The Harper's House: Our kid...Piper

So a lot of people have called me "mom" in my life...but it wasn't until March 29th, 2010, that I officially became a "mom" for the first time! On that day, Mike and my puppy, Piper, was born! However, it wasn't until 9 weeks later, that Mike picked her up from the breeder, and I met my sweet little girl...2 hours before I got on a plane to Europe for a grad school trip. This was definitely poor timing, given I'm pretty sure Piper bonded with Mike during these weeks, and he was pretty much her "mom" and "dad" and everything in between for the first year or so of her life.

However, they say that dogs have incredible instincts, and ever since this past February, I think Piper has definitely been my little girl. Sadly, we lost my Grandma Glass right before Valentine's Day, and Mike was unfortunately away in Canada on an ice fishing trip. So I think Piper took it upon herself to take care of me, and my mom, and she has been protecting me and taking care of me ever since! :)

She is an F1B miniature golden doodle, which we thought would be about 25 pounds...but our little beast is just about 12.5 after eating! She is extremely energetic, and probably the happiest dog ever. She cuddles only when she's really tired, which is just fine, she's an independent girl like her mom! She loves running, doing laps around our yard and our house, and loves playing with other dogs at doggie daycare, where she gets to go about once per week! She is extremely smart, sometimes too smart for her own good, but she also seriously lacks the retriever side of her bloodline! She is excellent with her little cousins Kensley and Mason, which makes us very relieved about how she will be when we have kids some day!

We feel so lucky that we have Piper as a part of our family, and yes, much like this blog post, we definitely tend to treat her like our child at times...oh well! Given neither Mike, nor I, grew up with dogs, we are learning something everyday about being puppy parents, and I think it's safe to say we are both converted officially into dog people!