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I’m so excited to officially introduce you to the newest member of the family today! Here’s a little bit about her and the unexpected way she came to be…

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Meet Odee Golightly!

She’s a little Cockapoo (cocker spaniel + poodle mix), although getting less little by the second.

This girl is growing like a champ!

She is 12 weeks old and we got her when she was 11 weeks old.

Her birthday is on August 10, 2017. At three-months-old and after only one week of being with us, she already knows how to sit and lay on command. She’s currently learning how to shake.

She has been a dream so far, even if having a puppy does mean getting up in the middle of the night to take her out to potty.

She’s a total daddy’s girl! And has Fred Baby wrapped around her little paw.

Okay, she’s a mama’s girl too, and definitely has me wrapped around her paw. I tell her ‘I love you’ hundreds of times per day. It’s too much, but I can’t help it!

So, how did Odee Girl come to be?

Over the last year or two, we had been talking about possibly getting a dog. I was the one who really wanted one, and everyone in my family thought it would be good for me to get one (for my health).

Fred Baby was a bit hesitant and is more of a cat person. He had a dog growing up when he was small, and the dog wasn’t very nice.

We’d never even entertained the idea of getting a pet before because we traveled constantly.

But since we’ve settled down quite a bit, the timing seemed perfect.

I had dogs growing up, but admittedly was never the one to train them or feed them or take ownership of them. So while I was familiar with dogs, there’s a learning curve when you’re the one(s) in charge.

It’s surprisingly similar to having a baby! I’m glad we waited until now because the timing would not have been right for us before. Since we work from home, we’re able to dedicate almost all of our time to her, which is so needed in the beginning.

Selfishly, she has been great for my health and anxiety. There is nothing like a puppy to keep you in the present moment and not thinking about yourself, which is such a relief.

That said, the first week is a big adjustment to your sleep schedule. Fred Baby and I take turns during the night, but finally found what works best for us. They both go to bed around 10:30pm. I go to sleep sometime before 2am. So I’m able to take her out once or twice before 2am. She typically gets up around 4am to go to the bathroom. Depending on who needs sleep more, the other person will take her out.

Fred Baby and Odee wake up for the day around 6am and spend the mornings together, while he works. I get up around 10:30am and then take over for the day.

She loves playing, sleeping and being right by our sides. We are crate training, so she sleeps in her crate, about a foot from our bed. That’s what works best for us. She also naps in her crate. She loves her crate and feels safe there, which I’m so glad about. From a human perspective, and not knowing much about crate training in the beginning, I thought the idea seemed a little cruel. But it turns out that from a puppy’s perspective, they like their safe little space.

I’ve already gotten lots of questions about where we got Odee. Before I answer that, I’ll tell you how we came to a decision on what kind of dog we wanted. I’d always thought we’d get a small dog that was portable for traveling. But, where we live in Palm Springs, there is a lot of wildlife. We’ve had hawks come down in our yard and pick up smaller birds, we’ve had raccoons come right up to our backdoor, there have been coyotes roaming the neighborhood. So, we decided we needed at least a medium-sized dog, that way we wouldn’t have to worry so much on that front. That said, while she’s a small puppy, we never leave her unattended.

But we also didn’t want anything too big that it would overpower me. At 8 lbs, Odee already makes my arm, neck and shoulders sore from picking her up. I’m a wimp! So we were targeting  15-40 lbs. We also both are prone to allergies, especially Fred Baby around dogs. So we needed breeds that were hypoallergenic and were low-shedding. I have always loved the looks of furry dogs who look like teddy bears and wanted something cuddly.

After lots and lots and lots of research, we knew we liked Wheaten Terriers and pretty much all of the poodle mixes: Sheepadoodles, Cockapoos, Whoodles. GoldenDoodles…But we couldn’t have anything too furry like a Sheepdog because it gets so hot here in Palm Springs.

We were open to both rescue dogs and dogs from reputable breeders. We also knew we wanted a puppy, anywhere from 3 months to 1 year or so.

We looked at all the rescue sites for months, but sadly there was never a cockapoo. Fred Baby was online one day and came across Opie. Opie was exactly what we were looking for, but he was a he, and we’d decided we wanted a girl, just because they tend to be less aggressive. Of course that’s not always the case. My family dog was a boy, and two of my best friends just got boy dogs. So it’s totally a personal decision.

Anyway, we thought Opie was from a rescue at first, but it turns out he was from a breeder in Missouri. They had a website and a YouTube page, so Fred Baby sent an email asking if they had a girl. I should note that before he did this, he told me that this breeder shipped animals. I was NOT very for that at first. I just thought how scary for the puppy and wondered if it was legit. But, it turned out Opie had a sister and her named was Odette. They sent us pictures. She was exactly what we had envisioned, colorwise and everything.

After researching more about the breeder, we both started to feel much more comfortable with the idea. We asked if we could FaceTime with them and Odette. We FaceTimed on a Sunday and within minutes on the phone, we both wanted her NOW. We got no weird vibes from the breeder — they seemed like a very loving family. On the phone, they called her Odie. At first, I thought they were getting her name wrong. I thought they confused her with Opie. But then I realized Odie was short for Odette. We started calling her Odie too. Turns out the name Odette means wealth. Since health = wealth and we got her in big part for my health, it seemed very fitting.

She was on a flight to us on Friday morning, just five days later. We thought that when we picked her up, she would likely be a bit shaken or skittish, but she wasn’t at all. We kept her in her crate until we got home (luckily we are only a 15-minute ride from the airport). She didn’t cry once. We took her straight to our backyard when we got home and she’s been a happy, trusting, sweet, playful lovebug ever since. We feel SO lucky!

That was NOT AT ALL how I ever expected to find a puppy. There’s so much conflicting information out there too. I read that you should never get a puppy from a breeder who won’t meet you at their home. I also read the opposite, that it wouldn’t be safe for the puppies to have strangers and all their germs come into their safe space. There’s also a lot of puppy-shaming that goes on if you shop and don’t adopt.

It’s VERY confusing when trying to find a puppy. All I can say is do your research and then do what feels right for you. This ended up working out well for us. This is where we got Odee. I feel comfortable sharing that because we had such a great experience and I know I would have really appreciated the recommendation when we were looking. BUT, every experience is going to be different because every dog is different.

She came with all of her shots and had already been spayed and microchipped.

As for her name… We had gone through lists of names for her, but Odie seemed to fit her SO well and we thought it was so cute and not a name you ever hear. The fun thing is Kaylee is obsessed with Garfield comics. We read a giant book of them last time she was here about the adventures of Garfield and Odie. So that just seemed like a good sign. Also, her favorite TV show? The Andy Griffith Show, with Opie! So we stuck with the name Odie but changed the spelling to Odee.

She’s Odee Golightly on Instagram. She doesn’t have an official middle name yet. Don’t ask me why, but I call her Esepatha all the time. As in S. Epatha Merkerson. TOTALLY RANDOM I know. But we’ll see what sticks over the next few weeks.

If you have any middle name ideas, I’m all ears!

But that’s how our sweet Odee came to be.

Do you have a pet? If so, how did he/she come to be? What’s your pet’s name? I’d love to hear all about him/her. Of course, if you have any tips for puppy-training, etc. I’d love to know!

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PHOTOS BY FRED BABY

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