Nov 9, 2017

Meet Mollie

There’s a new member of the Sugarplum family…meet Miss Mollie!

Do you see those blue eyes?! We didn’t have a freaking chance! But let me back up…last weekend, Little Miss and I wanted out of the house, so we decided on Chick-Fil-A and Target…a solid Saturday, right?! After lunch, we were crossing the parking lot to Target, when we heard dogs barking. Turns out, it was the same rescue group we’d adopted Maggie, so we stopped to say hello. Mistake #1.

I blame it on the Chick-Fil-A buzz (their sauce is powerful), but next thing I knew, Little Miss had a little pup in her arms. Mistake #2 I told her, ‘Don’t get any ideas!! We are not getting another dog.’ There was even excessive finger-waggling involved, so clearly I meant business!

Then I looked into the puppy’s eyes, and I felt my resolve start to crumble. I sent this pic to my friend Sheaffer and my aunt (both avid, yet realistic, dog people), and told them to talk me out of it. They both responded, ‘No ma’am, I can’t. That’s your dog!!’ Mistake #3.

Things started snowballing then…we called the teenager and he arrived in minutes, and fell in love a second later. Looking at my kids faces, I knew this puppy was ours.

What breed is she?

She’s a rescue, so we can’t be completely sure, but the vet thinks she’s a Corgi/Border Collie mix. Maybe some Aussie, too. There are a few breeds that could account for her blue eyes. She has the long body and short legs of a Corgi, but her coat is short and silky. Her big ears crack me up, especially since they flop when she runs.

Where’d you find her?

She was abandoned pretty early, and brought to a shelter in Paris, Texas. From there, Texas Little Cuties (a local shelter that rescues dogs and cats scheduled to be euthanized) saved her and brought her to our area. TLC brings their dogs to PetSmart (at 121 & Custer) every weekend for adoption. Funny enough, we ‘accidentally’ found Maggie the same way four years ago. Darn you Chick-Fil-A for sharing a parking lot with PetSmart!! #kidding

How old is she?

She’s about 14 weeks and 12 pounds, and already growing so fast! There’s conflicting guesses on her final size, somewhere between 20-50 pounds!!! So I guess we’ll wait and see. Until then, we love having a little pup to snuggle, and hope she’ll trust us enough to stay this affectionate when she’s grown.

Did you name her?

We used to always joke that it was a good thing Maggie already had a name, because there’s no way the four of us could ever agree on one. But naming Mollie was actually pretty easy…we knew we wanted a M name to go with Maggie, so we narrowed it down to a couple and gave it a few days to see what stuck. The top choices were Millie, Moxie (my pick), and Mollie…in the end, we let the kids decide. Mr. SP calls her Hot Ta-Mollie. #har

What does Maggie think of the new puppy?

We actually brought Mollie home on a foster basis for a night or two before officially adopting her. Since Maggie was already part of our family, we wanted to make sure she was okay with adding a new friend. (She’s always been more of a people-dog, than a dog’s dog.)

Maggie was sweet and gentle the first day, then super annoyed the next. I think the novelty wore off and she was ticked to no longer be the only ~~diva~~ dog of the house…she even sulked for a day! But she came around pretty quickly, and now they play together constantly, and nap side-by-side. It’s so fun to see Maggie act like a puppy again, and Mollie is training quickly by watching her.

Were you looking to add another dog to your family?

Um, no! The kids have actually been asking for another dog for a couple of years. “Maggie needs a friend!” “Maggie gets lonely when we’re gone!” But Mr. SP and I had no interest in having two dogs. Neither of us ever had two growing up, so it just wasn’t something we were familiar with.

Funny enough, as soon as Mr. SP caught wind of what we were doing at PetSmart last weekend, he stopped answering his phone! Ha, like that would stop me! But we took a family vote after fostering her for a few days, and it was a unanimous YES!

How is the house-training going?

It’s not as bad as I’d imagined (Maggie was 2 when we adopted her, so I hadn’t had a puppy since I was a kid), and she’s learning quickly. Fortunately, we have a tiled Laundry Room, so we have somewhere to keep her that’s easily cleaned. She still has about one accident a day in the house (Folex is my best friend), but no accidents in the Laundry Room at night!

Having an older dog makes it easier because Mollie just follows Maggie around, and does what she does. In fact, she can already sit for a treat!

It’s incredible how much she’s already enhanced our lives, and to see the joy the two pups bring us. True we’re making a lot of trips to the backyard, and folding laundry is a whole new challenge #socks…but it’s all so worth it. I have a feeling we’ll never go back to just one dog again! Welcome to the family, Mollie Sugarplum!

Read Maggie’s adoption story here, and see all kinds of puppy-spam on my Instagram Story.

Family