We've got two

I have to make one thing clear- when Greg and I decided to get a dog- that was exactly what I wanted. One Dog. I wanted a Golden that was at least 2 years old- near the end of his puppy stage, already trained, house-broken, but still high-energy enough to keep up with us. I also was sure that I wanted to adopt him from a Golden Retriever Rescue And Training organization (GRREAT), so that we would be getting a dog that was turned over from an owner that could not care for him.
Greg and I have been talking about getting a dog for almost 2 years now, and we were both getting really antsy. Imagine my surprise when I opened up my email at work one January morning to see that one of our fine custodians at LHS had Golden Retriever puppies for sale. I forwarded the email to Greg and just wrote "OMG!!!" in the subject line. His first response? "Let's get two!" My response? "Helllllll no."

Initially when the opportunity presented itself to adopt a puppy, I was a bit skeptical. But then I thought, hey, why not? The puppy is already here- he needs a good, loving home which we can provide. Plus, Greg has always wanted a puppy, rather than an older dog. And furthermore, who can resist a Golden Retriever puppy? But two? One is enough work- why on earth would we want two?
Greg and I emailed back and forth the whole day before we went to go meet the puppies and choose them from the litter. He tried to convince me that two would be better than one, but I stood my ground. When we went to choose our puppy that night, there were two males and two females left. I was certain that I wanted a male, and I'm partial to darker colored Goldens. So we chose Jackson. It wasn't easy- Lance was so darn cute and playful, but I knew that we just had to choose one. My mom had gone with us to see the pups (being a Golden owner herself) and was firmly on my side that two puppies would just be crazy. So that was that. We put a collar on Jackson and talked about our new puppy that would be coming home a few weeks later.
I barely slept that night. I kept thinking about the other male puppy. And I don't know why, but something clicked and I suddenly changed my mind. The first thing I did that morning was email Rosemary (the owner of the puppies) to ask if we could adopt the other male too. She quickly replied with a "yes" and I couldn't wait to tell Greg the news. I left him a voicemail to call me as soon as he was done with the gym, and luckily he caught me on my way to work. He was, of course, overjoyed with my change of heart.

So that's how we came to adopt two Golden puppies. And you know what? I'm glad we did. Even though it is twice the poop, food, expenses, etc., it really is great having two different personalities who will (hopefully) be best friends for life. They have each other to play with, which is great (except for when the play gets a little rough and leads to biting and barking)!
And although we have gotten very little quality sleep over the last few nights and have not been able to really relax (or get much done around the house) at all, I know it's all worth it. As the vet told us on Monday night- Golden Retrievers may be difficult in the beginning, but the payback is extraordinary. They will be loyal to you for life.
Greg sends me these photos with his blackberry throughout the day with subject lines like "Finally" as seen above. They're sooo sweet when they're sleeping....