Meet the newest member of our family!

GUNNER!

It has been awhile since we lost our dog Dash.  My poor little family was absolutely devastated.  We came home from Connie's after the Durfey Family Thanksgiving party and Dash was in bad shape.  Shane rushed him to the vet but it was too late.  The vet figured he had some type of virus and he was so severely dehydrated when Shane found him that there was just no way to save him.  I remember Shane telling me that next morning that he was not going to get another dog.  This was the third one he had lost in not very many years.  I didn't push the issue but I knew how much Shane enjoys hunting birds so while on the internet one day I decided to see if there were any pointers for sale.  As luck would have it there were and they would be ready to leave their mama about the time we were going to be in Northern Utah already.  Not knowing what to do, I did the "practical" thing and talked it over with Brody. Practical Right?  Of course he said yes we should get a puppy because we had gone long enough without a boy dog.  I called the owner of the puppies and told him I was pretty sure we would be interested in a pup but I would like Shane to choose which one he wanted if he liked their breeding.  Brody and I kept this secret for a few weeks.  The Tuesday  before we were scheduled to go pick our pup up on Friday I received a phone call saying that the owner didn't know how many puppies he would have left on Friday because he'd had a bunch of people come and look at them.  We hadn't put a deposit down because I was a chicken and didn't know if Shane would for sure like their breeding and the deposit was non-refundable.  I talked it over once again with Brody and we decided it was time to fill Shane in on our plans.  To put is quite simply...I PANICKED!  Brody was so excited to show Shane the papers that I had printed.  He just couldn't stop smiling.  I asked Shane if he was ready for another puppy and he said "Well Ya".  That was followed by a "YIPPEE" from Brody.  Shane called the dog owner and made the arrangements for us to pick the puppy up Friday morning, and he was able to choose which puppy he wanted out of the three that were left.

This is a picture of our Dash.  He was a pretty impressive dog.  I remember one time when he climbed up the chain link to get out of his kennel.  I saw him over by Tracy's house and went to get him.  He was having the time of his life.  He was running around in the pasture with the horses and cows.  When he got bored of the pasture he would jump the fence and go around the outside.  He was a pretty dang good leaper.  Even though I was angry that he wouldn't come to me I was impressed with his jumping skills.

Brody taking care of his puppy so the larger dogs wouldn't bother him.

Haylie loves all animals. 

 While we were attending Brody's ballgame Haylie put Gunner to sleep.  What a good little tender.

Gunner has one brown leg....

....and a brown spot on his side.

He's kind of clumsy right now.

I'm not really looking forward to the puppy stage of chewing on everything but I have to admit, he is pretty cute.

Haylie LOVES him!

Gunner has been good for Savana.  I think she was in a depression after we lost Dash.  She would hardly come out of her kennel and she always walked really slowly and never seemed to want to play.  And then Gunner showed up.  She hurried out of her kennel, wagging her tail, and she played with him for a very long time.  I mentioned to Shane I was glad to see her act better and he agreed that she just needed a friend.

My whole family has really enjoyed this little fella and I hope that he will be around for many years to come!