Keli's Korner ~ The Westie and The Wauzer

This coming Saturday marks twelve months from the day Penny first came to her forever home: January 24, 2008 After we brought Keli home in May 2002, I always wanted to have a second Westie -- an "heir and a spare" to our first Westie girl, Wyndi . Keli had come from a breeder because at the time I was still missing Wyndi and wanted a regular Westie (not a mixed breed) for the "heir". The "spare" could be a rescued Westie mix sometime later on down the road. After a year or two I reminded Rich about getting our second Westie and we both agreed it would be nice, but were we really ready for all the extra work that a second dog required? Transitioning from a senior dog to a baby puppy had been stressful; did we really want to go through puppyhood again? So each spring I'd search Petfinder.com for Westies in our area -- usually a few months after Christmas, there were dozens of listings for young dogs of all breeds. Every now and then there would...

Keli's Introduction is long overdue; when we began this blog, we intended to tell each Westie's backstory right away, but then we got busy with Penny's training and a lot of other things. So this has been a draft for a very long time, but finally is ready to be published! Warning: Lots of photos embedded below. Click here to see Keli Angel's Puppy Days Flickr Photo Album Note from Donna : Keli wants to tell her own story, but before she begins, here's a little background information . . . our first westie girl was Wyndi , and I wrote about her here . Several months after Wyndi died, we decided to look for a new Westie puppy. I searched online for breeders and contacted several before finding a breeder in Howell, NJ who had a female puppy ready to go. We went to see her in early May 2002 without really intending to come home with a puppy just yet . . . but who could resist that face? We were the first prospective owners to arrive and after meeting t...

A long time before Keli or Penny came to live with us, Wyndi was our first westie girl. She was born in 1989 in Massachusetts, just over the border from where we lived in Connecticut. We decided we wanted a westie because we thought the photo on the Milkbone treat box was so darn cute. We had no idea what we were in for -- Although it worked out for us, I do not recommend choosing a dog this way!  We found her through a listing in the newspaper and when we called they said they had one female puppy left, about 3 months old. So we piled into the car with a few other family members and drove to the breeder's home to see her. As soon as we got out of the car, Wyndi, her mom and her brothers all came out of their kennel to greet us. They were all so cute and adorable, we decided to take the little female home.  On the way home we discussed names for our new little puppy. One suggestion was "snowflake" but that seemed a little obvious a name for a little white dog. We ...