Bleeding Gums Murphy

As you likely already know, we love The Simpsons. It's Steve's favorite show of all time and I think he's seen every episode. I like it, but it's not my favorite. However, I love the different characters and think Bleeding Gums Murphy is one of the coolest cats on the show.

So when my inlaws were here for Gus's birthday, they brought their chihuahua "Tid Bit" with them. Tid Bit is a tiny little dog and Gus fell in love with her. He wanted to take her for a walk, wanted to hold her, wanted to love on her. One day while my inlaws were here, Gus was in the basement with my MIL and had Tid Bit on his lap and she fell asleep. Apparently, he didn't want to wake her, so he sat there for over an hour with her sleeping on his lap and he didn't move a muscle.

 

Gus walking Tid Bit

 

 While my inlaws were here, I kept telling Steve that Gus really needs a dog. He's finally old enough to take responsibility for a pet, and he needs a dog that can be his to grow up with and play with. Ned is my dog and older and not into playing with the boys.

On Saturday, after everyone had gone to bed, I did some research online and found a dog named Thelma to go see at the Humane Society of Atlanta. I shared her profile with Steve and he agreed that she would be worth seeing. They were open on Sunday (which was also Mother's Day and Gus's official birthday), and so we decided to go see Thelma.

We didn't tell Gus where we were going, but he was excited because we had to take Ned with us (they require family dogs to meet potential adoptees before you can adopt a dog from the HSoA). Ned stayed up at the front while we went to see Thelma.

Well... Thelma was not the right dog for us. She was cute, but she was very timid and we both said we could see her being scared to death with the noise and activity of the boys. NEXT.

The brought out a dog named Duke. He was a bigger dog... and while sweet, he was too big for the boys. NEXT.

We saw one other dog and he wasn't right either. I was starting to feel like we might not be able to find a dog for our family, when they showed us "Bailey." He was labeled as a Basinji and immediately I gave Steve a look that said "NO." My cousin Terri had a Basenji named Yodel and he was a jumper and a very dominant dog... not something we could handle.

So I was reserved, but "Bailey" didn't look like a Basenji at all to me. Whatever, so we took him outside to their play area for him and Ned to meet and play. It was wonderful and Gus LOOOOOOOVED him. "Bailey" and Ned got along great and "Bailey" allowed Ned to be the leader of the pack.

After spending a lot of time outside with Gus, Hugh, Ned, and "Bailey" we decided to move forward with the process of adopting him. We headed inside to start the interview, and in no time at all, we were approved and we were able to bring "Bailey" home with us!

We decided to change his name to "Bleeding Gums Murphy" and call him "Murphy" for short. After posting a few pictures of him on Facebook, we quickly learned that's he's not a Basenji (I knew he wasn't), but is actually a "Carolina Dog" which is also known as an "American Dingo" or "Dixie Dingo." He's probably mixed and from his appearance, maybe with a Pit Bull.

He's such a GREAT dog and a wonderful addition to our home. Here are some pictures of Murphy since he's come to call this place his new home.

Murphy loves to snuggle and enjoys sleeping on our bed with us. He is able to go without his leash and will come when called. He follows Gus wherever Gus goes and likes to play chase with him. He's learning not to bite and learning that he can't just steal food.  ;-)