I'm probably crazy.

We already have two dogs and a cat, but I want to add to the zoo. We have a Golden Retriever (who is really old, poor thing, her hips are shot), and a hyper German short-haired pointer mix, who carries around his stuffed animals like a two-year old (he sleeps with this stuffed duck; takes that thing everywhere; it's his security blanket.

Two days ago, he buried it in the snow, silly dog, but when he finds it in a day or two, I'll take a picture of him with it). And we have a cat who has a thing for scrunchies. She carries mine around in her mouth like a dog.

I know. Weird animals. They provide hours of amusement, except for the Pointer, who barks just when I'm in the middle of writing and drives me nuts.

Anyway, I want to get a dog for me, a little dog (DH has the big dogs). I researched all the toy breeds and the best, according to the AKC and other websites that do those recommendations, for a family with kids, dogs and a cat, is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (DH is no fan of Taco Bell dogs or poodles, but he loves spaniels). The kids saw the pic of the Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and LOVED THEM. And I did too :-)

My question to my readers -- do any of you own one? Does he/she get along well with the rest of the family? How about a CKCS mix? I'm hoping to find a rescue dog, so I can adopt a homeless pet (the Pointer is a shelter dog, and we've had two shelter animals before, so I'm a big fan of adopting from shelters when I can), but that means I probably won't find a purebred. No biggie, but just wondering how a mix worked out for you, if you have one.

I'm probably crazy for adding to this insane mix :-). But with a face like that one, how can I resist?

***UPDATE: DH and I were out today and we went to the same place where we had gotten our cat (a veterinarian) and they had a CKCS, but it was a male (and where we had a male dog already, that wouldn't work so well). Then we saw a female Havanese...which is a type of Bichon. And though DH had walked in there saying we don't need or want another dog, the minute the puppy licked his hand, his heart was sold (or maybe it was just seeing my heart so set on this ;-).

So...meet Sophie (with my daughter)!

Shirley
PS: That picture is of Bentley, who is on the website www.i-love-cavaliers.com. He's a cutie!

PPS: The winner of the copy of PRETTY BAD from my last post is PEG!! Congrats, Peg! Send me your snail at shirley@shirleyjump.com