Today Is The Big Day!

As many of you already know, I'm welcoming a new addition to my family.  No, I'm not pregnant--I'm getting a dog.  Today.

He's a French bulldog and his name is Jacques.

French bulldogs are great for apartment-dwellers like me--they don't need a lot of space or exercise and they generally don't bark very much.  They are small dogs--adults weigh around 20lbs--but they think they're large dogs so they don't have the tendency to yap a lot like small dogs often do.  I've been over to my breeder's house several times and I haven't heard the mother bark at all and the puppies very rarely.  They do make the snorting and snuffling sounds typical of bulldog breeds due to their smooshed-in faces.

In case you're wondering what French bulldogs look like, they're much smaller than English or American bulldogs and their ears stand up instead of folding over.  When mine's full-grown, he'll look much like this guy, but right now he looks like this:

Now, I know what you're thinking--"Hey Kendall, don't you already have a cat?  What's he gonna think of this?"  Yes, I am a little worried about how Jax will react to Jacques, but I'm hoping if I don't make a big deal about it, keep myself calm and let them take their time, eventually they'll at least tolerate one another.  I'm ensuring that the bedroom remains Jax's domain, giving him a place where he can get away from the puppy and where we can spend time together just the two of us.  Jacques will only be allowed in the bedroom at night and only in his crate.  I've also purchased a couple of baby-gates that I plan on using in various configurations to keep the two of them separated when I'm not around to supervise.

It's going to be a lot of work and I probably won't get much sleep over the next several days, but it's something I've been thinking about for quite a while now and I'm well prepared for what's to come.  I know many of you will think I'm completely mad for doing this and maybe I am.  Look at it this way:  it will make good blog-fodder!