You need a dog!

So, just before Halloween, John and I went to Crystal Bay Farm for their celebration of art and music.  They're just down the street and even though I buy strawberries from them all summer, through SCLF, I have never been to their farm!  It was great fun! More pumpkins than I knew existed (I'm going to have to go back to get identification for a few of them).  We marveled at how their crops could have done so well with the crazy summer weather that left our melons and pumpkins in a mushy pile!  We were also surprised to see that they have no deer fence. No fence at all!  Although we had no deer problems for the first 8 months that we were here, they managed to find us in August, just as the tomatoes were coming on full force!  What the foggy weather didn't get, the deer did.  So we asked what the secret was, and Farmer Jeff said, "You need a dog!".  They had 3 of them running around and never had any problems.

Now, it's not as if I never thought of having a dog. I have tried it many times with no luck. I don't have the patience or time that I think it takes to raise a puppy, and dogs that someone else has given up...well..there's usually a reason for it.  One time I got a dog after a family friend passed away.  She was perfect! 85 pounds of loyal, fluffy, fun.  I loved her so much but then she got inoperable cancer. She died in my lap, on the vets exam room floor.  So I feel dog-cursed.  Nonetheless, John and I decided that it would be better to get a dog than to try to deer proof our rented property line.

Enter AFRP.  We saw on Craigslist that they were having an adoption day that weekend. They had a litter or Catahoula pups, 8 weeks old, that had been dumped in the SPCA night drop when they were only 4 weeks old!  One of them, a Red Merle with different colored marble eyes, just melted my heart, so I filled out adoption papers and we planned to stop at the adoption site on Saturday.  Just to see.  I had NO intention of bringing a dog home when we left to run errands that morning. I expected a long process.  When the foster people walked in with the puppy, it was love at first site!  Paperwork was quick and we spent the rest of the morning running errands with a puppy and adding pet food and toys to our shopping list.

Her given name was Pebbles, but that wasn't working for me, so now she is Emma Bean.  She looks like a little freckled bean, and one of my girl Nia's favorite books when she was little was Emma Bean.

Emma Bean is all love! She follows me around, loves to snuggle, is a quick learner and and sleeps all night in her crate!  As an added, although maybe unrelated bonus, there have been no deer attacks in the 2 weeks that we have had her.

Jeff was right, we needed a dog. I just had no idea how much!

Welcome home Emma Bean!