Merle

We suprised our kids at Christmas with a picture of their new puppy. 

 They had been begging for months for a new puppy.

 Our precious dog Haley is 12 years old now and getting slower by the day. 

 Our kids have never had a puppy because Haley was full grown before any of them were born. 

Ben and I both felt like now was a good time to get a new puppy. 

Our kids are a good age to start learning responsibility and taking care of animals more. 

We definitely wanted our new puppy to be "trained" by Haley on how to behave with the kids and the chickens around. 

And with Haley advancing in years, we wanted a smooth transition from one dog to the next when that time comes. 

 We had the kids hunt around the house for their final gift on Christmas day and they found it on Haley's dog bed and it was a bag with a stuffed Australian shepherd inside. 

And, we had these couple pictures of our new puppy from the breeder.

   

We talked and talked about names for days. 

Ben came up with the name Merle based on her breed and coloring. 

 She is a Red Merle Miniature Australian Shepherd.

 Everyone loved it and she had a name! 

We drove up to the breeder in Oklahoma one Saturday in January when she was ready to leave her momma and brought her home. 

 

She spent so many of those early days just sleeping. 

She would sleep everywhere. 

 

One of her favorite spots is below my feet in my bathroom when I am getting ready. 

This is so precious because from the very beginning Haley felt very protective of Merle and she would follow her everywhere. 

 Here she backed herself up as gently as she could and laid down right next to her. 

So sweet. 

 

We got her set up at our vet that we love and she has been such a happy camper at home with us. 

 

 Love that I took a few good pics of her on her first few days when she was so little. 

 

We love our little new addition. 

She's getting LOTS of attention and loves cuddling and playing fetch and car rides. She loves to go to soccer practice, baseball games and pick up the kids in the carline. 

What a special gift she has been this year.