Published: May 31, 2009 12:42 am      

MARREN: Searching for our 'Marley'

By the time you read this column, my wife and I will have already made a two-hour trek Saturday morning out to Penn Yan. Penn Yan on a Saturday morning you ask? We weren’t looking for Riesling, we’re in search of a chocolate Lab to add to the family.

Since I write and file my column on Fridays, I can’t report how the trip was or how well our interaction with the Penn Yan pups went. You’ll have to wait for that in another column.

This is a search that we started last summer, albeit late in the summer. Our plan last year was to find a chocolate Lab puppy while my wife was off for the summer from teaching, train it before she went back, and all would be right with the world.

We searched and searched but couldn’t find the right little girl. As I said, it was late in the summer, so if we did find one, we wouldn’t have much time to train the puppy before Katie returned to school. Having the luxury of a spouse who doesn’t have to work during the summer makes house training that much easier.

So this year we’re back on the prowl.

Katie grew up with labs, I grew up with a collie/Lab/German shepherd

(... we think) mix of a mutt. So we’ve both had our share of dog experiences. As any dog owner knows, there are good and bad dog experiences. Now we’re looking for our own dog-raising duties and experiences — and we’re sure stories to go along with them — as a married couple.

Co-worker Phil Dzikiy indirectly rekindled our search when he came in Tuesday and reported that he not only got married during his long break from work, but got a bedroom set, a new digital camera and a pug puppy. OK, the marriage stuff wasn’t actually “reported” or a surprise by any means. I don’t want you thinking it was some random act or a wild and crazy weekend he had. We knew he was getting married; we were there.

I was jealous. His stories of the first couple days with the new pug got me laughing, and more importantly, thinking of how we really had to get our search going again.

We were in all corners of Niagara County last summer looking for the right puppy. We just couldn’t find the right situation where the dogs would be ready in time, or price. You know how it goes. So we gave up once Katie went back to school.

Our house is ready, I think. The previous owner had two large dogs, so we lucked out with a fully fenced backyard for our dog to roam. The house doesn’t have much carpet at all, so accidents that we can get to quickly have a good chance of being cleaned up off the hardwood. Since we’ve only been married a few years, we have accumulated “stuff,” but not a ton that could be torn to shreds. There’s nothing too valuable, but who knows?

I don’t know what to expect. Part of me thinks we’re going to pick the one Marley of the bunch, which could lead to great stories and lots of headaches. But then again, there’s a lot of love from a dog like that. You can’t go wrong.

When they are puppies they all look cute and you expect you’re picking the best one. But who knows? All you can do is look at the parents, look at the breeders and make your best choice.

We’ll see what happens.

Tim Marren is the managing editor

of the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal. Contact him at tim.marren@lockportjournal.com

or 439-9222.