As many of you know Michael and I have a Chi-a-poo named Miss Isabella.
What is a Chi-a-poo you ask? She is a Chihuahua/Poodle mix. We became her forever Mommy and Daddy on September 16th, 2007. She was born on July 25, 2007. Her mother Whisper was a white chihuahua and her father Midget was a black poodle. She was born in Buffalo, KY. The weird thing was that when I went to give my final payment to the breeder she told me that she knew right where my house was because she grew up in the town next door. Small world isn’t it? Here are some pictures from the day we met Isabella. (Also if you click the link to her breeder there are pictures from another one of her mother Whisper’s litters)
As you can see, she was quite small. I can’t recall what she weighed, but she was probably less than 2 pounds that day. (Today she’s only a whopping 4.6 pounds) I remember when I got her we didn’t tell my parents because I was quite sure they’d try to talk us out of it. After she came to live with us we finally told them. Of course my Father said that the novelty would wear off and then we’d be “stuck” with her. He couldn’t have been more wrong. It’s been almost 2 1/2 years and we are still as thrilled with her as the day we got her. We still cuddle constantly and play with her like in the beginning. People are impressed with how smart she is and the commands she knows. She knows sit, stay, down, rollover, up, and dance. We can even get her to walk upright with the proper coaxing.
Contrary to popular belief she really isn’t a very yippy dog. People think because she’s small she’s yippy. Small dogs are only yippy if you train them to be. In fact she’s not very vocal at all unless a stranger arrives or we say certain things that set her off. Lately whenever we mention “Uncle Shawn” she goes barking for the door because she thinks he’s here. She especially loves her Uncle Shawn because he stays with her whenever we are out of town and can’t be here with her. He takes care of her as if she were his own – hence why we also refer to him as her God-Father. We’re very lucky to have him as our friend. 🙂
Another great thing about having a small dog is that you can train them to be indoor dogs. Many of my readers are from the northeast so you know how frigid cold it’s been lately. I sure as heck don’t want to go out in it and neither does Isabella. From the day we got her we trained her to go inside on puppy pellets, newspapers and potty pads. We have a little tray with a potty pad and it gets cleaned everyday. She can go whenever she feels the need. No getting up early to walk the dog, no rushing home to let the dog out, none of that! It’s wonderful. When we first started talking with her breeder we mentioned to her how important it was to us to indoor train her. We asked her not to have her go outside with the other dogs. We didn’t want her to get used to it. So she was kept inside and used newspapers. That’s when we knew we had a good breeder on our hands. She answered every silly question we came up with. I had taken care of dogs in the past, but never from puppyhood and I wanted to make sure I did everything right and didn’t have enough time to read everything to learn. We tried to find breeders here in New York but they were impatient with us and couldn’t be bothered to answer our questions.
Isabella has become a HUGE (though small in stature) part of our family. We’re so thrilled to have her here with us. Even when we’re sad she brings joy to our lives. We’d love to get to know your pets. How have your pets impacted your lives?
More to come about Isabella – stay tuned 🙂
I just think she is the cutest little girl ever! I especially love it when you dress her up. My babies (cats) Scooter and Zachary are my heart. They are so smart and fun to interact with. At treat time Scoot will run in and I’ll ask her where her brother is. She will run out of the kitchen talking all the way and a few seconds later he is by her side coming back in. LOL! They like to sit in the windows and when I come home they are the first thing I see. I love them unconditionally just as they do me.
Hopefully she’ll be dressed up in future blogs. (I can pretty much guarantee it)
I think unconditional love is wonderful ❤
Scooter and Zachary sound like they're smart – they can follow instructions. 🙂
She is very cute!
Thanks girl 🙂
Just wait until you meet her!
She’s even cuter in person.
Hubby dislikes little dogs. He wants to get a boxer. we have such a tiny house…oy
Isabella is adorable, and one loved puppy!
We have two cats. The Beast (otherwise known as Josie) and The Basement Gnome (otherwise known as Lulu). Lulu is afraid of Josie, so she hides downstairs a lot. Josie is like the big bad bully in the prison yard. Heh. She’s lightened up a little in her old age though. We adopted both as kittens (about a year apart) through a local shelter. We think Josie was born feral…and she’s huge. No. Seriously. Huge. Lulu is our little two face. Calico, half her face is black, half orange.
Michael disliked little dogs until he met our realtor’s dog. Next thing I knew he was reserving Bella 🙂 I’m surprised that they both live in the same house and don’t get along. Usually cats are allies aren’t they? Yes, Bella is certainly loved. More than some children I see 🙂
It’s always good to see Bella, and you guys too 😉
And it’s always wonderful to see you too Uncle Shawn 🙂
[…] We finally got home around 3AMish I think. Thankfully Shawn was able to stay at the house with Bella because she probably would have freaked out if she was left alone that long. I’ve gotta […]
[…] to be an indoor dog. No rushing home to “let the dog out” or anything like that. Isabella learned from the first day that she was with us that the potty pad was her place to go. This […]
[…] Doritos – Anti Bark Collar I think I really appreciated this one because I have a dog. […]
[…] start. I love to make a big pot of chicken noodle soup and then cuddle up with Bella and read a book or watch a movie. Of course I throw some internet surfing in there as well. […]
[…] a bit overdue writing another blog about Miss Isabella. At the time I published her last blog The Pitter Patter of Little Paws it was the most views I had in one day. Since then I’ve had more views on a couple other […]
[…] Weekly Responsibility I Hate To Do: Michael & I took Isabella to the vet for some boosters and routine blood work. I hate watching her get stuck with […]
[…] my friend Shawn. Shawn is a wonderful friend who is also known as Isabella’s God-Father Uncle […]
[…] consoled me when a close friend passed away, we’ve talked about bloggers, duck, castles, art, my doggy Isabella, motorcycles, movies, travels, my […]
[…] sounds like something I would do on my deathbed if Isabella was sitting next to be shivering. She’d most likely be shivering from fear of what her life […]
[…] pig! To give you an idea of the demand – the pictures were posted online and in 8 minutes Isabella’s entire litter was spoken for. As the weeks passed until we could pick her up in Buffalo, KY, the […]
Thanks Kristi!
[…] Doritos – Anti Bark Collar I think I really appreciated this one because I have a dog. […]
[…] pig! To give you an idea of the demand – the pictures were posted online and in 8 minutes Isabella’s entire litter was spoken for. As the weeks passed until we could pick her up in Buffalo, KY, the […]
[…] start. I love to make a big pot of chicken noodle soup and then cuddle up with Bella and read a book or watch a movie. Of course I throw some internet surfing in there as well. […]