Welcome Home, Inara

For the last few months my family has been talking about getting a new dog. Our lab, Guinevere, is almost 4 years old, and the kids don't really remember her being a puppy (they were 2 and 3 when we got her). So I've been on the lookout for a new puppy to join our family, mostly looking at shelters and rescue groups (yes, I do try to practice what I preach).

Earlier this week a client brought in a very sweet and cute lab mix puppy that I thought was adorable. We were talking, and I found out that she was one of a litter of three that was at a local shelter. I called the shelter (Dog Pack Rescue), and then yesterday we went and took a look at her. It didn't take long for my wife and kids to agree with me that she was so cute and well tempered. And yesterday we took her home.

So now we have little Inara, a three month old yellow lab mix. She actually looks a lot like Guinevere, enough that it would be easy to mistakenly assume that Inara is her puppy (except that Guinevere was spayed at 4 months old). She is named after a character in Firefly, one of our favorite TV shows that unfortunately didn't make it a full season but did get made into the movie Serenity (I would highly recommend both the series and movie...it's one of the best science-fiction shows I've ever seen, and I can't say I've met too many people who disagree with

me). The name also means "bright" or "shining", and is the name of an ancient Hittite goddes of wild animals, so it's pretty appropriate.

The kids adore her. Guinevere isn't quite sure what to make of her, and we think she's a little worried that Inara is going to take attention away from her. Thankfully, Guinevere is a very sweet, patient dog. Our cats have taken this addition better than they have any previous one. All-in-all, she already looks to be making a great addition to our family.

However, it's not all fun and games. I'm back to housebreaking, crate-training, and obedience training. I had forgotten how much work all of that was, but I also know how necessary it is. This is the part of puppy ownership that I don't like, but you have to take the bad with the good. This time our kids are old enough that we're making them the primary caretakers, even for cleaning up her "accidents".

So the adventure begins again!