We have a new dog

After the disaster that was Blaze I was completely against getting another dog. The older kids had been really wanting a pet. They talked about everything from a cat to a rat to a lizard. One Saturday Amy took the kids to Petsmart. The Adopt a Dog program was there so they looked at a bunch of dogs. They asked about a smaller dog that would be good for kids and was house trained, and there just happened to be one. I got a call from Megan who started excitedly talking about just the right dog...it was a cocker spaniel and was everything they wanted. They begged and begged and promised to take care of it. We were just about to go on our cruise so I told them after the cruise we could take a look at it...but was very skeptical to say the least.
Flash forward to last weekend. We were out doing our family tradition of picking names and then trying to be sneaky as we run through Target buying presents for each other. We were right across from Petsmart so they convinced me to go over and meet the cocker spaniel. We got there and got the news that the dog had just barely been adopted. The kids were very very sad. So we looked around at some of the other dogs. There were a lot of cute puppies there. But nothing that seemed too interesting. So I was ready to get out of the store...relieved that we were not leaving with a dog in tow.
But then we saw him...buried in a cage in the back...a very sad eyed beagle. He caught my eyes immediately, and we opened the cage I was hooked. I really don't know what it was, but there was something about this dog. I couldn't resist him. We took him out of the kennel to take him for a walk, and he just looked really depressed. He didn't wag his tail at all, and he barely wanted to go for a walk. He's just lay down and look sad. This worried us a little bit but for some reason he just tugged at all of our heart strings. He had been raised in a kennel and had not spent much time out of his cage. We thought about it for a little while, and kept looking at him and talking to him. He would lift his head up when Zander came close and wag his tail maybe two times, then go back to his sad pose. finally we decided to do it...
We picked him up on Wed and brought him home. He still seemed depressed but he explored the entire house, sniffing around and perking up little by little. After the tornado that was Blaze this dog seemed incredibly mellow. He didn't jump or run around, just walked around and liked to be next to people.
Slowly he has got used to our house. There is still not an ounce of hyper in him but the tail wags occasionally now. It's almost like he doesn't want to believe he is in a good situation. He gets excited and happy and then decides he might not want to be happy yet. But he is perking up all the time and is extremely cute. He is well behaved and is learning the house training quickly. Everyone enjoys him, even Zander. I think we made a good choice, and will all have fun with him.