This was too adorable not to share. 🙂 In April we got six little chicks, and Mia was totally enthralled with them. All she did was watch them and try to play with them. She tended to get a little rough, though, and we caught her carrying them around in her mouth a few times. They were never hurt, only wet and very frightened.

Unfortunately, two of the chicks fell prey to a stray cat. (R.I.P. Henny and Penny.) After losing two of our six chicks, we decided to get a few more; so this week I took Mia along to a local feed mill and picked up three new Rhode Island Red chicks. She whined the whole way home. I think the peeping of the chicks sounds a little bit like crying puppies, and it upsets her!

The next afternoon, we had the peeps out in the yard, and I was holding them on my lap. Mia was doing such a good job sitting quietly next to me just watching them. Then, one of the brave peeps, darted off my lap and ran under Mia’s legs. Mia looked at me guiltily, not knowing what to do. Soon the other two chicks joined the first one, and they were all scurrying around her legs.

After a few minutes of that, Mia laid down on her side, and the peeps huddled against her stomach and under her legs. It was a bit chilly that afternoon, and I think the warmth felt good to them! Mia was such a dear, lying there nicely and gently snuffling the chicks. She was playing Mama! When the chicks got too brave and began wandering away from her, she got worried until I pushed them back to her.

I was so impressed by her self-control and mothering instincts. I was also very glad I had my camera with me and could snap a few pictures!

Any good captions for this last picture? Leave a comment!

“We are just going to look,” my husband told me.

I just smiled. Sure, we are.

It was just a couple weeks after our wedding, and we were on our way to a farm a few miles from our new home. We had been looking at puppies for months, discussing what breed we were going to purchase. A month or two before our wedding, we had settled on a Miniature Goldendoodle, and now we were finally going to look at puppies!

I was as bad as a child, already imagining cuddling my furry little pooch. I could hardly wait to go see them. I was probably even squirming with excitement in my seat! Zach knew his wife well. He knew that as soon as she saw those little wiggling balls of fur, her heart would be set. He did his best to appear firm.

“We’re not going to decide about buying a puppy while we are there. We will come home, talk about it, and then decide.”

I’ll give him credit. He almost pulled it off.

Fast forward about fifteen minutes, and there we were sitting in the grass cuddling a litter of eight week old Mini Goldendoodles. We had already picked out the one we liked the best, and I was sold. Because of “the talk,” though, I didn’t mention anything about buying her.

After all, we were just there to look.

She wiggled onto Zach’s lap, and he rubbed behind her floppy ears. Then he looked at me with a sheepish grin on his face. “Should I tell them we’ll take her?”

And that was that.

The next day we did our “puppy shopping.” We came home with all the necessities, along with a few extra maybe-not-so-necessary things as well. Then we brought her home.

Below is a picture of Mia on the first day at her new home.

She was such a dear (and still is)! I will admit, she wasn’t nearly as cute when she had accidents in the house, but thankfully she caught on to the house training routine fairly easily.

Now she has grown into a well adjusted and usually well behaved dog. (Everyone has their moments, right?) If you give her a pat on the head or play a round or two of fetch, you’ll be her friend for life.

She’s funny, endearing, entertaining, and adorable. She is Mia!