Muggles is Five. . . .

I've been a good girl. Do I get a birthday present?

What's in here?

A bear and some cookies! Yummm! I'll eat first!

This is my biggest bear so far.

Oh Boy, Oh Boy, it has five sqeakers!

Mom says I better not rip them out!

Muggles celebrated her 5th birthday this month. We took these

pictures of her as she opened her gift. She loved her new bear

but being the chowhound she is, momentarily pushed it aside while

she ate her frosted cookies. Then, it was back to her new bear.

"Wow", she said, "I have never had a toy with five squeakers!"

It doesn't seem possible that it has been almost five years since

Muggles came to live with us when she was just a tiny puppy.

When I first started my search for a Norfolk Terrier puppy, I

had no idea it would be so difficult to find one, and if I did, how

in the world could I convince George that I needed one. And,

if I could convince him, how could we afford one?

The first thing I would do each morning is check all of the ads

featuring dogs for sale on the Internet. On February 16, 2005,

I found an ad posted my Missy StCyr in Baton Rouge, La. She

had two Norfolk puppies for sale, a male and a female. Since

these dogs would have no breeding rights, she was selling for

a reasonable price. Still expensive, but one I thought I could

convince George we could afford. Since my pleading, whining,

and tears were beginning to get on his nerves, he finally

agreed that I needed my own little Norfolk.

That battle won, next I had to convince Missy that out of the

eleven families who wanted a puppy, George and I were the

most deserving. I lobbied hard to convince her, all of it done

by e-mail. At that time, we were visiting in Panaca and Cedar

City, so I was using Pete and Delores' and Justin's computers.

I had lots of good help and suggestions. Lisa was at her parents

home and Paul and Joanne were also in Cedar City. Lisa

answered a couple of e-mails when I was not available and put

in a good word for me, and Justin did the same in Cedar City.

I swamped Missy with stories of all of the dogs in my life from

the time I was a little girl, and about the dogs in my children's

lives as they were growing up and after they married and

established their own homes.

On March 6th, it was official. Missy notified me that she had

chosen George and I to have a puppy. She told me later that

I was a good storyteller and her decision to pick us was based

in large part on those stories. I wanted the female but she

told me that a woman had put a deposit on a puppy before I

contacted her and so she would get first choice. Fortunately,

her sons and husband wanted a male dog which Paula named

Paddington. That meant I had achieved my heart's desire, a

beautiful little red Norfolk female puppy. Missy had kept the

third puppy from the litter, a female she named Isabella.

That took us to the finale hurdle. . . .how to get her to Mesa

from Baton Rouge. Missy refused to fly her cargo and so

George got an early morning flight for Tuesday, April 13th,

met Missy at the airport, picked up Muggles and flew right

back to Phoenix.

And, the rest is history. We have been completely captivated

by this sweet, loving, bossy, sassy, funny, and mischievous

little dog. She weaves her spell on most of those who meet

her. We are very fortunate and very grateful to have her in

our lives. Happy 5th birthday, Muggles! We love you!

Okay!

That was fun!