The Prettiest Q Ever

Unfortunately, the only digital puppy picture I have of Q makes her look fat and ugly. She was a cute puppy, I swear!! This was taken when she was about 9 weeks old in the bed Bro bought for her. The bed was later destroyed in what appeared to be a foam explosion (with tooth marks) but the tug lives on.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Q. She is so pretty and lovely and shiny. And look at those ears!

This is how I wish Q would sleep at night--all curled up in a ball. She looks so tiny, you'd hardly believe she's 65lbs.

Q in the trunk. No, we don't put her in the trunk; she loves the car and will do whatever it takes to get in.

Aw, Pretty Q!

I do love this picture of Q--she really is a good looking dog.

We brought Q home on Valentine's Day 2004. Adopting a puppy wasn't really the plan for the day, but as with all the great things in life, it happened all at once. It all started in 2000 when we made our own Valentine's Day tradition: we would take turns planning a Valentine's Day meal and/or excursion for just the two of us. In 2004, it was my year to plan. I intended to surprise D with a night at GameWorks, pizza and maybe a movie. I thought it would be fun and maybe he could teach me to play a video game or two. As we headed to Block E, he figured out where we were going and protested, saying that it wasn't fair that I planned the night out just for him and it wasn't something that I would usually do. Umm...that was the point...and I don't think that Anthony and Cleopatra at the Guthrie the year before was really for him.

So, my plan was foiled. As to still do something on Valentine's Day and not just go home to watch a rental, or worse, TV in separate rooms, I had to think on the fly of something that we would both enjoy doing. I came up with a visit to the Humane Society (we were close) and then making a nice dinner at home. Three hours later we had a puppy and were showing off our newest member of the family to my parents.

Q is our Humane Society Pedigree. She is mostly black with white tips on her toes and a slash on her chest. We adopted her at 8 weeks old, weighing in at 8 pounds. She was bow-legged and her ears were tipped just enough to give her attitude. We let that little girl rule our house with her puppy breath and wagging tail. Her name is derived from Cupid, for Valentine's Day. She had a slew of nicknames early on (Q-girl, Q-dog, Pretty Q, Snotty Q, Qt P2T, etc.) but now she goes by Q, Snot or Pretty. And she is just as snotty as she is pretty. Seriously.

Q now weighs in at 65 pounds and has the look of a black, smooth coated German Shepherd, if ever one existed. To see her run is something: she has a beautiful gate and a muscular build. We have no idea what breeds she is; vets, trainers and friends have guessed everything from the general Lab mix to Border Collie to Basenji. Q climbs trees, loves fish and only recently discovered the joys of belly rubs. She is a great cuddler, awesome jumper and a smart little devil with a truck load of crazy. We've been to our wits end and back with her, but we've enjoyed the ride and are glad to share our lives and our bed with her.

Happy Gotcha Day, Q!