Yep, we did it doggy style

Get your head out of the gutter people, I was talking about picking out a dog! Meet Daytona (though, we call her Tona) ...

Face shot, she was laying on the floor of the shelter here. She looks a lot like a pit bull in the face.

Jocelyn wanted to walk her. I was amazingly surprised she didn't take off dragging Jocelyn behind her.

Jocelyn adores Tona, and Tona returns the favor. She lets Jocelyn play with her feet, pet her face, anything. She's such a sweetheart.

Now ... the story ...

Although I said nothing good came out of Paris, Kentucky (and I still stand by that), Tona joined us after being stuck in the Paris animal shelter since June. I figure she didn't really "come out" of Paris, but rather we "rescued" her from Paris.

We went back to the shelter at Paris around 10:30 Saturday morning - because the website said they opened at 10. Little did we know, the website is wrong (imagine that!) and they don't open until noon. Well, crap. So we ran out and got an early lunch and then did some puppy shopping at TSC. Jocelyn even picked out a John Deere collar and leash set for her. (We've since had to upgrade to the "large" from the "medium" - but since we expected to leave the shelter with a younger puppy, that's why we got the smaller one.)

We head back at noon, and we look around while the people there help a family pick up the Pekingese they were adopting. We looked at the puppies, but didn't see the one we wanted from Petfinder. (I did, however, see the boxer pups that I wanted to visit Thursday night. Unfortunately, they were in quarantine due to recent fever after surgery, so they weren't adoptable anyway.) We asked about the pup from the web and it turns out she's not there, she's in a foster home. Of course.

Jocelyn wanted to walk through the dog room, which she quickly wanted to leave because it was so loud. Big shock. Well, as I walked through, I spotted this black lab who was just so sweet. I asked to see her. She came out and was all over the place, crazy wild. Tina, the lady at the shelter, said her name was Charolette (yeah, well, in Paris they can't spell Charlotte) and that she was wild, and going to be a lot of work.

We took her out front. Immediately she sat for me, she laid down, and she walked decently on the leash. Not perfect, mind you, but definitely better than other dogs I've seen. Jocelyn was scared, of course, we think it might have been more sensory overload than anything else. Eventually she tried to share her ball with the dog, and she warmed up - and the dog licked on her and loved on her. Never a growl, never a snip, never a bite, not even a bark. (In fact, in two days, I haven't heard her bark.)

Scott didn't want her. He had his heart set on the little girl puppy we saw online (she was 12 weeks old), not a "big" puppy. She is seven months old, but being that she's spent most of her life in a shelter as opposed to having human interaction, she is still all puppy. And that's okay.

After awhile, making my desire to bring her home with us known, I took Jocelyn inside and left Scott outside to walk with her. He reluctantly agreed that we could get her. He was warming up as time went on. While we were inside, the staff was warming up to Jocelyn, letting her sit at the desk and color - it was very sweet.

They were amazed how well she was walking with Scott on the leash (they missed her walking with me), but once they came back in, she was at my feet the whole time. Tina said she thought Charolette chose us, rather than us choosing her. I would be tempted to agree.

She's been great. So much so she and Oscar even get along. For the most part, Oscar took to her well, we did have a few minor altercations, but they were able to be averted quickly. Now onto house-training. Yay. Right after I finished potty-training the kid. Seems my life is a perpetual state of potty training in some fashion as of late.

So, now, the family has been expanded. We have one two-legged kid and four four-legged kids. I think it's definitely a full house.

And really, I had nothing interesting or witty to share in this post, I just wanted an excuse to use the title "We did it doggy style."

P.S. If you're wondering, yes, I e-mailed Scott County Humane Society telling them to take us off the list for the one dog. Not like they gave a damn anyway. But I figured I owed them that much courtesy. If nothing else, they might learn a thing or two.