The newest member of our family came home last Friday afternoon.  Prior to the last pregnancy, my husband and I discussed getting a 2nd dog to replace our Nala, our sweet Alaskan Malamute who passed away March 2008.  We decided immediately after her passing to wait until we at least had a fence to get a 2nd dog.  We also wanted to see how our other dog Otis, Shepherd/Husky mix reacted to being an only dog.  He actually did very well.

This June, we had a chain link fence put in, sharing the cost with our neighbors.  We talked a lot about what kind of dog to get, and whether to adopt an older dog (Nala was a "senior" dog when we adopted her at age 8) or get a puppy.  When we got pregnant, I half expected the dog talks to stop: with another mouth to feed, do we really add another dog to those expenses as well?  Dogs, especially large dogs, are not cheap to keep.  Aside from food, there is the cost to the vet, to kennel as larger dogs can't as easily be brought along like a smaller dog, more grooming, and more treats.  But as my husband didn't stop talking about it, I decided I was even more on board.

When we lost the baby, we took a few weeks off the hunt.  I personally couldn't imagine adding another member to the family having just lost one.  Slowly, we started talking again.  We decided that we wanted another Malamute or at least a sled dog.  Surprisingly, these dogs are difficult to find in eastern Montana.  The closest rescue is 6 hours from our home.  A Humane Society 8 hours away had about 40 rescued Siberian Huskies from a hoarder.  So, we started searching for a breeder.  Again, hard to find.  So last week, on a whim, I did a search on www.petfinder.com to see if there just happened to be a Malamute in the area.  And there WAS!!  A beautiful 9 year old Malamute named Wiconi (wi-CONE-ee) was in a Humane Society about 30 minutes away from our house.  We went to visit her the following evening and by Friday she was home with us.

Wiconi is still adjusting to us, but our family has easily fallen back into the patterns of having 2 dogs.  Maggie gives each a hug and kiss before we leave for the day.  We are going for more walks and have more play time outside as Otis seems to have gotten a few years younger with another dog to play with (Otis is about 9).  We are definitely a 2 dog family and our family feels a little more complete now.