Thatcher 

Thatcher is a protective head of homeland security who will make any potential intruder reconsider. 

He's not so much for cuddling, although he enjoys having his ears scratched and getting his coat raked. He is happiest, however, when he is on patrol - chasing squirrels, opossums, or anything else that happens to venture into his yard.

When we lost power during the Great Texas Freeze in February 2021 and my phone finally died in the middle of the night, he was my primary line of defense against any would-be looters who might think of trying to take advantage of the situation. Because of him, I was able to sleep at night. 

Still, if he isn't out on a run or a walk, he prefers to just sit on your foot so you know that he is there - and so that you know that you are his.

He also likes it when the weather permits the door to the backyard to be left open so he can straddle the doorsill - protecting everything inside and outside the house simultaneously.

I consider Thatcher my second English Springer Spaniel. 

Sherlock, the English Springer Spaniel I grew up with and one of my dearest childhood companions, was my first. 

However, I had been an apartment dweller for most of my post-collegiate years, and it wasn't until I bought a house in 2016 that I felt I could even consider having another English Springer Spaniel.

I had a beautiful calico cat named Condi for 16 years who was born at the bottom of my closet the day I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, and after she crossed the rainbow bridge I initially was on the search for another cat. However, I just wasn't ever able to find one that I really connected with.

Then, I was going to Petsmart with a friend of mine who was looking for fish, and as we were entering the store I passed a freshly groomed English Springer Spaniel leaving with its owner.

My heart leapt.

From that moment I knew that I was going to start searching for an English Springer Spaniel puppy and put my search for another cat on hold.

The search was very frustrating and discouraging at first. I kept scrolling through all of these puppies who looked nothing like what I thought an English Springer Spaniel should look like - or at least they didn't look like Sherlock.

I searched nationwide and almost gave up until I came across a picture of a puppy who took my breath away. I almost didn't even contact the breeder because I figured there was no way that precious puppy was still available. 

The notion that "nothing ventured, nothing gained" finally prevailed, and I emailed the breeder - fully prepared and expecting to hear back that the puppy had already found a forever home before the breeder would offer me another puppy who would likely be a disappointment.

When the breeder replied back that the puppy I wanted so desperately was available, my heart leapt yet again and I put down a deposit right away.

Thatcher has been my spoiled first born ever since.

Reagan

Reagan is what I call aggressively affectionate. She cuddles so hard it sometimes seems as if she is trying to literally melt into your skin. 

She is the consummate lap dog.

I shouldn't have been surprised because when she was a puppy in Miami (with 7 brothers and sisters and 8 half-brothers and sisters born at the same time) and the breeder would post videos of the two combined litters, she was always the puppy at the front of the welping box looking for love. 

She is still that love-hungry puppy who can never get enough attention from her family, and she has an incredibly sweet disposition.

At the same time she is not beyond giving a little bit of a judgy look and a gruff when she is perturbed or is getting impatient (whether I'm not able to give her enough cuddles because I'm working on something, if I'm taking a little bit too long fumbling to get a treat from the sealed pouch, or if I am taking too long to mix her food together.)

In short, she is a little girl with a big personality.

I'm always amused at the way the white tip on her tail makes her look like a giant cottontail rabbit when she is racing around the backyard.

I also feel very fortunate to have lucked into finding her. 

Originally, I had put a deposit on a puppy from another breeder in Aguascalientes, Mexico, but then the breeder changed the sire of the litter - and he just wasn't what I was looking for in a dog.

I was apoplectic for a few days before I stumbled upon Reagan, and the stars aligned for her to come home with me. 

I had been following her breeder's social media account for a while, and I thought for sure all of his puppies must have been reserved by the point in time that I realized the Aguascalientes puppy wasn't going to work out. 

However, in my despair and desperation I decided to contact him, anyway. So, I asked if he happened to have any liver-and-white females available, and to my delight I discovered the family that was originally going to take Reagan had decided to defer to a future litter due to a change in their domestic circumstances. 

I felt hope start to rise in me, and so I asked for a picture of her, and when he sent it to me my heart lept the same way it did when I first saw the picture of baby Thatcher.

That's when I knew it was meant to be. 

To add to the destiny, it just so happened that it coincided with a pre-arranged six-hour layover on my way back to Houston from Barcelona. That was just enough time to pick her up at the airport and fly her to her new home with me in Houston.

I hope Thatcher's & Reagan's puppies bring as much joy and happiness to your home as they have brought to mine.