Cleo

So if you know me, you know that I have wanted a dog for 13 years.... and I finally got her! Here's how...

I've been looking for a Maltese/Shih Tzu (Malshi) or a Shih tzu/Poodle (Shih-poo) for quite a while. Both are hypoallergenic and I'm allergic to dogs so it was a pretty narrow selection of breeds.

I had a pretty crappy couple of days while traveling for work. I go to two small towns once a month for site visits. The drive to the first town is a little over three hours through a couple different canyons. I get there, work all day and then drive another two hours through a canyon to the second town. Driving through Canyons in Utah during the winter months sucks pretty bad. Usually you are required to have snow tires because the snow is so bad but it hadn't snowed much so I figured I would make it through them just fine.

One word... FOG. I didn't expect it to be so dang foggy. On my way to the first town, visibility was only about two car lengths... ON EVERY SIDE.



Now normally this would have been okay, but factor in a winding canyon with an open range and it was scary! It's not uncommon for cows and deer to be hanging out in the middle of the two-lane road. Luckily I only saw two deer and I was driving slow enough that I didn't hit them.


Well, long story short (sort of) on the way to the second town the sun set and it got dark. The fog continued to increase and by this time I could barely even see the end of my car. The only other vehicles on the road were semi trucks that were pulled over on the edge of the canyon so I couldn't tail another vehicle. Nor did I feel comfortable spending the night in my car with no blankets and half a bottle of water. (Normally I would have considered it, but not knowing where in the canyon I was and having crappy cell service, I decided it was a bad idea.) So after lots of tears and prayers and lengthy spotty phone calls to Joel, I finally made it to the other town.

When I got back home the next day, I was SO happy and relieved... as was Joel. We had seen an ad on KSL for a Malshi female puppy that a local vet was keeping. So out of pure curiosity, we went to see if they were still open. They were and the three female puppies were just adorable. We picked out little Cleo and they got her all bathed for us. We were excited because the vet will continue to see Cleo her whole life and will spay her for free. She gave us a little puppy package with toys, food and heartworm medicine.



Cleo has been an absolute joy! We are slowly training her on pee-pads and she seems to be a smart little puppy. She has a current biting/chewing problem, but we're working on that too :)



I'm sure I will blog about her a lot as she grows and learns! We are enthralled by her and probably spoil her a little too much! Joel jokes that he thinks we'll be paranoid parents since we are constantly researching everything puppy oriented. Haha!
Luckily, we won't find out for a couple years :)