Puppy Love: Part One or Revealing Our Secret

I'm awful at keeping happy, exciting secrets.

I had a secret that I was DYING to blab to everyone I know. I've kept my mouth zipped for TWO WHOLE DAYS, and finally Jimmy gave me the go-ahead to tell my sister Alison since I assured Jimmy she wouldn't mention anything to my parents. I also broke down and told my BFF/MOH Amanda. It wouldn't count if I told Amanda... I mean, she's my BFF, and I know she wouldn't spill the beans since she lives all the way out in freaking North Carolina, and then in June will be moving to CALIFORNIA! What the heck Amanda? California is not closer to Illinois.

Anyway... our little secret. I don't know exactly why it's a secret. I guess because Jimmy wants it to be. The minute it was official he asked, "can this be a secret?" Sure... keep something I want to tell everyone a secret. So we didn't tell anyone until yesterday, and we're still waiting to tell most of our family members.

What is our secret you ask? No, we're not pregnant. Let's get that out of your minds right away.

We're getting one of these!!

Not one of these exact puppies, but a puppy that will look very much like the ones in the picture. In fact this is a litter from the same breeders we are going through.**

Our puppy will be a silver Labrador Retriever. The AKC registers silver labs as chocolate labs. Many breeders feel it is just a matter of time until the AKC recognizes silver labs as their own separate color.

Jimmy saw a silver lab at a park a while ago, and was completely smitten. He has always loved labs, and during our search for a puppy, he kept asking about getting a lab. I've never seen a silver lab myself, but I adore the temperaments of other labs I know, and the pictures of silver labs I've seen had me sold that a silver was for us.

On Saturday the 15th of May, Jimmy Googled silver labrador retrievers. He eventually ended up on the website for Dances with Dogs Retrievers. They are a family owned and operated premiere breeder of yellow, black, chocolate, silver, charcoal, and silver-factored labs, as well as Golden Retrievers and Irish Wolfhounds. I tried to convince Jimmy that what he really wanted was an Irish Wolfhound, but he wouldn't budge. After scouring the webpage for nearly an hour we decided to sleep on it and come back to it the next day.

Sunday morning we went back to the Dances with Dogs Retrievers site. They are expecting a litter of silver labs mid-June and were starting to take deposits. I opened the page to make a deposit and couldn't press the "pay now" button myself. I wanted Jimmy to make the final call, so he pressed the button and we are officially going to be puppy parents!! We're in the second picking spot for a male, and he will be able to come home with us around mid-August.

We're not sharing the news with too many people yet because we want to wait till the litter is actually born and we get pictures from Dances with Dogs Retrievers. But I couldn't not share with you guys. Plus Alison is my only non-blogger friend that follows me... that I know of. If there's someone else I know reading this keep you lips zipped!!

I figured this would be a multi-post topic since our puppy hasn't even been born, and we have much to prepare for our little addition to the family.

Up next in the series: talking with Kenny and Joey, and prepping for our puppy.

**I am happy with our choice to adopt a dog from a breeder. Jimmy and I looked at shelters and adoption agencies to find a puppy. We were often times left disappointed and heart broken when the puppy we fell in love with ended up in a different home or otherwise unavailable. I whole heartedly praise those of you that have found shelter pets to love, but in our hearts this was the right choice for us. Our breeder is a reputable couple that only breeds dogs that have been given top health clearances. In the future if we get another pet we will again try the shelter route, but once we found this breeder we couldn't imagine going a different way this time around.