Meet Chewie, the newest member of my family!

He's an almost 1-year-old Yorkie. He is the sweetest little guy with a bright, fun personality... and I almost said "no" to adopting him.

Here's the deal. I am not a "dog person". We didn't have pets when I was a kid and I've been very timid around dogs for as long as I can remember. They just weren't my thing.

I wanted to try though, and who can resist the adorable-ness of a puppy? So I tried being a dog mom many years ago but it didn't work out. I won't get into too many details because it's something I still feel bad about, but when I was pregnant with my now 18-year-old daughter her dad and I got a Jack Russell puppy. I was very pregnant and very tired and had no experience with dogs at all. Getting a puppy was not a good decision, and while we loved him and did the best we could for him, it was just too much. We both worked a lot and ended up having to get a village of people together to help us take care of him. One day when I was 9 months pregnant and trying to take him for a walk he got away from me. He was running so fast and yanked the leash right out of my hand. I don't even remember how I ended up getting him home, but I was in tears and extremely stressed. We ended up re-homing him to a great family and I swore I would never get a dog again. Not a bad thing, because as we all know, people who don't have the time or patience to care for a dog shouldn't get one. Lesson learned.

Fast-forward 18 years. My husband has wanted a dog for years... He actually had a Jack Russell named Precious (her nickname was Snippy) for 16 years and she died a few years before we met. He loved that dog and has always wanted to get another one. I always said no... For the reasons stated above... plus, we were living in a townhouse with no yard and we were renting, so it wasn't something we could realistically do anyway.

When we moved back to our home in Florida in October, he started talking about getting a dog again. He and our 9-year-old son talked about it all the time. I finally felt like I might be able to handle a small, friendly dog... We have our own house, I work from home, we have a good neighborhood to walk around, etc... I said we would see what happens and if the right situation popped up and a dog needed a home, we could consider it...

A few weeks ago I found out that a mom I was friendly with when we lived here 8 years ago needed to re-home her almost 1-year-old Yorkie. Another friend was actually interested in adopting him, but she brought her older Maltese to meet him and it wasn't going to be a good fit. Once I saw a picture and got some more information about him, I asked my husband what he thought... I think he hesitated at first because he didn't know too much about Yorkies, but we decided to go meet him anyway.

He was super jumpy and excited - he's not quite a puppy anymore but still a young dog... and that kind of concerned me... But he was so adorable... and something about this just felt "right" so we took the night to talk it over and went to pick him up the next day.

Dare I say it's been easier and a lot more fun than I thought it would be? I've gotten used to him following me around all day, I'm not too scared of being bitten anymore because I know he's just playing and he's very sweet, and I love how his big ears stand up when he sits in front of me patiently waiting for a treat. My husband has been working really hard to teach him to "sit" and "lay down" and he's picking it up quickly. He loves to fetch his favorite toys and run and play, but once you wear him out he chills on the couch or in his little bed. He is very good about letting us know if he needs to go out... It's a little annoying when he's woken up in the middle of the night and starts barking, but the few times it's happened it's because he needs to go and he's telling us. I never really had an understanding of how much personality and intelligence dogs have until now.

Dana McKay