A little background before I talk about the weekend:

I am in the process of buying a house. After I got my beloved Corgi Dakota a year ago I knew I would always get another one once I had my own home. So as soon as we signed the initial papers on a house about a month ago, I contacted Dakota's breeder to find out when another litter would be available.

Then my beloved cat Charlie, who was born in my own bedroom thirteen years ago, became ill just shortly after we signed the papers. I took him to one vet, who diagnosed cancer and wanted to amputate his leg. I left that vet after giving him a hydration treatment, and took Charlie home to debate what to do. Then Charlie took a turn for the worse on a day that my vet was closed. So I raced him to another vet, who said he didn't believe it was cancer at all, but liver failure. He told me my options were to try and treat him (which is a miserable experience- we attempted it with another cat about two years ago) which would extend his life only a few months at most, or have him put to sleep. After talking with him, I decided to have my baby put to sleep. The vet said he would only get worse, even with treatment and his quality of life was already low. He said it would be more humane, and I just had to agree. So that night I pet Charlie and felt his last breathe on my face as the vet administered the drug that would take my beloved "Poopsie" away forever.

I was devastated. Dakota tried to make me feel better as I curled up in Charlie's favorite chair. It's been about a month now and I still want to cry.

Then my breeder emailed me with a proposal that surprised me. Someone who had bought a puppy from her previously had to give the dog up. He is an adorable two year old boy. My first thoughts were no. I wanted a little girl puppy. But after Charlie passed away I began to second guess that. Perhaps this was a sign. Perhaps we were destined to own this little boy and make him apart of our family. Then I found out that this dog had the same parents as my Dakota, he was just from the litter before her.

A few weeks ago I arranged to have Dakota and Tanner meet. We went to a park near my house and when that wasn't too traumatic, Tanner spent the night at my father's house. So far so good. So we arranged for another play date.

Then this weekend Tanner came Friday night and stayed until Sunday night. They were together for about forty eight hours. But they really seemed to get along. They played for hours in my dad's backyard. We (my fiance and I) took them to a nature preserve on Saturday, where they played in ponds while it rained hard on us. The rain didn't bother them. We then went for a walk later that afternoon around the neighborhood when the rain cleared, and took the dogs to a party that evening. On Sunday I took the two dogs to the park near me and we walked for about 2.5 miles. Then we walked another two miles in the afternoon before I took Tanner back to his owner.

Needless to say, Dakota spent the entire evening last night sleeping. She was also quite grumpy. I wonder if she was missing her brother?