We got a dog.  We sure did.  Rick has been pining after owning a canine for a few weeks now while scowering the Web for the perfect best friend.  I have been a little wary of the idea, because I already have 4...I mean, 3 kids to care for and enough on my plate with responsibilities.  Caring for a dog sounded overwhwelming.  But I felt like if we came across just the right dog for our family, that I would give in to the entire family's desires (the kids have been wanting a dog too).  Well, we found her...actually, I found her, if you can believe it.  I came across Ingrid von Brentwood through Petfinder.com.  She is 9 months old and was donated to the Westside German Shepherd Rescue by her owners 2 months ago, because they felt they could not give her enough attention.  She has been spayed, is housetrained, and is so gentle with the kids.  And she is gorgeous.  She is a purebred German Shepherd that we had the opportunity to bring home yesterday for the cost of the adoption fee and the necessities for our home to care for a large dog (food, bed, toy, brush, treats, flea medicine, etc.).  Her previous owners obviously decided to go all the way with whole "German" thing as her name, Ingrid von Brentwood, has been hers since birth.  We were kinda partial to the uniqueness of it, so we just shortened it some to fit our family...Welcome, INGRID VON WOOD!