I always said I didn’t want more pets after Adam and Eve passed. Saying goodbye to Eve was more gut wrenching that any other pet before her. Maybe cause I was quite young when I had lost other pets, or they were pets that weren’t as ingrained in our lives as pet dogs are. Like I bawled my eyes out like a baby when I had to bury Bungee after the crazy heatwave a couple of years back. And I do miss her, but I think about Adam and Eve pretty much every day. David and I have been together for 14 years as of next Monday and for 12 of those we had our Eve and then 11 with Adam. They were very much a part of us as a unit.
Then we got Bill. David wanted him as a birthday present last year. I would be insane to say Bill hasn’t made me laugh so hard and feel happy during this past year. Getting him, even after saying we never would again, isn’t something I could ever regret.
And in having one dog, you know you gotta have two. Dogs are pack animals. While we are part of his ‘pack’ there’s a huge chunk of time when we’re not home and I think it’s unfair to leave poor Bill on his own. He needed a playmate and another member of the pack.
Meet Jo, she’s the latest addition to our family. She’s a 12 week old pure black cocker spaniel and she’s gorgeous.
We knew we wanted another puppy, I was hanging for Bill to get a little bit older and wise before we brought another doggin into the house. Hoping he could learn to be a good boy and would help us teach the new puppy the house rules. This is what happened with Adam who we brought in just over a year after getting Eve. She would teach him, he would follow her and when he did something wrong she would give him a nudge in the right direction.
But I’ve figured out something, male dogs are kind of dumb. I’m not calling Bill stupid, he’s just not as clued in as Eve always was. But then nether was Adam.
So we decided now was the right time. Bill is still a little young and not too set in his ways and really that’s where we want a puppy to be when someone new is coming in to share their space. They haven’t really had time to decide that everything they see is their own. They are still learning and still being bossed around by us and therefore more open to an addition to the pack.
David tried to contact Gillian, the breeder who had groomed Bill about a week ago but we hadn’t heard back from her and David found that another breeder we knew about from the Cocker Spaniel Dog Show from a couple of weeks back had a couple of pups available. David rang Sheryl, the breeder, and she told him someone had already called about the puppy and that they were calling back that night to confirm they wanted to buy her.
We wanted a girl and that’s what she had. So on Monday David rang Sheryl again on to see if the other person hadn’t called back so the puppy was available. David organised for us to go see her that afternoon.
I think David really wanted another roan like Bill, but when I heard the new puppy might be pure black I got a little excited.
By the time we had left work, stopped in and picked up Bill (so he could meet the puppy) and drove the hour and a bit to Portarlington past Geelong I was a little more than excited.
When we saw the little black jumping bean in the dog run I was in love. She was in there with three other pups from an older litter and was clearly used to be tossed around by them in play.
She came out and met Bill who didn’t respond badly. Sniffer her a bit and licked her head. He has a thing about sniffing and licking, must be cause he’s a dog.
We then met the parents of the pup. Both the mother and the father were extremely placid and beautiful.
When asked if we want her, we said yes and David went off with Sheryl to do all the paper work and pay for her.
So now we have a little girl puppy named Jo. David named her and Bill after the lead characters in the movie Twister. Just as Adam and Eve were named after lead characters. But not from the Bible, from another fictional piece called “Blast from the Past”.
She’s booked in to get her shots at the end of the month and has a new pink collar. And she’s awesome. She goes to bed and for the first couple of nights has slept quite well. Last night she slept right through without waking, well not that we noticed.
Jo follows Bill around and they play together well. They are going to be great friends.
Below are some more images of Jo from her first couple of days with us and one of Bill, just for good measure.
She’s gorgeous! Looks just like my old black cocker “Woof”.
What a beautiful dog.