We knew the time would eventually come that we would add to our family again in the form of fur and four legs. We have missed that companionship for some time and knew, with the kids being young, were better off having it as well. We were looking at next year until we happened upon an ad for a litter of German Shepherd puppies whose Mom and Dad were found abandoned in a home. No one knew Mom was pregnant at first and while they were keeping her and Dad, they were trying to find good homes for the litter of six pups. And there we were. Researching the breed because it wasn’t one on our radar, but after talking to a few people who have them and knowing that we wanted a puppy to ensure there were no unknown behavior issues since we have little ones in the house, it all kind of fell into place.

The kids had no idea and surprising them kinda made our year. As their eyes lit up and all four threw themselves onto him, the question on their mind was, “what are we going to name him?”. Now, Dad and I kind of take names seriously. In the quirkiest of ways, mind you. And knowing that we had the whole German thing to work with, we figured we would take it all the way. Besides, if we left it up to the kids we would have probably ended up with “Olaf” or “Booger”. And I’ve always been one to complain about names that you would be embarrassed to call out in public. Here we had a very beautiful, large and eventually more intense looking dog. The last thing I wanted to be calling out at the dog park is, “Come here, Bubbles!”. Know what I mean? So Dad and I took the reins and luckily the kids were more than pleased with the official sound to it all.

I’d like to introduce you to Major Augustus Von Heinrich. Major for short.

This kid might be the most perfect blend of relaxed and playful. He plays rough and tough with Dad, but as soon as Miss Blair approaches he keeps his mouth closed – he already seems to sense the difference at nine weeks old. His Mom and Dad were huge and he comes with paws in a size that Shaq would be proud of, but we haven’t seen him jump once. A week into this and he is barking to let us know he needs to go outside and he just might have his own cookie jar in the kitchen already. A nice addition to our already wild and crazy pack for sure and there never seems to be a shortage of cuddles and kisses for him.

Here’s to shoes being nibbled on, puppy breath, midnight potty breaks and dirty paws. Welcome to the gang, Major.