meet atticus!

http://instagram.com/p/X2Z2ctTGDG/

If you couldn’t tell from my Instagram feed, we recently adopted a puppy! Atticus is a five-month-old Husky/Aussie mix (I call him a Hussie, hehe) and he has to be the sweetest, most laid-back pup I’ve ever met.

http://instagram.com/p/X2mTD3zGBA/

Our Automattic co-worker, Michael, and his girlfriend, Meredith, fostered this adorable guy, so we’d seen lots of pictures and heard many good things prior to adopting him. Tim has been hinting at wanting a dog for a while now, I just never thought we’d have enough space in our small condo. But it just so happens we’re moving to a large home in a rural area with plenty of space for a pup and two kids to run… so in another month, that won’t even be a concern.

Initially, I was skeptical — my response to “we should get a puppy” has always been, “we have a puppy, her name is Gwen! She eats, sleeps, poops, and requires regular exercise and training. It’s basically the same thing.” But now that Gwen is well into toddler-dom, I’ve been feeling that sad no-more-babies pang. (Two kids is more than enough for our family, but tell that to my biological clock.) Let’s just say Tim may have caught me in a moment of weakness.

And… just look at that face:

http://instagram.com/p/X2aC3zTGDN/

Yeah, I didn’t stand a chance.

Atticus has completely taken to our family since we picked him up on Sunday, particularly to Tim. I’m impressed with how well-behaved and smart he is. We’ve been working on training commands like “down” and “stay”, and he’s pretty cooperative on a leash, if not curious. Tim and I take him for frequent walks, and since we both work from home, he rarely has the opportunity to get into puppy mischief. It turns out we’re in the perfect situation for a puppy.

Most importantly, he’s gentle with the kids, and Gwen is especially excited about her new “gogga” (she calls him “Acca”). Ellie is more cautious and timid (as she is with most dogs), but she already loves to help walk him, so we think she’ll come around soon.

The cats are the only ones who are understandably unimpressed with the new addition, but they’re slowly coming out of hiding, complete with looks of total and utter disgust. 🙂 I have a feeling by this time next week, they’ll do the standard, stately cat thing and just ignore him.

I think we’re all going to get along fine.

http://instagram.com/p/X2atniTGDu/