The Pups

As I was sorting through all of the old pictures on our camera to create the post about our cruise, I realized how enormous our collection of puppy pictures had grown. They're a huge part of our lives, and I figured they deserve a post of their own. We've had our dogs since January of 2011, and rescued them from the Humane Society. Taylor and I both really wanted a dog before then, but couldn't in our living situation. As soon as we got a house of our own and the parents had helped us move in, we immediately adopted these two. Our original plan was one hypo-allergenic, no-shed, well-behaved goldendoodle puppy. Hah. We decided to visit the Sarasota Humane Society "just to look around", and immediately put down a deposit on these guys.

Zasha, our white-faced, blue-eyed beauty is the younger and smaller of the two (somewhere between 3 and 6 years old we think). She's rambunctious, misbehaved, and incredibly sweet. She was a little chubby when we first got her, but we've slimmed her down a bit. She loves to bark constantly, and will whine like crazy and pretend like you've broken her leg if she even thinks you might scold her. 

I know, I know. You're not allowed to have favorites, right? If we did have a favorite dog, it'd be Zeus. He's the world's best combination of sweet, goofy, gentle, and well-behaved. His only flaw is his tendency to cry during thunderstorms, or if he thinks he's being left behind somewhere. He's a bit older than Zasha--- probably 8 or 9 years old. 

Another difference? Zasha loves to swim, and Zeus is terrified of water. He doesn't mind really calm water up to his ankles, but any splashes or waves, and he pulls on his leash in the oppposite direction. He never goes in past his knees. 

Zasha on the other hand would probably swim until she drowned, if we'd let her. One time she went off into the lake behind the house and had to be rescued by a boater when she swam so far that we couldn't see her---- just the ripples and she continued to doggie-paddle away from us. She'll pull us around in kayaks or canoes, and loves chasing splashes when we throw rocks or shells at the beach.

We love our pooches and couldn't imagine our life without them---- through there would be much less hair. Did I mention that huskies shed?