This year, Sean and I got the best Christmas surprise.
A maintenance worker from our apartment complex came over to look at our washer and dryer on Christmas Eve, and Sean was talking to him about our cat, Val.
He mentioned that we really want a dog, but the leasing office only allows cats.
The maintenance worker then delivered the best news ever: when our leasing office was bought out a few months ago, the lease changed to allow both cats and dogs.
I was at work, but Sean sent me a message with the amazing news. I called the leasing office to confirm it, and the hunt for a puppy was on.
Luckily for us, she had four Australian shepherd / blue heeler mix puppies that we could check out.
We made the trek down and fell in love with all four. Unfortunately we could only take one, so we chose this little guy.

He’s an 8-week-old, 6.9-pound bundle of joy.
Plus, adopting a dog was on my bucket list! One more item I can cross off.
The hardest part was picking out a name. We knew we wanted a hockey name, but couldn’t decide on one.
Let me rephrase that. Sean couldn’t find one he loved.
We thought about Gus, Howie, Hank, and Griffin (we’re Detroit Red Wings / Grand Rapids Griffins fans) before deciding on Stanley.
When we get him a name tag, it will say Lord Stanley.
He’s the cutest, and he’s really smart. We’ve only had him for a week and he’s already learned the commands for “come” and “sit,” and he’s making progress on “lay down.”
Now if we can just get him to stop nipping at us.
Do you have any puppy training advice? Let me know in the comments!
i cant even handle the cuteness of Lord Stanley.
CONGRATS HE IS BEAUTIFUL!!!
Thank you! I figured you would like the name. 🙂 We now have to find him a Stanley Cup water bowl!
I cannnnnt. I’m so excited for you.
When it comes to training/puppy times, make sure to keep your temperament more on the alpha side because he’ll know you (and Sean) are the boss… and love him a lot. He’ll nip and chew on you for a while, he’s probably still cutting teeth, and will continue to do it til his adult teeth come in. Make sure to have lots of chewy things for him so he doesn’t attack furniture 🙂
Oh my gosh what a precious baby!
O.M.G. Seriously the cutest puppy ever!! My husband and I want to get a puppy, but he wants some sort of a lab and I don’t think our apartment is quite big enough for one of those at this moment. Thankfully we are starting the process of house hunting so perhaps a puppy is in our future!!
My husband and I have an Australian shepherd/blue heeler!! He’s almost a year old now and we love him. These dogs are super smart and need lots of stimulation or they’ll get into EVERYTHING! Our pup knocked our cable out twice by digging up the line the backyard and chewing through it. But he’s adorable and so friendly! Best of luck with your new puppy! Love the name, our pup’s name is Winchester 🙂