While we were living and teaching in the Ft. Walton Beach/Destin area we were "empty nesters". We had lots of pre-school kids between us during the day where we each taught but we had left our college kids in Oxford and did the reverse thing of them staying and us leaving. Russ and I went to the park one day and saw a little dog that really got me thinking about having a dog. We asked the owner what breed he was and he told us a schnoode which was a cross between a miniature poodle and a schnauzer. I went home and began to research the breed and found they were good for people with allergies. We seriously began to think about having a dog. I had been working on my National Board for Certified Teachers for the previous year and which would be turned it in to NBCT in March. I wouldn't know if I had achieved NBCT status until the following November or December. The more I saw schnoodes, the more I wanted one and finally asked Russ if I could have one if I passed my NBCT. Of course, he said "sure". The more I thought about it, the more I decided that if I didn't pass, I would probably need the comfort of a fuzzy puppy as much or more. So, we decided to get a puppy regardless of whether I passed or not.
We researched the best place to get a schnoodle and found Smerglia's in Robertsdale, Alabama not too far from us. We contacted them, found there would be a litter in January ready to take home in March (during our spring break). We still were not 100% sure but Sherri invited us to come and just visit one of the litter in March knowing full well that once we laid eyes on them, we would be hooked (and she was right).
She had a litter born to a white schnauzer mama named SugarBaby and a black poodle daddy named Merlin. There had been a couple more puppies in the litter than usual so there were two puppies not spoken for. Both were little white balls of fur; one was a girl and one a boy. We didn't have a preference because both would be neutered per Smerglia's agreement not to breed their dogs. When we got there we met the brother and sister who looked identical. Solid white balls of fur. They played and the boy kind of hid in the corner. Sherri put the girl back into the kennel after a few minutes and the boy barked to try and get her back down on the floor. We asked Sherri about the differences in temperament of the males and females and she said the girls were usually bossier and would bark at everyone that came to the door, etc. Males were usually more laid back. So, we chose the male and named him Kirby.
Now, you will find this extremely humorous especially for those of you who know how my dogs lick on me and how we sleep with them but when we got Kirby we were totally clueless. We stopped at a store and bought a blanket to put in my lap in case he peed in my lap while I held him. I was a nervous wreck. We stopped and bought him a collar and leash. The collar was about the size of a bracelet because he only weighed 5 pounds. We stopped to get a sandwich so he could stay with us outside and so while we ate he sat beside us on his little leash. We had bought a kennel for him and a little stuffed bear that Russ took out the stuffing and put in a small clock so he could hear the ticking similar to his mother's heartbeat. He went right to sleep and I had my meltdown. I looked at that tiny little dog and realized I knew absolutely nothing about taking care of a dog. I panicked and I begged Russ to take him back the next morning. I wasn't good at keeping house plants alive and the thought of an animal just freaked me out. Somehow Russ convinced me that he knew enough about how to take care of a dog that Kirby would be fine and I reluctantly went to sleep. Now, this is how much we knew at the time. We left Kirby in the laundry room in his kennel and went to sleep in our bedroom at the opposite end of the house. He did fine and actually liked the kennel for a while. Until the first Florida thunderstorm. We heard sounds we had never heard before and realized he was scared. So, we moved the kennel into our bedroom temporarily because we certainly didn't want him to get used to sleeping in the bedroom with us! I'm laughing right along with you all. I'm not sure how long it took us to realize that if we were going to get any sleep he was going to have to sleep in the bed with us. But we were the people that said "who on earth would let a dog sleep in their bed?" We were learning. Kirby was teaching us. Even more importantly at one point we realized that we wanted Kirby to sleep with us probably more than he wanted to. It just all evolved and one morning we woke up and realized that we had become dog people. Serious dog people. Dog kisses were valued and we began to notice that when the dog went to sleep, no one moved. Furthermore, the bed space was being reallocated to the comfort of the white fuzzy dog.
When Kirby was a puppy, he loved playing so much that he would go without eating. We finally learned that in order to get him to eat, one of us had to pretend to be a dog too. Thank goodness there are no videos of me down on my all fours pretending to eat to show Kirby he needed to do it, too. Or, us in the puppy play position. I know Kirby was having a good time training us!
Then one day, two years later we realized that we wanted a second dog for a companion for Kirby. We were indeed hooked and exhausted from being his puppy companions. If someone had told us that getting two puppies at once would have been easier we would have never believed it but we know that now. At this point in our lives, we were still so new at pet parenting that we were afraid to venture into adopting a dog because we could barely handle the ones who came to us as puppies with no previous abuse or neglect. So, the plans began to add a little, brown female schnoodle to our family.
My NBCT dog, Kirby was a faithful companion who as most of you know passed away this July. I completed my recertification for my 10 year NBCT and will learn if I achieved recertification in November. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that my NBCT dog Kirby wouldn't be with me when I received the news. Of course, in my heart he will always be with me.
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