As a Christmas gift to my husband, I figured we needed a new addition to our little family.  I had him picked out for over a month from a rescue that specializes in puppies called Puppy’s Breath Rescue.   The puppy was intended to be a suprise so it was never mentioned that we were getting one any time soon.  However, I did keep bringing up questions like, “I hope you’re ready for another dog?”  or “Wouldn’t be nice if we had another dog around?”  To be frank, I was nervous.  Chris and I picked out Chewy together and the fact that I picked Cider out without the consultation of my husband nerved me a little.  I’m hoping he likes the dog or that this little guy doesn’t become some kind of terror.  But I had faith that Chris would fall in love with him at first sight.  Shoot.  This is the same guy who watches hours of animal planet and gets googily-eyed anytime he sees a puppy on TV.  I am also a true believer that how your children turn out is the outcome of how you, as a parent, raise them.  We have raised one puppy successfully before, I know we can do it again.  So Libby and I made our trek to Grand Haven to pick up our sweet baby.  We stopped at the pet store to pick up supplies and headed home.  That was when I asked Chris to close his eyes and Libby set little Cider on his lap.  Yes.  Chris was surprised and yes, Chris was in love with him.  We’re all in love with him and he has been a great addition to our home.

I take alot of pride that both my husband’s family and my family are huge animal lovers and all of our pets have come from rescues, and I will continue to adopt pets from rescues as long as I am alive.  I also encourage that if you are looking to add a four legged friend to your home to check out Petfinder.com.  You can search within your area, breed, age, and sex of the kind of pet you are looking for.[slideshow]