Our New (4-legged) Baby

Growing up, our home was full of pets and animals. In different points in time, each of my siblings had a pet- my eldest sister Johanne had a pekingese named Scotch and a St. Bernard named Barney, our second brother Jons had a doberman named Paolo, my sis Jeanne had Shih Tzus named Tonton and Punch, brother Tan adopted a stray cat named Ben and he also had an Arowana fish, my youngest sister Jaymie had a Jap spitz+pekingese mixed breed named Siopao, then the most 'prolific' in the family, our brother Jude had a dog named Boog*r, had 12 cats with a cat named Red-White&Blue as his fave, he also raised several chickens, birds, hamsters, fish, even Korean bugs (haha!) We had a fun childhood, you can tell, and no, we didn't grow up in a farm:)So everyone, all my 6 brothers and sisters had pets, except me. I'm thinking now it was probably because I grew up with all sorts of allergies so I never really even thought of owning my own pet, and I just grew up thinking I'll probably never own one (save for maybe fish since they are not hairy and would not cause allergies). It never really bothered me, and when I became a mom, the kids would once in a while ask for a pet dog, and I would just easily say "No" everytime.On a trip to Tiendesitas, I fell in love with a cute Pug pup, so my mind went into "what ifs", but just imagining the sneezing attacks that I'd have, I blocked the idea off immediately.  Then during one of Urban Mom's shoots, I met the adorable French Bulldog of Sofia Genato of The Stork Studio, my mind said, "Hmm, maybe...."BUT when i found my pant leg full of Kenobi's hair, it went back into "no way" mode again.  By this time, Gary and the kids were 50% into the "we want a dog" stage already so I was so happy when my cousin told me there are actually HYPOALLERGENIC DOGS! Did you know that?I started researching on the breeds that are hypoallergenic. Unfortunately, pugs and bulldogs were not part of the list, which were mostly composed of the terrier breeds. I found the list of hypoallergenic dog breeds here and rounded off our choices to getting maybe a Poodle or a Yorkshire terrier, leaning more towards the latter because the boys in the family were thinking the Poodle's too "girly". :POnce we made up our minds, we asked friends to refer us to breeders and one came highly recommended so we immediately contacted him. While the kids were in school, Gary and I met up with the breeder and met a handsome 4-month old Yorkie and immediately brought him home.We just love our new baby Jagger...R now draws our family picture in a new way...Jagger just met his two older "cousins" via Skype last week. Gibson and Murphy, "kids" of my brother in law who is based in New York.So far Jagger has been a source of joy and family bonding for us as we figure out how to train him (he already knows how to "sit!"), as we bring him out on walks, shop for fun dog accessories and treats, and the biggest challenge: potty training! Now I know what I've been missing and I'm glad my kids won't be as deprived:)