After Tanner passed away almost exactly 2 years ago, I didn't think I ever wanted another dog. Tanner was the only dog that has ever been mine and so much weighed on my heart and mind when it came to him. I was always worried about him in bad weather, and always felt I needed to spend extra time with him. However, we are a very active and outdoor family and a good dog was certainly needed. We've had Rudy for 7+ years now, but she's a little...lazy for our liking.
Kaden was reading Where the Red Fern Grows in school and decided he wanted a coon dog. We discussed options and decided maybe a bloodhound would be a good dog. I've always loved them and they are good hunting dogs. The more I read about them, though, I realized that they sniff about and sometimes travel far when smelling trails. I was afraid we would encounter issues with this having our farm nearby, so we looked at alternate options.
A weimaraner was our next choice. They are also good hunting dogs, but I think they stay put a little better, and they are easily maintained. I started searching for them but they kept selling out quickly, especially the females, and they were pricey. I finally was able to make contact with a breeder family in Illinois who let me claim a female from their next litter, and I talked them down $50. We put our down payment in and waited for her to be born, and then get old enough to be separated from her momma.
Keane and Kaden made the 4 hour drive to pick up Willa - the name we decided on. I made a list of many interesting town, county, street, and creek names on the map between home and where Willa was born. One of them was Willow Creek. When I read it aloud, Keane thought I said Willa, and we both instantly liked it. Kaden's vote was Tia, and Kylie couldn't come up with a girl puppy name because she had her mind set on Copper if it was a boy.
I wasn't quite prepared for a puppy! She was a bit of a pain to begin with. The very first day, she jumped off our couch and hurt her front paw, but after an hour or so it seemed to get better. On the third day, I was off to work and the kids to school, so Keane put Willa in the laundry room when he went down to the farm (that is where we kept her the previous two nights). He decided to come home and check on her a couple hours later, and he couldn't find her anywhere.
There isn't a way to escape from our laundry room so he was very perplexed. He hollered her name and heard nothing. Finally, after quite some time he heard a small whimper. He looked behind the washer and dryer and deep freeze, but saw no dog. Out of desperation, he pulled out the deep freeze and noticed a hole in the back that leads to the compressor. He found that Willa had crawled around and behind the deep freeze, into this hole, and was wedged around the compressor. Keane couldn't grab her because the compressor that she was laying against was too hot for him to touch. He found a panel on the side that he unscrewed and was able to get Willa out! He immediately took her outside to see if she was able to walk, and he sighed a huge sigh of relief.
If she had been in there much longer, she wouldn't have made it. She ended up with a small burn on her knee and cheek, but for the most part that was it. Keane even found one of Lenox's old collars and name tags in that hole in the deep freeze, so I guess Willa wasn't the first to explore that area!
We let Willa inside quite a bit in the beginning, especially when the big kids were home to cuddle with her, but she soon began to poop and pee too often, even right after letting her out, and she was bothering Farrah a large amount, so we slowly started letting her stay outside while we were home. When we are not home, we leave her in a pin that Keane built from wooden crates, or we tie her onto a chain. At night, we put her in a kennel in the garage where we know she's safe!
She is growing quite a bit. She absolutely loves Rudy and plays with her constantly. Willa went fishing with us the other day and jumped right into the water when Keane caught a fish! She jumped around and explored and rolled into the water, loving every bit of that adventure.
She seems to be a little scared of loud noises, so the boys are going to work with her on hunting and gun sounds. I think she's a perfect fit for our family!
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