Kate Wicker

Storyteller & Speaker

I’m in Love!

I’m in love.  
So are my girls.
So is my husband.
With this dog.


Her name is Layla. (Well, that’s the name she came with. I told the girls we were going to keep her first name so as not to confuse her but that they could give her a middle name. After a brief brainstorming session, the girls decided on Layla Sally Sara Wicker.) 
Layla Sally Sara Wicker is part Lab, part Great Dane, and part cuddle monkey. Despite weighing in at close to 90 pounds, she sometimes seems to think she’s a lap dog and attempts to rest her entire hefty self on me. But I kind of like it. 
We adopted Layla from her foster owner this past weekend. 
Layla climbed into our van on Sunday afternoon with the total reliance and total belief that she would be loved and cared for.
I hope she hasn’t been disappointed.



My husband and I both grew up with dogs (and hamsters, hermit crabs, horses, parakeets, turtles, a veritable zoo between the two of us, really), and we’ve longed to add a four-legged friend to our brood for a long time. I still occasionally find myself missing the dogs of my childhood. But a dog just wasn’t happening until we had a yard and could be responsible pet owners. 

The girls have been tirelessly asking for a dog. (Beta fish are nice and all, but they wanted something to hug and play with.) My husband has been searching, visiting pet adoption fairs on Saturday mornings at our local pet store, and combing Internet listings. Last week he showed me a picture of Layla. I read her bio and looked into her chocolate eyes and said, “I think she might be it.”
Dave researched Layla further, spoke with her foster “mom,” and filled out a thorough pet application. They even Google Earthed-us to make sure we weren’t fibbing about our fenced-in yard. I’m glad. It always bothers me how so often people take in a cute puppy and then expect it to not be any work to care for a a canine companion. Dogs aren’t like fish or even cats. They can be a lot of work. They need more than the basic necessities. They need exercise. They need attention. They need love.
Thankfully, there’s plenty of that to go around in our home.


And plenty of sippy cups to be shared, too!


We thought of getting a puppy. Who wouldn’t want a puppy?  But considering the amount of domestic dilemmas I face on any given day with the kids, we decided against it. Plus, I have a puppy of sorts. Her name is Mary Elizabeth. She is cuddly and cute, and she chews up Nerf balls. She snacked on the ball on the same day I found her wading in the toilet with a mischievous glint in her eyes. (Yup, she was standing in the toilet bowl.) I swear, I don’t leave my 18-month-old to fend for herself. I left her in what I thought were child-save premises for all of five minutes while I made some copies for school, and she got to work and her favorite work is to destroy things. This is new territory for me. My oldest two weren’t quite as into things (or toilets).
Just recently, Mary Elizabeth climbed on my bathroom counter, grabbed the pretty, new ceramic cup (um, how old are my kids? really, what was I thinking?) and chucked it, thus, shattering it into smithereens. (I’ve smartened up and now have a plastic spitting cup beside my sink.) 
Last week M.E. grabbed a fall-inspired candle holder. “Put it down!” Madeline directed her. So she did – right on the hardwood floors. And it was reduced to shards, too. 
Yesterday she had a nuclear diaper that leaked all over. As I was working to eradicate the waste, she decided to help and smeared her hand in it and then she tried to put the contaminated hand in her mouth.
No, I don’t need a puppy peeing all over the floor or chewing up our furniture.
We also considered buying a purebred, but something in my heart kept nagging me to give an older dog a forever home. Plus, two breeds we talked about were Great Danes and Labs, so Layla is he perfect mix!
Layla’s original owners had to downsize for economic reasons and could no longer take care of her the right way (no yard, etc.). Her foster mom emailed us yesterday to check in on her. After we responded about how we already couldn’t imagine our family without her, the kind woman wrote back, “I am so happy she has found her absolutely FOREVER, loving home.”
It’s a win-win situation because we’re so thankful we found the perfect dog for our family – our gentle giant.
After playing with her new friend for over an hour outside, Madeline, Rachel, and Layla all came inside panting.  “The yard is so much more fun now,” Madeline said.
It is. And so are walks. And story time. (Madeline plans to start reading Layla books to practice her reading.) Rachel can’t stop hugging her. And Mary Elizabeth, well, in her puppy spirit, she likes to chase her around the house and when Layla slows down enough for M.E. to catch her, she hugs her.



