New Pet in the House, A Puppy Not Much Bigger Than a Bourke

In the past I've written about cats and dogs getting along in households with birds. I've also written about losing our wonderful old Lab/Malamute mix, Chinook, that we got as a 7-week-old puppy in 1999.

Well, three months later we have a new dog. Although people keep telling me he more or less resembles a rabbit.

Considering "Sasha" as a name for him.

On Friday, May 3, we picked up another 7-week-old puppy. Meet our Peke-a-Tzu. Dad's a Pekingese and Mom's a Shih-Tzu. And, please pronounce it "sheed-zoo." People are even spelling it incorrectly these days, as well as pronouncing the name like a naughty four-letter word. Wrong.

When he's full grown he will be about the size of our Chinook when he was seven weeks old. We thought maybe a small dog would be easier for us to handle since we're older now than we were 14 years ago with Chinook as a puppy ... not as much energy and balance as when we were younger.

We didn't expect to get such a peanut, but he is fun and has brought smiles and laughter back into our home.

Now, to teach him to be safe around the birds. Chinook was 100% reliable. Will this one be? Hope so, but he has a lot of love and training ahead of him.

Peace and Blessings.