meet pinto the puggle!

 pinto is my new little brother, a 15-pound, 2.5-year-old "puggle" (pug/beagle mix) from mcpaws shelter in mccall, idaho. i gave him to my mom for mother's day.

it was a total surprise, neither of my parents had any idea! risky, but it had to be done. i won't go into detail about the circumstances but suffice to say they seriously needed another dog, and they wouldn't have gotten one for themselves. so i've been emotionally torturing myself looking at shelter dogs online for a few weeks now. last weekend i was going up to warm lake to photograph a wedding, then to mccall, so i checked the shelter there and found little "bruce." he was just so perfect.

i'm not sure if pinto is the final name. they've gone through so many. "bruce" was tossed out immediately. first he was bruiser. then my mom wanted to give him a godfather name, so he was luca brasi, then he was enzo (the baker), then he was fredo (corleone). fredo stuck for a while, i thought that was the one, but eventually my mom decided it was "too dark." so next he was frito, then frodo, then bandit, then buddha, then piranha (my suggestion, due to his adorable underbite that sometimes catches on his upper lip and makes his bottom teeth stick out like a piranha's), then peanut...this is all in one evening, mind you. today my mom solicited a bunch of name suggestions on facebook, and i came up with a list, but nothing stuck. somehow this evening we both independently came up with the name "pinto," and everyone agreed it was awesome.

i'm calling him professor pinto pugglesworth, esquire.

i can't imagine anyone not wanting little pinto. he's truly the sweetest dog. he throws himself at you for cuddles. if you sit down he is immediately in your lap. he passes out in the funniest positions, draping himself over any part of a person he can access (he slept on my dad's head for part of the first night, and yesterday evening he fell fast asleep on his back wedged between my hip and the couch cushions). he has tons of energy for nice long walks and playtime, but he's also very skilled at relaxing and dozing on the couch. he's so good natured, even when my dog andy is a jerk to him he doesn't stick up for himself, but he doesn't cower either, he takes everything in stride. he LOVES every other animal he comes into contact with. he's not shaky or neurotic, just slightly wary of male strangers but he warms up quickly.

originally he was at a shelter in emmett that was going to euthanize him, but mcpaws saved him (they're a no-kill shelter). another family adopted him but their young children terrorized him, so they gave him back. he waited at mcpaws for a whole month. third time is a charm for little pinto! lucky guy, my parents are going to spoil him rotten. and lucky mcpaws--i can almost guarantee they just made it to the top of my parents' charity giving list.