We have been in the market for another dog for some months now that our hearts have healed after losing Emma. Hard to believe it has been 15 months since she died. For those 15 months we have become used to a "dogless" house. When I say "dogless" I mean one that you don't hear those little pitter patter of dog feet wondering around, dog hair in places I didn't know dog hair could go, and even more so that void in the house of a furry family member.
Before Emma died we did attempt to adopt a dog that was about 9 months old. She (Layla) was with us for less than 24 hours and ended up biting me twice. With the biting and kids in the house I didn't want to take any chances with a dog that could potentially snip at one of the kids. So, we took her back to her other home and bid farewell.
Being that Emma was just about the perfect dog, I prayed that God would send us the right dog for our family at the right time. We were on a waiting list for a golden here in Germany that would of been ready around February or March. But the catch was the puppy would cost 1,500 euro. Yikes! We didn't give up hope to find a rescued dog that would meet our needs so we didn't have to fork out that much money...and have a puppy to train.
Jason found a dog on RYS (a sale sight here in our area) posted by a single man who lived on base, worked all day and had him in a crate for a number of hours during the day. He was a nice man, who loved this dog, but in the end knew he couldn't love and care for a dog with his schedule.
Jason and I loved the fact that for (1) it was a golden, (2) a male, and (3) that he was 15 months old and not in very much of the new puppy stage anymore.
After communicating back and forth we met "Goose" after school/work on Wednesday. He was much bigger than I thought he would be, and most of all full of nothing but energy! His energy level was a little of a shock for us. I say a shock because it seemed that the energy level just couldn't be contained no matter what we did. After playing with him and taking him on a walk we decided it would be best to see if he could spent the night with us and give it a "test" run at our house.
We picked Goose up on Saturday morning with a few of his favorite items for the sleepover. The kids were so excited to finally have a dog spend the day and night with us. During that afternoon we took him on a long walk around our village. The four of us were able to spend some quality time with him together.
Sunday morning we woke up and took a family vote. We decided that Goose would become a part of our family. That is huge for us...especially Jackson. It has taken Jackson a long time to heal after losing Emma. He didn't want a dog, much less another golden retriever. He was very adamant about it many times. The kids fell in love with him and love having a dog to play and walk with.
The first order of business for us was to change the name. The kids really didn't care for "Goose," so his name was changed to "Austin."
We contacted his owner and told him we wanted to adopt him. His owner gathered up his items for us to come pick up. When I say items, I mean a ton of stuff! He must of given us over 800 dollars worth of dog supplies that went with Austin.
Thankfully Austin is crate trained. So during the day when we are at work he stays in an extra large crate. Jason has been coming home at his lunch hour to let him out. And then I bust out of work to take him on another walk.
We have an appointment for him to get neutered on Tuesday and today is the first day of training classes with a local woman here who is AKC trainer certified. Austin knows the basic commands, but definitely needs some extra training to know that we are the leaders...not him.
This is a huge step and exciting time for our family!
Jason and Grace on the first day we met Austin. 
We had forgotten how much energy a puppy has. How many times you need to get a stuffed animal out of his mouth, tell him to sit, calm down, lay down, get down, and a number of other things.
Austin is a great dog who has the potential to be an excellent dog with some training and especially extra TLC.
The best part is seeing how much he loves us already. He follows us from room to room and at times can't get close enough to us.
I love seeing the love that Austin has for the kids. Already he has become part of a care taker for them. Walking into the room to make sure that they are there and what they are doing.
What a great ride we have ahead of us with our new family member!
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