Our little Francy Pants

This is quite possibly very old news but...WE GOT A PUPPY!!!

The last three years have been hard in the dog and cat part of our lives.  To be specific we have lost eight in the the last three years.  Ugg.  All of our dogs are OLD.  We've actually been so lucky that all of our animals have lived to what many would consider and oldish age and most to very ripe old age...but as grateful as I am for that, it didn't make the losses, no matter how old, any easier.
Note to my early 20's self - even though you think keeping one or two pitiful foster dogs every year across a six year period SEEMS like their ages are staggered, they are, as a matter of fact, NOT!  They will all be old At. The. Same. Time.

We needed some young blood in the house.  And no matter how much my dogs disagree, we did!, we needed a puppy.  Like no one has ever needed a puppy.

We started quietly, subtly mentioning it here and there.  Each of us saying it in jest to see how the other responded.  It sorta seemed like we were on the same page.  And without saying it out loud I knew we both understood that when the time was right the right dog would present itself.

Enter the one pound six ounce scabby, patchy haired wonder to be named Francis.

So one day while mindlessly perusing the face books I see this midget of a dog.  His hair, the little he had, was spitting out in a million directions, he had these tiny nubbins for legs, and it took me about three and a half seconds to text Tom and say "can I have it?"

My precious friend Carey... well this is all her fault!  She works at this wonderful grass roots shelter/rescue called Grand Companions in West Texas and Francis-to-be had gotten him self thrown into the clink after having been found hiding under a bush right before the last snow.  Well Carey, being the same kinda animal sucker that I am, fell prey to Francis-to-be's charms and was keeping him in her office (did I leave out that she works at Grand Companions?).  So, long story short, she-posted-him-on-Facebook-I-fell-in-love-Tom-said-YES-and-SaintCarey-drove-Francis-to-be-to-me-that-night!  Six and a half hour drive! That night!  Did you catch the Saint Carey part?

 

So, that is how Francis came to be ours.  Our dogs couldn't be unhappier about it.  But they are all between 10 and 15 years old.  Shockingly they don't enjoy a puppy chewing on their ears or biting them in the back of the thigh while hot on their heels.  The Business Man in particular ... I heard a rumor that he's starting a My Idiot Brother Club (I've been told that if you share his dispassion for Francis you are welcome to join the club!) where he and any of the other dogs can discuss their grievances and plan how to oust Francis from the family.

Luckily Francis is blissfully unaware of their loathing and thinks their running from him is a fantastic game!  Francis does however, have a favorite.  I'm pretty sure he thinks Vincent is the cat's pajamas!  And really who wouldn't?!?  When you've got a jungle gym (climbing up one side of Vincent's back and sliding down the other), a chew toy (furry, moving, no batteries required, tail), a raw hide (Vincent's ear), and a back and head scratcher (the underside of Vincent's chin/jaw) wouldn't you be in hog heaven?!?!!!

It's been fun having a baby bugger around the house again.  Of course he is into all kinds of mischeif, but he's small, so it's small mischeif.  He's still in the play hard/crash hard phase.  He can be playing at full tilt and then I can pick him up and he will nap in my lap while I work!  Hammering, sawing, it doesn't matter - he's OUT!

Well, that's him in a nutshell!  The only thing left to tell is how he got his name...I think I'll save that for another post!