A couple weeks ago, Doug and I decided to get a dog for our new farm! We wanted a dog who would be really smart and love having all of the space to run around. As it happened, our neighbors in Maui had nine German Shepherd puppies (born on Christmas Eve!) and we decided to take home one of those.

Of the nine puppies, seven were girls and two were boys. We didn't know if we wanted a girl or a boy, but we ended up falling in love with one of the boy puppies.

We loved his markings on this face. He also had a really timid and curious disposition in comparison to his brother and sisters.

Doug wanted to name him Sheffield, Clark, Waveland or Addison (after the streets around Wrigley field. But because my mom already "stole" the name Sheffield for her cat last year (Doug actually suggested that name to her...) he had to pick one of the other names. I liked Clark, but Doug said it reminded him too much of Superman. Superman made us think of Batman (Doug's favorite "crime fighter") and so we named him Bruce. Bruce Wayne Hickey.

Flying him over to Maui was pretty traumatic for him. His carrier had tinted mesh - which I think scared him a lot. Thankfully the flight was only 40 minutes and I was able to hold his carrier on my lap the whole time.

He was a lot happier with his head poking out of the carrier. I let him ride like that so that I could pet his head the whole time.

Now that he is home, Bruce is so happy! He loves the farm and all of his toys and his dog bed. We never have to pen him or put him on a leash because he just follows us around everywhere.

Also, because we have hardly any furniture, there isnt much worry of him peeing on or chewing up the furniture.

Overall, he is very smart! I knew that German Shepherds are one of the smartest breeds, but I didn't realize how smart until we got Bruce. He is already learning to do his business outside (just through praise and scolding) and he is doing a very good job chewing only on his toys. The only really dumb thing is that he thinks the mirrors are other puppies and tries to play with them.

We are so excited to have him home with us on the Big Island and cannot wait for Mike to get here next week to meet him!