Rosie is Red...

I’ve never done this before, and I keep feeling I must justify my actions. It just happened so quickly!

One week and one day after our dear Daisie was gone, we brought home her successor. Fewer days than that passed before I was looking for our next dog. And it seemed like people might misunderstand the depth of my feelings over the loss of Daisie.

But the fact is, it is because of the depth of my feelings for my dog that I already have another. I love having a dog companion with me. There is a big hole in the fabric of my life when I have none.

So, I am justifying to you something, I really don’t need to justify to anyone, even Daisie. She would know why we now have Rosie, a little red Boston Terrier.

Honestly, I probably would not have moved so quickly had it been a different time of year, but I knew I wanted another dog, a puppy, and right now is the best time to do the house-training. Didn’t want to do that in the fall. Didn’t want to miss the spring puppies. Didn’t want to be looking for a dog when the days are getting shorter, the weather worse, and Randy is on the road a lot. Didn’t want to be alone in the house then. Besides, for the next few months, we are mostly here on the farm…not going anywhere. It is the time of year that I have always raised our puppies. So, it seemed urgent to pursue.

Because of the way Randy loves Caitlin’s Frenchtons, I had wondered if maybe our next dog would be a little one. In fact, I considered adding a small dog to our family this year anyway. I wondered if Daisie would appreciate a cozy companion now that she spent so much time in the house, and I knew her days with us were not long. Perhaps we could have an “overlap” dog.

Then, when Daisie was gone, I realized it would be good to have a different kind of dog...A successor, not a replacement. Another boxer would be too much comparison to Daisie, who was an exceptionally nice, calm, sweet girl.

So I started looking for Bostons and found that they are not plentiful around here. I had found only 2 local breeders, both of whom had all their puppies reserved, even the ones not yet arrived! When I was beginning to think I would have to ship a puppy from far away, an ad popped up in the Herald. I called immediately, left a message, and didn’t hear anything. I was thinking these must be gone as well…

Fortunately, I was wrong. I got a call back. We arranged a meeting at the owners’ home. We met Rosie’s mom and dad…Really nice dogs, and immaculately clean, friendly but well-behaved. The two little girl pups were red like their dad, and it was hard to choose between them. We took Rosie, who was a little smaller, and a bit more docile.

The owners were an older couple, who love their dogs, and sell the puppies to families who want pets. We had a nice long visit with them about the dogs they have had over the years. They had experience, like we have, with old faithfuls who lived a good long life, then had to be put to rest when their days were more pain than happiness. We told them about our Daisie, and they understood. They said they could see that their puppy would have a good life with us.

And so, Rosie came to live with us. She was nameless at that time, and we had to stop to get food, a bed, toys and a smaller crate as we had nothing that would work. Within a couple hours, she considered us her people.

The kids came in the evening, and we discussed the name. It was Tiffany who said, “What about another flower name, like Daisie?” Hmmm. “What about Rosie? Rosie is red!” And that was it! Tiff had just the right name for our girl.

Emma was awestruck to look in the little crate and see a living, breathing little animal. She immediately started saying, “Hi! Hi! Hi! Hi!...” and waving to her. Later, we let Rosie run around and Emma was thrilled to be chased by her. Little Kit was unflappable about the excited little Boston running right up to her. She’s going to be an animal person for sure. Both of them will!

So we are having fun with Rosie and her antics, and are reminded that puppies are a lot of work, especially when they object to being away from you during the night. We are in the investment stage of making her into a good dog. Hard work, but worth it.

Despite the entertaining, happy distraction Rosie is, I still miss Daisie. As I said before, Rosie is a successor, not a replacement, but we are blessed to have good memories of Daisie, and to be making new ones with Rosie.