Its your birthday...we're going to party like it's your birthday.

Every Christmas since I was probably 6 or 7 I would write out my Christmas list and I would always write "dog" on the list. About 15 years later, my mom decided that I could finally get my dog. I found a website online that had cockapoos for sale. I emailed the lady and she let me know that she had a litter that I could come and look at. We made the 3 hour drive to Axtell and I got my little black dog Roxy. She was so tiny and was whimpering the whole ride home. The first little bit went ok, then I realized that there was something seriously wrong with this dog. She would attack me when I fed her, held her or even looked at her. I didn't want to give up on Roxy, she was finally the dog I had always wanted. I took her to puppy classes, read books, did everything I could. It never got better. I called Axtel and told her about Roxy. It took a lot of convincing, but she agreed to let me come and pick out a new puppy. I picked one out and it ended up that I didnt get her. I was devastated. We tried again and it was then that I met Duke. I remember I had such a hard time deciding which one I wanted. I had it narrowed down to two puppies. Then I picked Duke, he was the one with the brown nose. When I first met him he was small enough that he fit in my hands. I realized that all that happened before, as sad as it made me giving Roxy back, and loosing out on the other puppy, meant I eventually got Duke. All that extra time and extra fuss we had to go through was all apart of what it took to eventually take him home to be a part of our family. Taking him home has been the best thing ever. He was a really good puppy and is a really great dog now. I am so glad that 4 years ago he was born.

so today,  Happy Birthday Duke!
I love you more then a million red sour patch kids.