Welcome Dorothy Shasta, a.k.a Dottie

You know I'm a little crazy, right? I know you know. When Erik was sick, a breeder I had been talking to put a video of puppies on her Facebook page. She had reached out to me weeks before and let me know a litter of five Havapoo's (Havanese and Poodle) were born on June 17. I was on a waiting list so she wanted to know if I was ready.  Most were black and one was brownish, but it was already chosen. I had told her no because I thought we wanted our next dog not to have the same coloring as Curly. But then I watched the puppy video, and after countless hours of sitting next to a feverish and lethargic child, I was weak, I needed some joy. I showed Erik the video and said, "What do you think? Do you want a puppy?" Umm...of course he did! After all the sickness, we really needed something adorable to look forward to, and man, she is so adorable.

So, a $100 deposit was sent for a little black puppy with white on her feet, chest and chin. We chose Dottie as her name. She was 8-weeks-old the weekend of August 12. We drove to Shasta County on Friday night and stayed in a motel. We woke up early and drove to the breeders home in Gazelle by 10 a.m.  This is a picture of Dottie with her siblings;  Josie, Buster, Walter and Gidget. We decided to make her middle name Shasta, after where she was born.

These are Dottie's parents, Fifi (grey poodle) and Ricki (black and white havanese).

Ricki is a sturdy little guy and Fifi is on the tall side for a small poodle, so time will tell how big Dottie will be. They think she will be about 14 pounds, which is about the same size as Curly, our lhasapoo. We wanted something part poodle, because we love that Curly doesn't shed. We wanted to avoid a lhasa if we could, because Curly is very protective of the boys and can be a little grouchy. We were hoping to find a friendlier breed. I did look online at rescues and at shelters. I started researching havanese and poodle mixes and everything I read led to our decision. Havapoo's are supposed to be very playful and sweet. I've never had a puppy and I wanted the experience. Curly was probably around 10-months-old when I brought him home.

We visited with the breeders, Shelley and Glenn for a bit, saw their chickens and pigs and garden, and then we were ready to make the four-hour drive home to Sacramento with little Dottie. She was fantastic on the drive home!

We were SO excited to get home and introduce Dottie to Curly. Right away, Dottie grabbed Curly's tail and started biting it. Curly didn't like that at all. GROWL!!!

Saturday night she cried most of the night. Our neighbor lent us an enclosure for her and she likes it a lot. We keep her crate in there so she can go in and sleep. Sunday night was bad. Monday was better. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday she only cried once. She gets up about 5:30 a.m. We can watch her during the day on our Nest cam. She was crying a lot the first two days, but now she is doing great. She sleeps and plays.

We love her so much already. She is so fluffy and sweet. We look forward to training her to be a polite doggy and discovering her personality. Fingers crossed she and Curly can become friends. Thank you to everyone for being excited about our new fur-family member. We love you!