Dave and I just like to be around her. We like how Layla’s never too far away, how she didn’t hesitate to accept us as her own, how she’s made our family somehow more complete.



This was a family portrait Madeline recently sketched. It was not just a random piece of artwork. It was a campaign for a dog. “See, how I’m walking a dog?” she asked. “You said we were going to get a dog when we moved.” (She’s the kid with the halo-like, blond hair in the picture, and she has a leash in her hand with a little, brown dog at the end of it.)



I shared the drawing with Dave, and I believe it may have been the impetus for more ardent dog searching in recent weeks. 
Well, it paid off.
After we brought Layla home, Madeline drew this:



Our found dog. Layla’s forever family.


Lucky for you. Now you’re not only going to have to endure kid anecdotes and photos, but you’re stuck looking at pictures of our family’s dog as well. Enjoy!



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Comments

  1. She is a beauty! Congratulations! Our little dog, Crouton, (we kept her shelter name too) has made a huge difference in our life. My youngest, who used to be terrified of dogs has completely conquered that fear.

  2. awww! Welcome Layla! I know you will both be happy together :) And that's TOO funny about ME!!!

  3. So wonderful!! We can't imagine our family without our dog. Although at 90 lbs, I think you were fooled and got a small pony rather than a dog….!!

  4. Dave wanted a BIG dog to protect his girls while he works his erratic hours. I think Layla met his requirement. :-)

  5. When we rescued our dog, we had to have a house visit and fill out more paperwork than if she had been human (well, maybe not quite). Congratulations. Layla is beautiful.

  8. The day after we moved into our house Samuel asked us "now when are we getting our dog?" We also promised the kids that as soon as we settled down we would get them a dog. Unfortunately our yard isn't fenced right now, so plans are on hold. But Samuel and Sarah are making sure we remember our promise…they remind us constantly! :)

  9. I'm with Michelle, we've looked into both adopting a dog and becoming foster parents for children and the paperwork is very similar!

  10. What a sweet face! We have a rescue dog, too, part lab and part Plott Hound (look that one up! State Dog of North Carolina!), and he is wonderful. Of the dogs we saw in the rescue shelter, he was the only one who didn't shy away from my very exuberant younger children. He came with "Lancelot" as a name, so he's Lance (actually, "Lancelot Andrewes Thomas," as my husband has it, but sometimes he gets "Fitzwilliam Darcy" thrown in there by girls who Heart Mr. Darcy).

    By the way, I'm totally laughing at Layla's middle names, because my real name is Sara, spelled just like that, but I've gone by Sally all my life.

    Oh, and I've NEVER regretted not getting a puppy. We got a dog who used to be a puppy; any puppy we got would have grown up to be a dog, and maybe not such a nice one as the dog we have. He's lying here very sweetly on his bed in my room right now . . . he's great with the kids, but he's really Mama's dog. And Mama ain't complaining.

  11. Labs are the best with kids! We have a chocolate lab mix and she loves the girls. Added bonus, just about every workman or delivery person has found her scary. Which is funny because she is such a baby. Congrats on finding your dog.

  12. This post brought me so much joy! And it also made me long for a dog of our own! On the advice of my mom we decided to wait until after I had a baby to get a dog– just to be sure the dog wouldn't be ignored. What great advice that turned out to be, since God blessed us with twins! Rest assured, when these girls are a few years old, I will be looking for a lab to love.

    I look forward to all the pictures and stories of your girls and dog to come!

  13. I'm glad I'm not the only one who researches dogs like crazy. :) I was the same way, our dog had to be house trained because I wasn't potty training and house training at the same time. She is a cute dog! Where did you end up getting her?

  14. Katy, Dave found her online through a foster pet program in South Carolina (we had to drive to Seneca to "meet" her).

    She's doing great. We've got ourselves a wonderful dog!

  15. Layla is precious… CONGRATS! We have a large dog who is also a lap dog and fantastic with our son! :) It makes it so much more fun, doesn't it!
    Glad your girls are so smitten!!

“She could never be a saint, but she thought she could be a martyr if they killed her quick.”

―Flannery O'Connor