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In July, I brought Benji and Casey with me to the Island on a trip over to visit my family. Being a family that has always loved and owned dogs, having two around for a few days reminded us that it was definitely time to adopt a new one after having put down our last dog about six years ago. Since then, my aunt and I made near-weekly trips to the local pet store. Neither of us really had much of a breed preference, but we just knew that when we saw the right dog, we’d know.

Today was that day and Charley was that dog. Last week I had cuddled a shih tzu puppy, one that was quite cute but just not quite right. Today we returned to Petland to find two little nine-week-old mini Australian shepherds, a brother and sister.

Charley was born on June 26 to Impy and Bobby. She’s loveable and rambuncious, loves to play and paw you. She’s already taken to licking my face and lips at every opportunity, and her most charming attribute so far is that she loves to, quite literally, hop like a bunny.

I know that she’s a more-than-welcome addition to our family and I look forward to watching her grow and learn over the coming years. Because she’s of a herding breed, agility courses when she’s a bit older will be essential, which will no doubt prove to be interesting. Bedtime is only a few hours away, so in the morning I’ll fill you in on how many hours of sleep I actually get. I’m also hoping that I’ll be able to capture the “hopping puppy” on video tomorrow, so check back for that as well.

In the meantime, check out my Flickr for a few more photos.