Impossibly Cute

This is Faith. That, at the moment is the name we are trying out, although there is some lobbying for Hope so it could change. (Muffin, Biscuit and Cookie were ruled out because they are not 'serious' enough.)
We met her yesterday and fell in love. Of course. I was well aware that meeting a puppy was like falling off a cliff, there would be no going back. All this in a week! We have loved having our dog guests and I missed them when I was away overnight on Thursday. I spent Friday night and Saturday morning discussing breeds and practicalilties with a more knowledgeable friend of mine and settled on a working Cocker Spaniel. One specualtive call to a breeder informed me that these dogs, being true working dogs, only have litters at a certain time of year, and those litters are available now. The next lot will be next year, and a lot of breeders are sold out. I heard, 'I sold the last one this week/this morning,' a number of times. Suddenly it became a nowmy brain had been doing in the background and in one crystallizing moment I knew that I or next summer decision. As with many of my major life choices, I realized how much processing wanted us to get a dog. She is expensive and will be hard-work and time-consuming, she will need house-training and she won't sleep at night for a while, but my heart is ready for this new personality in my life.