive and since I'd only been there once a very long time ago and Papa not at all, we looked for a bit but found the place. The puppies were about 2.5 weeks old and SUPER CUTE!!! The female had already been spoken for that same morning which was fine with us as we really wanted a male dog. The kids pet and talked to the older dogs, throwing sticks and playing with them and all around having a great time. E, who is quite scared of dogs even relaxed enough to pet the puppy and said several times in a very surprised voice. "I DO like dogs!! I DO." J and L quickly got bored with the puppies, at that age they really don't DO much, and went to play with the big dogs. They had a female with the same parentage that was 18 months old. Nice dog with nice fur instead of the thin lab hair. His dogs stay outside unless it is VERY cold. She was a nice size as well. The mother is a black lab and the father is a St. Bernard. So size was a issue. We didn't want a dog that would be too big but she was perfect size! And from the sounds of it the other pups these two dogs had together were about the same size. The man also told us that so far none of them drooled.. which was my worry. YUCK!! After about 20 minutes both Papa and I knew this was the dog for us. So we chatted with the them a bit and Papa asked how much they wanted for the puppy. The man stared at him for a minute and said. You can HAVE him!! For Free!!! WAHOO. We thanked him and told him that we would take him!! After saying good bye we headed out and took a fun Sunday drive. Up the mountain! As we drove along we talked about the responsibility a puppy is with the kids and names for the puppy. L wanted to name him 'puppywupy' 'cause he's a puppy Momma! Then when we told him he'd grow up into a dog it was 'doggywoggy'. J didn't really know and neither did E. But a name had been sneaking around in my head, very much like Maggie's did later, and I said. Chip! Papa looked at me and said Yes. Chip it is. And for some reason it fits him. Or it did. Hopefully it still will when we pick him up in 2 weeks.