Meet Valiant

I've been looking for a dog for several months. I wasn't sure if I wanted a puppy, or if I wanted to look for an older dog. I wasn't sure if I wanted a Scottish Terrier or a Yorkshire Terrier or a Shih Tzu- Yorkie Mix (Shorkie) like my sister has. I spent several months looking at petfinder for a dog at the local shelters. I don't know what it is about my area but all the dogs around here that end up in the shelter are Pit Bulls, Chihuahuas are some mix where one parent was a Pit Bull or a Chihuahua.

I finally settled on a Miniature Schnauzer after we saw one at the pet store. No it wasn't that kind of pet store, this one only sells gerbils, birds, and fish. The dog was leaving the grooming area of the pet store with his owner. He walked right up to us & let us pet him, he was so friendly! He even let a 15 month old baby run right up to him and smoosh his face without getting upset. I talked to the owner for awhile about the breed, and her dog in particular. Then I started looking.

A couple of months later I saw an ad in the paper for Miniature Schnauzer puppies. I called the number Saturday evening, by Sunday afternoon I had driven with my mom up to GR to meet the last puppy she had. Turns out she had two, both males. One they called Tank (he was 2x's the size of his siblings) and one half his size they were calling Irish. After talking to M and her husband for an hour & a half, meeting Mom & hearing about Dad (and of course playing with the puppies) I picked Irish, henceforth known as Valiant or Val for short. I really liked Tank too, but he would growl at me a little bit when I would first start petting him & seemed more interested in M than us. Val would just happily sit in my lap & he was spunky around Tank.

I was ready for a puppy but I wasn't ready for a puppy! I asked M to keep Val until the following Friday (which was changed to Thursday) so we could puppy proof & buy essentials. I've never had a puppy before so this is going to be an interesting experience. I've read the puppy books, but I dont think anyone can be too prepared when they bring a bundle of furry energy into their lives. So I've decided to chronical my adventures, raising a puppy & hopefully not losing too many shoes in the process.

Here's Val's first photo: 10 weeks old