The New Mannimal

Knowing how much the kids like dogs and how much Athena would appreciate one, I decided to surprise the family and tell them we could look for a good dog to bring home. I told Athena first and after we got home from labor day weekend she looked up one of the local shelters online to look at some pictures and descriptions of the available dogs. There were several there that looked like they might work for us.
I called the shelter to check their hours the day we were going to go and see the dogs and the lady there told me about a pet fair that was going on less than ten miles from our house. She said they had 4 of their dogs there and that there were several other organizations that had booths their too. We figured we could check there and if we didn't find anything we liked we could go on to the shelter and look at the ones we'd seen online.
We arrived at the fair an hour or so before closing since we had just found out about it. There were several booths with a few animals each and books of pics/info about other dogs that they had back at their kennels. We looked through each of them and rounding the corner to the last booth we assumed we would just go to the original shelter and see their dogs since we hadn't found anything we liked at the fair. We checked out what they had at the final booth and were just turning to leave when the owner told a lady and guy walking by with a dog that we just had to see this one.
The couple walked over and sat down and the dog sat calmly amongst the other dogs and all the people. They turned out to be his foster parents who had been caring for him temporarily for the shelter. I had noticed the dog earlier when I'd seen them walk by and I was impressed with him. It took us less than 30 minutes to realize that Harvey (as he was called then) was the dog we were looking for. He was mellow yet young (they figured him to be 10-12 months) and the size range we wanted (mid-size). He also seemed to be a good dog for young kids to be around since he seemed smart and friendly while still being capable of protecting them if need be. From our instincts and all the info we gathered on him from the foster parents and shelter owners we decided that we would choose him.
The bad thing was when it occurred to me that we might be forgetting some hint the landlord had given about liking that we didn't have a pet when we originally moved in. Then when I called them and told them we were at the fair and had fallen in love with a little dog they weren't happy and even told me no and that previous renters had totally screwed them over with a pet before! :( But of course as anyone who knows me well knows I don't always take no for an answer so easily if I think it's important so I debated, haggled, persuaded my way through the encounter and ended up with an agreement and a yes on the dog.
As we walked around to buy the supplies we wanted, after we had sealed the deal and taken the dog, everyone at the Farm Store hosting the event and all the people running the booths who saw us with him commented on what a great dog they thought he was and even remembered his name so that was encouraging that we'd probably made a good selection.
So, we toyed with the idea of keeping Harvey as the name, but I told Athena it wasn't hard core enough to suit our dog and she came up with the brilliant idea of changing one letter in his name (to save him confusion) and making Harvey, Harley! (I wonder what he thinks about the family who could say his name on the first day but developed an odd speech impediment on the second, LOL.)
So that was a picture of Mat playing out back with Harley (or Har Lee Mann as we call him on paper to follow in family tradition of the males having Lee for middle name) on his first day home.


A close-up of the two new friends. We all spent time making sure Harley felt at home by hanging out with him out back. That's one of Harley's toys that his foster parents brought over...it didn't survive the first day with he and Mat! ;)


The new King of the Back Yard and two of his toys. He's a fairly good listener and has just the right amount of energy we wanted in a pup his age...playful yet not overly energetic and excitable.


Mat was under the assumption we was stronger and went right in to do some tug-o'-war battling.


I like him, but the allergies will be a bitch being that I can only pet him with my hands and anywhere else he bumps into immediately starts to break out in an allergic reaction... :(
Some good news though is that after only his first trip to the folf course he has proven he can be let off the leash and behave without too much direction and thus spent his whole second game running free and without making any crucial errors.


Matrim goes for the over-the-shoulder pull to try for more leverage and manages to almost leave the shot.


But of course Harley pulls him right back around.
Every once in awhile Harley would let Mat win or Mat would catch him readjusting his grip and pull it loose but Harley pulled it out of Mat's hands far more often, several times pulling Mat off balance and tumbling to the ground. Mat has spent tons of time outside battling it out and playing fetch and hasn't wanted to come in until after dark when one or the other of them is worn out. ;) They have a great time already.


He is Harley, our "BullEt", our Pit Bull/Whippet mix, and the new member of the family. :)