Meet Colby Dillon Chalmers

 Its been a long 18 days since we lost our Dillon.  He died unexpectedly, and it was a total shock. Our house felt so sad and empty and we missed him immensely.  I blogged about the sad way he died, and I wrote a letter to the offending veterinary ER in great detail.  I searched all my photo files and made up a half a dozen picture books so we could have his life in pictures with sweet memories.  And about six days after we buried him, I got a text from my husband of a long lost photo of Dillon.  I was out doing errands and I glanced at it, thinking, where did he find that photo?  It turned out it wasn't Dillon at all, it was a dog on a rescue site that my husband found.  He had been searching rescue sites and when he stumbled on this dog and the dog's description he forwarded it to me.  Wow....could there be another dog waiting for us, like Dillon had been?  After sending an inquiry, we found out that although his photo and bio were posted, this dog had already been adopted.  We felt deflated.  But that began the search, and husband began looking in earnest.  We became excited about finding a dog a lot sooner than we ever imagined.  We were still shedding tears over Dillon and found searching for a dog that reminded us of him gave us some comfort.  

We ended up sending 8 inquiries on dogs on different rescue sites.  We got two answers right away that both were no longer available despite their postings.  UGH. We would wait days with no response on the others.  In the meantime my husband spoke to a breeder who he had once gotten a pitbull puppy from.  They had a rare litter that was about 5-6 weeks old right now.  Husband was excited.  I agreed to look, but felt that I really wanted to rescue an older dog, giving it a home, like we did for Dillon.  I told him not to fall in love....

but what happened when we got there took me by complete surprise.

 We arrived at the farm.  This breeder was a dairy farmer and his family had been breeders for two generations before him.  The little pups all came running out to the front of their outdoor kennel when he whistled.  Then they all came out into the grassy lawn and we were able to play with them and hold them and talk about them. Which ones were boys, and which ones were girls.  Hubby wanted a boy dog, I had no preference.  I wasn't planning on getting a puppy.

 But then this happened.  I saw this little fellow with the mostly white face and the patch over the eye, just like Dillon.  He had a big polka dot on his head and he was more relaxed than the rest of his littermates.  Oh my gosh.  Oh boy.  I was falling in love with him.  It was just so amazing to think that if we really wanted him, we could actually have him and we could bring him home in a week or two.  And our sad and empty house would be filled with this bundle of joy.  And that is what happened.  If we had been able to see some of the rescues we inquired about, the story may have had a different ending.  But our heavy hearts sprung back to life around him.  So we decided he was the dog for us, and we would take him home when he was ready.

 I took one last photo of him before we left. 
 He seemed to be keying in on us, and stared at me as I snapped him with my iPhone.
  He was completely adorable!  

 We returned to pick him up two days ago.  His parents were eagerly awaiting his arrival with a new tiny dog bowl, although Dillon's big water bowl would stay.  New toys and new crate and puppy chow too.  His first night he did so great! No crying at all, we woke him up twice for potty breaks.  To this day, now almost two full days in, he has had no accidents.  
He is a complete JOY!

 We made him a little pee pee pen so he can find his scent easily

 and will eliminate quickly when we bring him outside.  It has worked very well.  

We play on the floor like kids!  He plays, he eats, he pees he naps and we do it all

over again.  Just like having an infant.  

He is the tiniest little dog I have ever seen!  And the cutest!

 We named him Colby Dillon Chalmers.  

He has us firmly wrapped around his little paws. 

 This morning, the second one he has shared with us, he was a tail waggler.  

He recognized us and was so happy this morning, whereas yesterday he was subdued

 and confused and missing his home and litter mates.  

But today, he is playing and a bundle of fun! He did make his first bark, and he looked surprised.

Everything he does, we just ooh and ahh over.  Family members having been coming over to meet him and its been a very busy weekend at the Chalmers household.

We are over the moon with Colby and hope for a long life together, 

filled with that wonderful dog-human bond that we crave. 

This is a video we took of Colby's first day at our home.