Our daughter is getting a puppy! This is big news around here. I have long joked that my oldest son’s primary relationship is with his Italian Spinone, Olive, and that she may be the only grandchild I get out of him for a while. Fine by me actually. We love to babysit which we do from time to time when a long day out on the boat or filming is going to keep him away. She comes over  to play with her “cousins” ( I know I am  messing up all the anthropomorphized relationships) Violet, Oscar and Pippi. Violet our Berner girl is her favorite pal. They wrestle more gentle with one another and almost constantly the whole time she is here.

And now comes Hannah with a deposit on a lovely blue Great Dane. Elsie is just three weeks old at the moment. Hannah and her partner Dan drove out to Long Island yesterday to meet the breeder and the pups. For hours we got pics and videos and today it is all she is talking about. These two live in a typically small Manhattan apartment. Recently their rent went up and so they started looking for a new place. As long as they had to move anyway they figured why not find a place that took dogs. And so they did. It is just a few blocks away from their current place. They love the neighborhood and this beautiful place has been well appointed. It housed tuberculosis patients at the turn of the last century and so every apartment has a balcony. Theirs has two. And best of all … they take dogs!

It costs a little more than their old rent increase and it is a sixth floor walk up, (Six. Up.)  but no matter it has balconies and it takes dogs. The puppy will be their entertainment so really it will probably be like finding a savings!……Hannah reports this in only the breathless romantic way one who is in her early twenties can. “Balconies. Dogs. Oh mommy”

Six flights.  My heart is pounding just thinking of it.

Dan had never had a puppy before and so he maybe wasn’t completely sure at first. Hannah has never lived so long without a dog and she was long past ready. So they casually looked at breeds and when he found one that caught his fancy (150 pounds!) no matter. She went right to work finding the best breeder and the right litter. Turns out Great Danes are fairly sedentary and make great apartment dogs. Who knew? Now they are both excited and she is fast applying for jobs that might allow for a mix that includes some remote work so she can raise their puppy. They will both take some vacation when the little girl arrives and if the job hasn’t come yet doggie day care will be fitted into their lives.

There is something deeply gratifying when your kids date (and I imagine marry) people you like and respect. It also happens when they take your family values into their own families and grown-up lives. Animal love enhances our humanity. It is one of the truest things about our family and one of our dearest most closely held values. Now it goes down the line into another generation. What a blessing.

Elsie, you are going to be well loved little one. And now there are a whole bunch of people who just can’t wait to meet you.