A New Dog?

I had been in La Jolla the night before and now I was visiting a cousin in Orange County, Ca. for Labor Day. I had thought about driving north to Northern California during Labor day but luckily life rescued me from that unpleasantness. My wife had pulled a wild card and said that we were staying the extra day and had convinced our daughter that missing one day of school was worth it. (My daughter is an A student) and doesn't like to miss even one day of classes as she wants to get into a good university in a few years.

So, as we were all playing and visiting relatives and their friends at a barbeque and pool party for Labor Day I noticed three dogs playing that were about 4 months old in another part of the backyard next to the horse corral there on a grassy area. They seemed to be having the time of their life playing together on this beautiful Labor Day here in southern California. One couldn't ask for a better day for a pool party and barbeque today. The next thing I knew my 14 year old daughter was corralling me in with the dogs. She told me, "Mom said it was okay for us to get one of these dogs" matter of factly. However, my cousin's son in law said, "She's really milking you I don't think that's true at all, Fred" So I had an inkling of what was going on an that my daughter wanted a 4 month old puppy. They were boxer and pointer mix puppies and the biggest one of the litter left was white with a little spot over one eye. He seemed ot have presence of mind and a strong body and resolution. He hadn't been fixed yet. I wondered about the dog because we already have two dogs at home in northern California. However, my dog, Furby is getting old and slowly losing the use of his right rear leg and it is freaking out our female corgi who is about 5 years old. Furby is a Australian Shepard and possibly German
Shepard mix and has always been the most intelligent and amazing dog because he knew about 300 words in English and could catch food in his mouth and fetch be very obedient once I had demonstrated that I was the "Alpha Dog". Before that he tried to outsmart me and I wondered if I would be able to "get his attention" and be able to control him. He was so smart he was strong willed too. But after he stole a pizza off the grill and I had to scare him a little he accepted me as the alpha dog of his pack and we have been the best of friends. Anyway, we agreed to take home the boxer pointer mix puppy "Scottie" but then the 10 year old girl who had been raising him as her own for 4 months looked like she was going to cry. There were three puppies left out of  an 8 puppy litter but this was the dog she had bonded with. So I wondered about this as the family left. About 9pm the father called and said all the women folk in his family were crying out in the backyard and could they please keep their puppy they had named "Scottie". My wife said, "We kind of expected this. It's okay." Also, I kind of saw the writing on the wall as well. My daughter who is 14 said she didn't want the 10 year old girl to cry and miss her puppy. So now the family has 8 dogs instead of 7 but they live on a ranch so maybe they can pull it off. Now my wife realizes our 14 year old needs another dog because Furby might not be there in the next couple of years. So at least we know my 14 year old and our Corgi are going to need a Furby replacement. Not that he could ever be replaced. Furby is one in a million.