Welcome, Bimini. Named after one of our favorite islands in the Exumas, she entered our lives and filled it instantly. She’s the fresh start that we’d been searching for since we moved to Key West almost a year ago.

But boy, did we forget about the puppy stage! The razor-sharp teeth and new puppy smell; the boundless energy; the crate training. Oh, how I hate the crate training! She’ll cry and whine to be let out, but we want to avoid any accidents in the house. It seriously breaks my heart to hear her get so worked up. But I know that proper training is absolutely necessary to having a well behaved companion dog in the future. It just kills us to have her unhappy!

So far she loves socializing with people and strutting her stuff down Duval Street. She’s already an Island dog who enjoys the beach, chewing on coconuts and chasing the roosters that roam the streets of Key West. Funny, because most of them are bigger than she is right now. Wonder how she’d do at the Hemingway House with all of those six toed cats?