Before Kids There Were Dogs

I have had a few different people ask me lately what kind of dog we have. Well, we have an AWESOME dog named Sota - he is a 7 year old English Springer Spaniel. We seriously lucked out with getting him. But before I talk about Sota . . . I have to talk about Jackson.

When Jayson and I moved in together right after college, we were doing some shopping at Sam's Club. All of a sudden here comes Jayson with a 40lb bag of Puppy Chow stating that it's for our dog - we had no dog. 3 hours later we were at the animal shelter adopting what we thought was a little lab mix puppy named Jackson that had an awesome demeanor and would grow to be about 50lbs. Fast forward 1 year when Jackson's tongue had turned black and his tail flipped (Chow) and his ears stood straight (German Shepherd) and he weighed 110 lbs! He was our boy - but unforunately, didn't fit into our future plans of moving to Minnesota. There was no place we could afford that would take a dog that size . . . so we had to find a loving home for him, which we did . . . but sadly, that put Jackson on the list of dogs that Jayson has had to give away.

So a year later when we were in Minnesota, I found myself talking to my boss about dogs that he bred. His dog just had a litter and he asked if I wanted to come take a look - why in the world I said yes, I have no idea. I had never heard of English Springer Spaniels, but when I saw the little puppy they had named Jason, who was the puppy that ate the most and slept in the food dish, stumble out of a box, I knew it was over. Naturally, we renamed him - and his name is Sota, as in Minnesota. His AKC name is Sota's Winter Wish - and get this, his Mom is Sadie's Indian Summer (my old car was named Sadie, as in "rapping with a bitch named Sadie" - look it up if you don't get the musical reference) and his Dad is, wait for it, Zeus Paws of Thunder!!!!!

Well we totally lucked out with Sota and his breed. He is VERY energetic, but he is also very well behaved - he just loves people! He can be let out without a leash, he follows directions, and most of all, he can be pulled, pushed, and tugged by our kids and he will still stand by them, because he thinks his job is to be their protector. You can google English Springer Spaniel . . . I did to read about the breed . . . but then I made the mistake of looking at Springer puppy pictures! UGH! We will get another Springer someday - while I know there are dogs in shelters that need to be adopted, we tried that. I loved Jackson, and he would've been great with kids too, but I don't want to ever be in the spot again where we can't have our dog because of breed or weight. And honestly, Springers have my heart now . . . Sota is considered a senior now - but has a ton of life left in him. When we got him there was a Springer down the hall, Emily, and she was 16! A note on that - she lived down the hall in our loft in St. Paul - whose idea was it to get a dog and have to housebreak it in a 2nd story loft, downtown with no grass, in the dead of winter in Minnesota?!?!?! Oh yea - totally mine!

Like I said, we will get another Springer someday . . . Jayson would say tomorrow . . . I have fears of coming home with one from Minnesota in October (you know, when they have those silly hunting shows with hundreds of Springers for adoption?!?!?) . . . but we'll see. For now - we love our dog . . . and his handsome self just got a haircut, foods, and preventive meds all in the same month this month . . . reminding me why we don't have another dog yet :)