The Vote

Allison Shenanigans have never been officially documented, but since my boys are growing up so quickly I am feeling compelled to document as much of the fun and crazy stuff that takes place in our family as possible.

This week will be remembered forever as the week of  "The Vote". Dan has always been resistant to getting a dog because of his asthma, and rightly so. However, we have a great big yard now and my dogs growing up were always outdoor dogs for the most part. After going to Oregon with the Lances and playing with the lab puppies where we stayed, I couldn't help but ask Dan about getting a dog again. Actually I kept asking for the next 3 weeks. This past Sunday Dan must of had a moment of softness, because he declared we could have a family vote. If it was a tie, then he got to make the final decision. I knew I had Russell and Calvin's votes. I also knew Bob and Dan were no votes. After some heavy petitioning with Mitchell, we gained a yes vote from him and the house went crazy. It was 11:30 in the morning.

Now mind you, I had been praying about this dog for a while and had told God it would have to be perfect timing and the perfect dog for it ever to happen.  Dan for some reason was partial to little toy dogs, but I knew that meant they would be inside and even supposedly hypoallergenic dogs can still trigger asthma, so the conclusion was if it is absolutely going to be an outdoor dog, then it would need to be a little bigger. It came around to Dan thinking maybe we should go with a dog that could hunt and one with short hair and we  narrowed it down to a Brittany, a Pointer or a Lab. After reading a little more about each breed, the lab won for being a bit calmer and family friendly. Dan also preferred something that could retrieve instead of point and he liked the look of a yellow lab. I was prepared to get an older dog because I thought Dan would find a puppy annoying, but when I suggested it he said he'd rather get a puppy for the kids to enjoy. Blow me over! What was happening to my husband? Thought he might even be sick, but I wasn't waiting around to find out!

By now it was noon. Knowing Dan can change his mind about things I went straight to work. I went to the THonline and lo and behold there was an ad for one last yellow female lab, 7 weeks old, all shots, paper trained, in East Dubuque. Are you kidding me? Usually you have to make a drive to find a purebred pup of your choice. This was unreal! I called Dan, who had left with Bob to scout some hunting land and clear the spinning in his head caused by the events of the past hour. He said I could go check it out and bring the puppy home if it's what I wanted. Can I just tell you that I was in more shock than I have ever been in my life! To give some context, Dan had not that long ago said that we would have a baby before we got a dog, and we were done having babies, end of story.

I called the number in the paper. The guy said someone was coming to look at his last 2 puppies (he had a black male as well) at about 3:00. I told him we would be there as soon as possible, yelled at the kids to get in the car and we took off.

It was puppy love at first sight. I wish I'd taken the camera to get some first day shots, but we were in such a hurry I forgot. She came with papers and good hunting blood and was an adorable ball of yellow fur. By 2:00 we were official dog owners. Took us 2 whole days to name her, which also came down to a vote. Bob wanted something rugged like Benelli, Beretta, or Camo. If you are a hunter, these names make sense, but they just didn't feel like a girl name. (This is a huge adjustment for these boys having a girl in the house besides their mom!) Mitch wanted Suki (we are not sure why!) and the rested of us voted for Sugar, which you should know was also Dan's idea. And you thought you knew Dan!

Dan asked me later in the week in a worried tone if he was getting soft because all of his friends were teasing him that he must be getting soft since he got us a dog. I think he has always been a closet softie and is just letting it come out. Who knew?! She almost got the name Shock because the whole family is still in a state of shock! Here are a few pics of our little bundle of Sugar!