I’ll be the first to admit I never considered myself a dog person. I have been known, on occasion, to roll my eyes when people would start going on about what adorable thing their dog did or stop to pet every dog that walked by. That is until Winston joined our family. Winston is a Golden Retriever, who came to us at 12 weeks. When he was born to a friend’s Golden, we saw it as a chance we couldn’t pass up. My husband and I argued for weeks over the number- he wanted 2 and I felt I was comprising at 1 because I wanted NONE! Our 2 teen boys were pretty noncommittal about the whole thing as teenage boys tend to be. My thinking was I could deal with one if everyone pitched in to take care of it. I was determined to have this puppy trained so weeks before we got him I did exhaustive research checking out every book in the MCLINC system from House Training for Dummies by Susan McCullough to The Idiot’s Guide to Puppies by Connie Swaim. Do you see the pattern here? I was clearly not a confident dog person.

Sir Winston

Well… Winston has now been with us for a month a half and I am completely, madly head over heels in love! Don’t tell my husband but my heart belonged to that puppy the very first night! I take an absurd amount of photos (as my disgusted facebook friends will verify), speak to him in that revolting sing-song baby voice that previously made my skin crawl and only buy him organic food. It’s ridiculous! He has become a member of our family in a few short weeks and we couldn’t imagine life without him. Yes! I have become one of “those dog people.”