The More, the Merrier

When we were in Alabama during our big trip in 2023, our friend’s mom had such a cute little pug puppy. She cuddled up in our arms while we played board games and went crazy during playtime. Thomas caught puppy fever…hard. As it got close to Christmas, I decided to look into pug puppies available in the area because I am a totally awesome wife. It was totally only for Thomas, I swear! I found a listing for Pug/English Bulldog mixed puppies and jumped on it. My favorite dog breed has always been English Bulldogs, so this seemed the perfect pairing for Thomas and me. We wanted a female puppy and there was only one female in the litter, so we didn’t have any choices between the puppies. She was so cute, though!

We have a tradition in our family of naming our dogs after food, so I looked up a list of black foods to see if any would make a cute name. We almost went with Juniper, but settled on Chia in the end. She was our cute little Chia Pet.

Chia instantly attached to me. It was definitely heart-warming, and I love finally having a dog that wants to snuggle, but it made things difficult when she didn’t warm up to anyone else. It took her a while to fully warm up to Thomas, even, let alone the rest of the household and family. She wasn’t barking or growling at him, but she didn’t fully relax when he held her. She still does this thing if other people hold her where she tenses up and straightens her legs to push herself away as if to try to get a better look at the person. Luckily, Chia seems to be better with dogs than with people. She is a rough player and a huge antagonizor, but she loves other dogs.

When we first got Chia, Thomas was still working a dual schedule where he worked from home half the week, but he had to go into the office the other half, so he wasn’t able to be home and watch Chia while I was at work. I have a totally awesome boss, though, who let me bring her in with me. Chia came to work with me for a few months until Thomas was able to start working fully remotely, meaning he would be home and able to keep an eye on her during the day.

Chia has turned out to be a lot to handle. She is stubborn, absolutely bonkers, built like a tank, will eat anything and everything, and will open doors with levers if they are in her way. She can be hard to love, but love her we do. She seems like she will make a great van dog. She doesn’t get carsick, she pretty much just sleeps the whole ride anywhere, and she loves to explore the wilderness with us. Plus, she is just so darn cute!