thanksgiving blessings

Frankie wrote the sweetest post about some of her Thanksgiving blessings, namely her two gorgeous kittens. They are DARLING and her pictures melt my heart, and I'm not even typically a cat person! These two are just too cute, though.

I'm sure you've realized, however, that I am a head over heels dog person. And I am particularly head over heels for my two munchkins. As I was reading Frankie's post, I realized that Murray was also a Thanksgiving blessing for our little family. He arrived with Josh after an 11 hour drive, each way, from New York City to Coolville, Ohio.

Murray also arrived after an unfortunate series of events that had left me soured on having a second dog. You see, on the recommendation of doggy friends of ours, we visited a breeder in New Jersey to purchase a puppy. Our initial plan was to visit her house, see the facilities, determine whether we liked her and her puppies and then possibly bring one home. Anyone that has ever attempted to look at puppies without buying one knows that it is fairly impossible to look at squirming balls of fur and not sneak one home with you. We were hooked, and that night we came home with Samba, our little black Brussels Griffon. Samba and Tango, don't you love it?

Something was just not quite right with Samba, though. We'd gone through puppy rearing with Tango, so I was prepared for sleepless nights and potty accidents, but Samba was strange, almost out of control. After a visit to the veterinarian, we discovered that she had worms, as well as a rash on her belly that the vet thought was ringworm. The vet also thought she just didn't look good on the whole for a 13 week old puppy. She advised me to call the breeder and ask some more questions about the other puppies.

In the meantime, Samba was a terror. She bit constantly, ignored my cries of no when she did something, attacked Tango nonstop, and Tango DETESTED her. Hate is a strong word, but he really seemed to hate her. 6 days after we'd brought her home, the breeder called us in tears. Samba's sister had dropped dead from a seizure just days after her new family had brought her home. She advised us to take her back to the vet for testing, and a call to the vet confirmed my worst suspicions... We needed to give her back to the breeder or risk her dying from some unknown problem.

I cried for two days at the idea of letting go of the sweet pup, and I cried at the thought that I'd somehow exposed Tango to some mysterious illness that could kill him. At the end of that weekend, Josh drove her back so that the breeder could do the necessary tests and decide whether she would ever go to live with a family again. And I swore off of getting a second pup. In the end, I'd wanted company for Tango, but not at the risk of ruining the wonderful situation we had then.

Josh encouraged me to call more breeders, particularly those I'd seen on the televised dog shows, and when I did, they told me of terrible stories related to Samba's breeder. She was known amongst more reputable breeders as careless and dangerous with her dogs. He encouraged me not to let this one bad instance keep me from getting another dog, and after a slight pause, told me that he might have the dog for me.

A couple of phone calls later, and I was speaking to a wonderfully sweet woman who had 3 puppies. 2 that were going to the breeder I'd called earlier, and one male puppy that she called Long-Tail. Long-Tail had been born tiny, and they'd hesitated to crop his tail because they didn't want to cause him trauma. She'd planned on keeping him because he was such a sweetheart, but after hearing my story, she offered him to us. She didn't have a digital camera, but she promised "I ain't lying, he's real cute."

That is how, sight unseen, Josh drove 11 hours, in each direction, to pick up little Murray from Coolville, Ohio. I refused to go, because I couldn't bear seeing another puppy and having to walk away. I made Josh swear that if there was ANYTHING wrong with Long-Tail, he'd turn around and come home. Murray was perfectly adorable, though, and when Josh made it home after the long drive, this is the little monster I met:




Could you die from the cuteness?







Murray and Tango loved each other, and Murray became Tango's little shadow.




If Tango played, Murray played the same way.






If Tango slept, Murray slept curled against him.
















And we were in love. With Murray, and his long tail!












Murray may be one of the sweetest dogs that has ever lived. He is a ball of pure, unadulterated love. He follows us around the house and a simple look is enough to send his whole back end wagging around. If you get close enough, he will kiss you ecstatically. He waits patiently outside of our shower for the opportunity to lick our toes. If you hand him a treat, he won't pause to sniff it, but snorts enthusiastically as he gobbles it gently from your fingers. He is my little "pochito morfoni," a chubby little Argentine cartoon character that loves to eat.

And most importantly, Murray has taught us an important lesson in life. You should love your friends and family with all your heart. You should be happy in everything that you do. And never forget to stop and smell the flowers.






I hope all your Thanksgiving blessings bring you this much joy!