Our Growing Family

A little over a week ago, Marc and I took Jonathan to the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem, Massachusetts. We were on our way to a play date at a friend's house and decided to kill some time, or at least that's what we thought pulling into the parking lot. What we didn't know at that moment was that our family would be growing again. In this case, we were welcoming not one but two dogs into the mix....yes, two adorable 4-year old yellow labs with a combined weight of 172 lbs. It's true, Marc and I tend to act on impulse, especially when our heartstrings are being pulled. Usually it works out for the best, which is luckily what happened here. One look that these two dogs and we were smitten. The car ride home was an interesting one to say the least.

A little about our two new family members - Bobby and Babe were born from the same litter. Their prior owners had brought them to the no-kill shelter the day before. As is often the case, the family was moving and could not take the dogs with them. (It would kill me to have to make that kind of decision.) Anyway, the dogs had been together since birth so adopting just one was completely out of the question. One of the staff members mentioned that a few years back, the prior owners had intended to take only Bobby, who was one of the larger male puppies of the bunch. But seeing as how he was ultra protective of the runt of the litter, his sister Babe, they simply didn't have the heart to leave her behind, especially considering she was also the last one remaining. And so, they decided to take them both and the pair have been inseparable ever since.


This is Bobby. He's a rather big fella weighing in at a 111 lbs. Needless to say, he's now on a diet. He spends most of his day chewing on his stuffed lambie and loves it when you scratch behind his ears. I would describe Bobby as simply a walking bundle of love. When out in the garden, he doesn't like to be more than a few feet away from his sister (or run much for that matter). Bobby is also effortlessly endearing. This morning, he walked into the kitchen with one of Jonathan's rather large stuffed animals dangling from one side of his mouth and looked up at us with an expression that read, "Can I chew on this?" We couldn't help but laugh.


And this is Babe the runt, weighing in at 61 lbs. She is innately curious and extremely loving as well. When not running around the yard at lighting speed, she loves to torture her brother by taking his toys away, which he happily relinquishes every time. She just likes to prove that she's faster than he is. Babe also loves to lick her brother's ears and face at night, which is probably one of his favorite things as well.


So there you have it - our growing family. Aside from vacuuming the house everyday, our lives haven't changed all too much. In fact, it seems as though Bobby and Babe have always been a part of our family. I'm sure Jonathan would agree.