Belle!

When we first saw "Phoenix" (that was her name before), we knew she was a loving a cute little puppy.  Within minutes, Dusty asked that innocent question: "Can we keep her?"

Here is the story:

Dust and I have both talked about wanting a puppy shortly after we got married.  But with all of our travel in the near future we didn't think too seriously about it.  However we loved to go to pet stores and look and even sometimes ask the worker if we could hold one or play with a couple.  One day, after a scorching hot day of selling, we decided to go to the Fairfax Animal Shelter to take a look.  In VA- I may be incorrect- but it seems like it is looked down upon to purchase a dog from a breeder- people that have dogs here (and EVERYONE has at least 1) seem to have all rescued them. We walked into the shelter and the dog kennels were closed due to an upper respiratory disease that was being passed from puppy to puppy.  As we walked out there was a lady walking in with a cute reddish tan pup on a pink sparkly harness.  Dusty let her know that she shouldn't go in there with an animal because of the disease.  I went to the car because it was so hot outside and I noticed Dust was still talking to the lady (which isn't uncommon for my husband to be a talker!) Then I saw him bend down and start playing with this dog. So I got out and we asked some questions and next thing we knew we had a 3.5 month old puppy in our backseat!  We headed to Pest Smart and spent WAY too much money and home we were setting up her kennel!  When we got her she was 3.5 months old and about 23 pounds.  Now, she is 5 months old and just look at this near 70 pound baby!