Last week Alicia and I decided to take the plunge and introduce a furry little bundle of joy to our lives in the form of a new puppy. We had talked over the past few years about getting a dog, but we were living in an apartment and it didn’t seem feasible at the time (particularly because we both have a fondness for larger dogs).

Recently Alicia had been making it a daily routine to check out various animal adoption websites online and when she stumbled across an Old English Sheepdog on Craigslist, it seemed like the pet we had been waiting for. The only problem was, we sat around thinking about it for too long and by the time we had officially decided we were ready to adopt a dog, he had already found a new owner. We were kind of bummed about it, so we doubled our efforts and after a couple more days we found a guy who rescues puppies from farms up north. He just happened to have a few German Shepherd/Collie pups, which seemed ideal since my family had a German Shepherd/Husky when I was younger, and Alicia’s had a Collie.

So as you can probably guess by now, the little guy you see in the pictures is our new dog… Chopper! No, we’re not big motorcycle enthusiasts. His name was actually inspired by another dog we saw up for adoption somewhere else, and since our friend Mikie gave himself the nickname Chopper once upon a time, it seemed quite amusing to us. We’ve since been reminded by many people that Chopper is also the name of the dog from Stand By Me (”Chopper! Sic balls!”). Once we get him toilet trained, that’s the first trick I’m teaching him.

In his first day or two, Chopper didn’t seem like he would live up to that kind of name since he was very tentative and just generally freaked out by his new environment. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) Chopper has since become quite comfortable with our house and is now an unstoppable little ball of energy, terrorizing — I mean, exploring — every nook and cranny within. No wonder so many people like cats, they’re definitely a lot less work! But I think I’ve always been a dog person, and there’s just something great about being greeted by a wagging tail the minute you walk in the door. As a matter of fact, I highly recommend the puppy experience… but don’t expect to get a lot of sleep for the first week or two!