I thought we were just going to "look" at the puppies?

Aimee and I ventured out to the Orleans Parish SPCA on the Westbank. Why the Westbank? It’s the only pound open on Sundays and it was a Sunday. Aimee thought we were just going to look, but I was determined to bring home a dog. Never mind that the house and yard had not been puppy proofed or that we didn’t have a collar, leash, puppy food or dog bed at home, I had seen the Sarah MaClachlan SPCA commercial one too many times and was determined to save a dog.

We walked into the puppy area and Aimee quickly pointed out that all of the puppies were too big to take home to Lil Dog except for two. They were littermates and wrestling in their kennel, this should have been my first clue as to what I was about to get into. The volunteer informed us that one was already on hold to be adopted. That left one lone dog in the entire place that met the puppy and female criteria. She was essentially the default puppy. We took the default puppy outside and she was sweet and playful, so I said, “Ok, let’s get her.” To this day, I still do not know why Aimee said OK to that. This dog is a Heinz 57 with lord knows what in her. But it was clear that she probably has some lab in her and the last time I checked, labs were not medium-sized dogs.

So I took home this sweet, scared, tiny 10 lb puppy who was black with two white back paws, a white chest, and a tiny white soul patch. We didn’t have a name for her, so we just called her Tiny Dog to differentiate her from Lil Dog.

The first stop was my parents’ house to introduce Tiny Dog to my dad and their 11 year old Irish Setter, Lady. Tiny Dog was sweet and lovey but was fascinated by Lady’s long fur. Lady, however is old and a bit crotchety and had no problem letting Tiny Dog that that was not going to fly. So she backed off. This was a good sign! We left there full hope that Lil Dog would be able to do the same thing.

Lady - see the grey? That's means she's old and wise/crotchety

Lil Dog did not. It’s been a few weeks and all of those reasons to get a puppy have gone out the window.

• Lil Dog does not have a motherly bone in her body and wants nothing to do with Tiny Dog.
• Lil Dog does not have a dominant bone in her body and is always on the run from Tiny Dog.
• Tiny Dog likes to dive at Lil Dog with her mouth open and bite her. So much for not adopting a full-grown dog because it might eat Lil Dog. Looks like Tiny Dog needs to be fed more.

This is going to be a challenge. 

Lil Dog and Tiny Dog