This weekend was kind of rough. I had some minor surgery. Yes, I’m okay. There’s no reason to be worried. Plus, I can guarantee you won’t out-worry my friends, so you might as well just focus on your own stuff. I’m okay with that.

Anyway, I actually feel much MUCH better. Finally. There are lots of things I want to talk about, but this morning, there’s only one thing on my mind. And he looks a little something like this:

You see, in 1999, I got a dog. I went to the SPCA and there she was, sitting in her water bowl. Little did I know, this would later be not nearly as cute. I took her home and loved her more than I’ve loved most people in my life. She was my baby. Her name was Peanut.

Then, about a year and a half ago, she died. I’m not going to say any more about it because, well, I cried every time I had to say something about her yesterday, and I don’t really feel like crying this morning.

I didn’t get a new dog right away, because for me, it wasn’t just about having a dog. It was about having Peanut. Plus, a dog is a pretty serious commitment and one I just wasn’t ready to jump into. Yes, my fear of commitment even boils over into caring for animals.

And it’s not that I didn’t think I’d ever love another dog. It was just that I wasn’t ready.

Well, yesterday, apparently I was ready. Because yesterday, I went to the SPCA, just to check things out. I was under no circumstances going to get a puppy. Or a dog. But definitely not a puppy. No potty-training and having my shoes chewed. No whining and barking and yapping. Not for me. No sir.

When I walked in, I saw him. And oh, how cute he was. Just look at that face (above). I was strong, though. I moved on. I didn’t even slow down in the puppy section. I went straight for the grown-up dogs. I walked by each dog. There were lots of adorable ones, lots of sad ones. One in particular sort of yanked on my heart strings. A five-year-old Chow Chow with some sort of skin situation. She was so chill and so beautiful. Just the cutest little face.

But I was strong. I wanted a small dog, if I was going to get a dog. I live in an apartment, and I don’t want to subject a larger dog to the confines again. Peanut was a straight-up apartment dog. She lived in an apartment most of her life, but I still felt bad that she couldn’t run around the way she might want to. She was a German Shepard/Rottweiler mix. She weight about 90 pounds. She was adorable, but do you know how hard it is to find an apartment with a 90-pound Rottweiler mix? Yeah…so I knew I wanted a small dog. And nothing that could be considered aggressive (despite the fact that Peanut was scared of most bugs and never aggressed anything that didn’t aggress her first). And so I walked out of the dog section and back toward the door.

Where I ran into my old friend, cute tiny puppy. So I asked if I could play with him for a few minutes. I should have known better. He’s ridiculously sweet and so cute, you just want to eat him up. And now, he lives with me. We spent our first night together last night, snuggling. He experienced some separation anxiety, which resulting in some high-pitched squealing, this morning while I was in the shower. I think it will pass once he’s more comfortable, though.

They said he came to the shelter from another shelter, with a truck load of his friends. He was so matted, they had to cut off the hair around his waist. But only that hair, go figure. So he looks a little…flock of seagulls right now, in the abdominal area. He was infested with fleas and had two different parasites. My heart just broke to hear the story. I’ll never understand people who treat animals that way.

They named him Sparky at the shelter, but I’m still working on a real name for him. Sparky is my default nickname for people who are being idiots, so I’m sure he’ll still get called that sometime. I can’t decide if he needs a people name or another name. I’m usually really good at naming things, but I’m at a loss, so far. I want to see a little more of his personality before I settle on something.

He’s a little ball of energy, but he’s perfectly willing to sit down and snuggle with me, when I’m ready to relax. Also, he’s a morning person. Which we WILL have to fix. I can’t handle that much cheerful in the mornings. Right now, he’s sitting on his bed, behind my desk, just hanging out. He’s such a good boy.

So what do you guys think? Any name suggestions?