Our Newest Family Member

We would like to introduce our newest family member.  Her name is Sariah Rose, and she is a 7-week-old Rhodesian Ridgeback.  The girls and I drove to Atascadero (San Luis Obispo) on Saturday to pick her up from the breeder and bring her home.  We played with six puppies for over an hour, and this was the one.  We had information on all the puppies ahead of time and had picked her out due to her cuteness and also the description the breeder gave us.  She was one of the most loving puppies the breeder has come across, and she is also going to be a bit smaller than her siblings which is why we pre-chose her over the others.  During the time we were at the breeder's home, we watched all the puppies play, and they were all too darn cute!  It was hard to choose just one, but in the end, we got a very playful and sweet pup.  We got to meet her parents too, and they were both very good-natured and friendly.

Prior to our trip, we made a list of names.  We wanted a majestic/regal name since this is an African hunting breed, and we wanted something exotic if we could find a name we all liked.  We had some African names on our list as well as regular names we liked. We were pretty sure we liked one name for sure, but we wanted to wait.  When the girls met her, they said she was delicate and beautiful and reminded them of a rose.  On the way home, we tried all our names out on her, but none of the ones we had were fitting.  We wanted a two or more syllable name even though Rose was a perfect name.  After trying out names all that day and all night (Willow was one of our top contenders at the end of our car ride), we tried out Sariah, and it just felt right.  I don't know how many people give their dogs two names, but we did so we could remember that first meeting and first impression the girls had of our cutie.  

Now, the part I've left out thus far is how in the world we ended up with a new puppy?  Winston went home on Tuesday, and this new little one arrived on Saturday, BUT that was not in the plan.  When we started to talk about Winston going home to his family and doggy brother last month, our thinking (Kelly's and mine) was that we would be dog free for a while.  The girls saw Winston's return as an opening for a new puppy.  We told them it wasn't a probability right now, but Heather started researching before Winston left.  If you can picture a run away train, that was Heather and her plan.  We were getting gently prodded with video clips of breed ideas, reasons why certain breeds would work, etc.  One night Heather brought me a video clip of a Brittany, a short-haired, obedient hunting dog.  I joked with her that Daddy would like that because it was a hunting breed.  That comment was the catalyst for involving Kelly.  He and Heather began researching together, and I'm telling you, it was like the ball was rolling, no one was really saying, "we're doing this," and the search kept getting narrower and narrower.  By the time Winston went home, we had breeder contact sheets and were researching how to contact breeders.  Two days later, I called one, and the rest is history.  We met a great breeder who loved us over the phone, had two litters ready to go to families, sent pictures, and was very happy to meet us in person and let us choose the puppy who would come home with us.

Are we crazy?  YES!  But we're all feeling crazy together.  We're in love, and in the strange way that things happen when you're not expecting it, puppy ownership has happened for us.  If you want to know more about this breed, click HERE to be taken to a short video from Animal Planet 101.  It's a great breed, and we're looking forward to some vigorous exercise and backpacking with our new pup.