Meet Cougar!

October 23, 2008

This is Cougar; our newest investment. We got him on January 6th, he flew in from Texas! Justin wanted him so badly and we actually tried for months to get a pup like him and things kept falling through. You see, his Dad is 'Rebel with a Cause', a 2 time highest point yellow lab in the nation, who happens to be black factored. A very short version of why he is cool, is because he is yellow, which most people want bcuz they are PRETTIER, but his ENTIRE LINEAGE is BLACK and they are statistically SMARTER. We had to get this pup now because 'Rebel' passed away last April and there are only so many 'breedings' left. (Also a reason passed chances to get a 'Rebel' pup fell through.) It was obviously not the best timing that this all fell into place because that is when we had the litter, hence the reason we didn't tell ANYONE! We were sure that everyone thought we were CRAZY enough with 11 dogs in the house, who needs a DOZEN!?!? Things actually weren't as bad as we expected, bcuz he was the calmest dog we own and we weren't able to get him until he was almost 11 weeks old, so he potty trained quickly and hardly chewed on stuff. Waiting actually benefited us because Cougar's grandpa on his Mom's side is actually a National Champion, which means he has an even better Pedigree!!

The story of getting him was full of disappointments and anxieties....To start with, we thought this was going to be another failure bcuz after finding this litter and an available male, we didn't hear from the breeder for 2 weeks. After securing a pup, the pictures he promised to send so we could make our selection, didn't come. (Turns out the guy was on vacation and had other people handling some things.) Finally, we got OUR pup picked and sent the money. We were suppose to get him on New Years Eve, but it was too cold in Minnesota (this was where his layover from Austin, TX was). Then we would have gotten him New Years day, but apparently on holidays the Cargo portion of airports are closed and that was the same with the 2nd and 3rd, a Sat. and Sun., they are closed on weekends too. So, we were then suppose to get him a couple days later on the 5th, but again it was too cold in Minnesota. Finally, the weather in the northeast got to above 10 degrees and our new puppy was able to fly home! We went to the I.F. airport at 11:00pm and waited for 3 planes to land, then we waited for 3 planes to unload cargo (who knew the I.F. airport was SO BUSY)... the lady unloading the 2nd plane said, "You must be the people waiting for the puppy?" and we said, "Yes," then she said, "He is on the next plane. He is SO CUTE. The captain's been taking pictures of him and everybody loves him." Finally he came in, in his little crate and I wanted to hold him so badly, so I asked the lady who brought him in if I could let him out, so while Justin signed the papers, I held him and then put him down to go back in his kennel and he started to run around baggage claim. We decided then to head home. Finally, after midnight, he was home, we got our puppy from texas!
This is the 1st picture of him. (He's gonna help Justin put his kennel together.)
He was very hungry! After taking care of his belly, he got to know Gunnar and Lucy. Gunnar tried to play nicely with the new pup. Lucy ignored him for a day or 2 until she realized he was staying.
He's startin' young. "Here's your waders Dad, let's go Huntin'! I even got some ducks already!"
When Lucy grew away from her pups, she and Cougar became good play buds. Gunnar turned 2 and decided he was too old for puppies.
He figured out his place in the family within a few weeks, right in the bed pillows!
He thinks he's a POINTER when he sleeps! :)
Then Fire semi-offically joined the kennel, uh, I mean house. And these 2 quickly became BEST FRIENDS!
One quality Cougar has that I hope our children have: He puts himself to bed.
(Notice, the door is open, he doesn't have to be there.)
Fire still likes the feel of a cuddly litter and Cougar is happy to oblige!
They PLAY CONSTANTLY!!
And our most recent photo! Isn't he HANDSOME!!
So far, he doesn't have any major personality traits like the other dogs have had. He does like to love and play, he learns quickly and swims kinda funny and we had to take away his stuffed bed and trade it for blankets cuz he liked to rip the stuffing apart. He has a different shaped head and My Mom and Wendy think he is the cutest thing in the world! He just turned 6 months old and he weighs 62 lbs.
FYI: We plan on building a house in the COUNTRY as soon as I graduate this coming year!