“I’ve never been without a pet,” he said. Honey was so depressed. He had secretly emailed the breeder where we bought Dixie to see if she was still in business. She was and had a new litter due this month. We could have the pick of the litter and in 8 short weeks our new pup would be ready to bring home.

In spite of my reservations, I finally caved and said okay. He could get another dog.

We considered getting a shelter dog. There are so many dogs out there needing homes. But you don’t know the background of a rescue dog. It could be from a puppy mill, sickly, a product of over-breeding, a problem dog that was homeless for a reason. Getting a dog from a reputable breeder greatly improves the chances of having a healthy dog that will live a full life.

Then we received an email from the breeder that was sent to all her clients. She had a male dog that she wanted to rehome. She had too many male breeder dogs and needed to downsize. She attached a picture. “Oh, my gosh! He is so cute!” He was brown, unlike most ShihTzus. “Why don’t we take him?”

He was only 2 years old and very small for a ShihTzu at only 5 pounds. This made him less desirable as a breeder for standard ShihTzus. But we did not want a dog to breed. Maybe this could be a compromise between a shelter dog and purchasing a pure-bred dog. He was being re-homed to avoid going to a shelter. Honey contacted the breeder to see if the dog was still available. He was. He had all his shots, was bathed and groomed and ready to be adopted.

By now it was decided. Making the decision to add a dog to our family was the hard part. It had been over a year since we lost our Dixie. I guess I knew we would get another dog sooner or later as I had laundered and saved beds and toys. In spite of knowing that a dog does not live as long as a human and is going to die and break your heart, people get pets anyhow because of the joy they will bring until then.

Our home was empty. It needed a dog and a dog needed us.