Proof of my insanity

Meet Samwise, the newest member of the family. 

Like Trigger, Sam is a rescue, so we don't know a lot about him.  He and his littermates were dropped off at the shelter and then pulled out by the rescue group.  Beorn saw him at Petsmart while we were shopping and felt really strongly that this was our dog.  He's never been one to "fall in love" with puppies, usually he can walk right on past them.  He had a very similar feeling when he saw Trigger - that he was supposed to be in our family.  We'd already discussed getting a second dog - in a year or so - and already talked over breeds and size...  this was just a lot sooner than I'd expected.   And Sam was just so darn cute, I had a hard time saying NO.  So, Sam came home with us.  It was a big surprise for the kids.

Sam is just a baby - four to six months old and they say he is a spaniel mix - our best guesses are springer spaniel/St. Bernard or springer spaniel/border collie.  We'll just have to wait and see how big he gets...  Here he is the first day home, fresh from a badly needed bath and sporting Trigger's harness (which now, two weeks later, he has out grown). 

He is very well behaved (for a puppy) and (compared to Trigger) has a moderate energy level.  He is eager to please and is learning "sit" and "come" already.  He doesn't jump up (something Trigger still hasn't perfected) and hasn't chewed up anything that he shouldn't (yay for all the training stuff we learned with Trigger).  He does very, very good on the potty training.   All we have left to do is perfect his always going potty in the designated area of the yard. 

Sam and Trigger get along famously and Sam gets along very well with the cats.  They're far more tolerant of Sam than they are of Trigger.  Sam is not so... spastic.  He's calm enough that the cats are already far more trusting of him.  Arwen even let him lick her face.  It was amazing to see.  The exception to all this, of course, is Padme.  She is no more upset about Sam than she was about Tom, but she did give Sam a swift swipe to the nose to let him know that, calm or not, he'd not be licking her face.