Broker?

Right now we live in the ass-end of Brooklyn. Well, not Coney Island ass-end, but pretty south. It takes Pru an hour to get to work every day (at best). Annoying. So for that, and several other, reasons- we've decided to move. But for anyone that has any experience trying to nail down a decent apartment in the greater NYC area, you know that its...difficult. We're considering using a broker this time because Pru's sister found a great place in Bay Ridge through one, but we're struggling with the idea of paying someone to do something we technically can do ourselves. On the other hand, its a MASSIVE hassle and having help would be a godsend. We're not looking to move into Manhattan, but just a part of Brooklyn closer to Manhattan so we can shorten that damn commute. Oy. This should be fun. Wish us luck!

Oh, and here's a picture of my handsome boy, Sir Ringo:

How cute is this guy?!?!

Introducing Ringo

As previously mentioned, Pru and I found a furry child to adopt. We went to a nearby shelter hoping for the best, but when we first got there it didn't look too hopeful. It was crowded, chaotic, and rather difficult to navigate. We weren't sure if we had to check-in or what so we kinda just stood there until we realized that you literally just walk around looking at the pets until you see one you like, then you ask an employee to take the animal out and play with it. Simple enough.

There were lots of super adorable dogs there, but most of the ones we liked were puppies that would grow up to be 60+ lbs. Um, not for this tiny apartment! We did end up spotting an adorable little guy but when we asked to see him, the chick said he had kennel cough and couldn't be adopted until seen by the vet.  Lame.

So we did another lap of the place and came back to this sad looking two-year old cocker spaniel. He was clearly overstimulated to the point of shutting down- he barely responded to any stimuli whatsoever. His hair was matted, greasy, and it honestly made him look like a dirty old man. They told us he had been recently returned due to food guarding issues, and those weren't even his initial owners. We have no idea how this lil old man started off, but I'd bet he's a mill dog or had been on the street for a while. He also had a double ear infection, which was not surprising considering how dirty and matted his ears were. Sad, really.

Be that as it may...we brought him home anyway! We immediately renamed him Ringo (more Beatles theme, of course), took him to the groomer to shave him down (VAST improvement), hit up the vet for the ear infections, bought a bunch of crap from Petco, and  registered for basic obedience classes, which start this weekend! Its been a rough 20 days but everyday that passes gets better. He starts to loosen up and trust us more and we do the same. There are definitely moments where I wonder what the heck we got ourselves into, but then he'll give us his adorable droopy sad face and we can't help but love him.

Here's a pic of him at my parents house, apparently tired from surfing the internet all afternoon :)