Johanna

Is it just me or do you have the lyrics of "Johanna" from Sweeny Todd in your head too? Oh, I guess it's just me and it's all because of her:

Meet Johanna. She's half-mastiff, half-great dane (I think) and she's our new pup! 

Having her is different from what I thought. It's more like having another two year old. Except this two year old sleeps most of the day and eats dog food. She really is such a sweetheart. She rarely barks and when she does, it's a low, quiet bark. She hasn't had any accidents in the apartment to date and she loves to be loved.

It's a long story as to how we got her and this is how it started: Tyler and I had been looking into a summer camp-like YMCA-thingy activity for Jack to go to. Somewhere where he can get out of the normal routine to socilaize with other children his age and have fun. I call it "summer camp" rather than "day care" because he is only going twice a week for a couple of hours a day and it sounds more organic and cool. We just know he is going to thrive off of it but the problem was finding a summer camp that was a good fit for him. All of the good places were already full because school just got out for the summer so I had to call around to find a place that had an opening.

We found one and proceeded to check it out during my lunch break since I didn't want Jack to go to a rat-hole of a summer camp. I'm what they call a "parent" so naturally I think that my kid deserves better than any other kid. When we walked inside of the makeshift home-into-a-daycare facility, we weren't that impressed. There weren't that many toys around (think in the realm of 3 trucks total) and the backyard, while very spacious, was mostly dirt. Most of the kids were older and therefore played rougher than what Jack was used to and the daycare worker was feeding a baby Top Ramen.

Yup, TOP RAMEN! No adult should eat that because of the crap-load it could do on a body, let alone, an 8 month old baby. C'mon people, I thought this was common sense.

We left feeling discouraged because, well, this is Burley and I'm gonna be honest, it's mostly a white-trash town. We silently wondered if our son would just have to deal with dirt backyards and insufficient stimuli since in this town, that's as good as it gets.

When I arriaved back at work, I found through a friend of a friend a lady who does summer camp out of her home. After work, we headed on over and were immediatly impressed just by driving up to the house. The front yard was well manicured and the inside of her house was clean, well decorated, and she had an entire room dedicated to toys. It was chock-full of toys that were just right for Jack; new and bright.

She then brought us to the backyard which had a trampoline, swingset, and two jungle gyms. Oh and the grass was all green with no dirt patches. Plus, she had two dogs which about sent Jack into a seizure from excitement. This place was perfect!

It was structured, clean, and the lady was awesome. Right as I began to talk to her, I felt as if we were best friends and had known eachother for years. As we chatted, she mentioned that her brother had a mastiff that he is trying to get rid of and we both perked right up. A mastiff you say?

That night, we drove out to see her and instantly fell in love. She was so gorgeous and you could tell she was sweet from the beginning. Within 24 hours, we had everything worked out to bring her home. We have introduced her to Tyler's parents and they fell in love with her too. She seriously has that magical power.

Jack, of course, loves her and she is a good fit with our family. I finally got my dog!