Our New Baby

Look what Gaston went and did! He got us a puppy! He is a 10 week old Pekingese. YAY Gaston, what a Guy!
These "dogs" are awesome. They are called a living artifact from China. They were bred to represent a lion that Buddha is said to have tamed, but as there are no lions in China, they came up with this little Lion Dog for the royal palaces. The tale goes that they were half lion and half monkey, and when you see his little face in person, you will see why. Sweet little monkey face. They were also called sleeve dogs, as that is how they were carried around. If caught stealing one or attempting to smuggle one out of China, you would be put to death. (see how brave Gaston is!) When the British invaded the Royal Palace & the royal family fled, the Emperor ordered all of his hundreds of beloved palace dogs to be slaughtered rather than to fall into enemy hands. Five of the Pekingese survived however and were captured and taken back to England where one was presented to Queen Victoria. They immediately became popular among the British elite & were bred outside of their homeland China for the first time.
The boys & I get tears in our eyes everytime we look at him. We just cannot believe it.WE feel like royalty... although he has already made it very clear who is here to serve whom. :) If you have ever seen one in a dog show on tv, this is the one that takes three times as long to walk across the ring. They were made to be carried, not walk! When he does walk, he looks like he has wheels, a furry pull toy, a rolling dust bunny. You can lay him on his back and he will just lie there with all four feet in the air not moving and he has a little pointed chin and sticks his tongue out all the time. He will lie in your arms like a baby and not make a sound. I am SO hopelessly in love. It is amazing to already love someone SO much that you didn't even know existed 24 hours ago! He is pure joy. He is just too good to be true.