Aoife

 We have a new, 40 pound, 8 month year old puppy, probably an American Staffordshire Terrier (i.e. a Pit Bull).  She's a rescue puppy from a Modesto, California shelter.  The name on her papers said her name was "Chanel," but The Chid mostly likely did not find this a butch enough name (I thought it was hilariously ironic).   After a few suggestions like "Bailey" and "Guinness,"  The Chid did some quick research of Irish names and settled on Aoife.   She didn't seem particularly attached to her previous name, and is responding to Aoife.

She's a total snuggle-butt; very sweet and curious; and will bark three short, sharp, "gruffs" at strangers at the door and gate.  She's been trained, as she understands "sit" and "stay" and has good leash etiquette.

This is the first dog we've had in fifteen years.  (Our old beagle, Pickles, succumbed to complications of a hyperactive adrenal gland.)  We'd been talking about adopting for a few months, with vague plans to do so this summer when The Child was out of school  COVID-19 fallout in Oregon prompted Mark to expedite the process.... so Saturday, we went to a pet shelter "just to browse" and (surprise!) came back with a dog (Mark started crying when he thought about the shelter animals in California being killed).

The cats are not amused.  Smokey is threatening to go live with our neighbors across the street (where he already gets kitty treats), and Cicero is hanging out with his brother, Spencer, two houses down and generally pulling the Great Disappearing Barn Cat routine.

The consensus so far is that Aoife is curious and wants to play with the cats--but we're going to let everyone get used to everyone else's scents for about two weeks before there are any face-to-face meetings.  The dog rescue foster mom we got her from showed Mark a video of Aoife pretty much ignoring her cats, which helped convince us she'd be okay with Smokey and Cicero.