We walked into the Capital Area Humane Society a few weeks ago with high expectations, but we never thought we'd exceed them in the first eyes that met ours.

You walk through the doors into the kennel and cage area and the first thing that strikes you is all the barking.  My wife immediately was taken with a little brown and white mutt.  He was the only one not barking and he was just laying down checking things out.  We walked over and were immediately in love.  My wife more than I, since she spent most of our visit right there.

"I don't know what else we're going to see here, but I know we're going home with a dog," I said knowing at the very least this guy would go home with us.

Turns out just about every other dog we liked was already adopted and waiting to be taken home.  Except the hound/terrier/lab mix named Edward that we loved from the get-go.  Julie and I liked him the best anyway, but the kids needed a few minutes alone to come around since he was a little big for a puppy at 30 pounds.  I think they had their hearts set on a furry little fella to raise into a big boy.  But five minutes later, they were as in love as Julie was.  And since we all kind of liked the name Edward-- we let it stay.  The girls like to say Eddie, but I like to come home and say hi to Ed.

He's good on the house training, and he's cool with his crate, too.  But, like all dogs, he loves to chew stuff and he's even gotten into the ornaments on the tree. 

Here's the cool part-- Ed loves the snow.  That might not sound like a big deal, but Ed is a Southern dawg, born in Mississippi.  He arrived in Michigan through an overcrowding exchange program.  I thought he'd never want to go outside in the winter, but the dude looks like a snowmobile when he gets out there and gets going.

So, we're fans of the big guy and everything he brings to the house and the family.  Hopefully he'll do that for a long, long time.