Munchkin and Pepper - New Puppy??

Munchkin has not given up - in fact she has redoubled her efforts in her campaign for us to get a new puppy NOW - TODAY- TONIGHT - IMMEDIATELY. She does not want to wait. She is four. Sometimes VERY four.

Pepper is lonely. She doesn't touch her food all day long until I'm home again at night and then she'll eat "breakfast" at suppertime or later. I'm not giving her supper when she does this, hoping it will get her back on her usual twice daily feeding schedule, but it's been 10 days now since Sammie died and so far this has been fairly constant.

Pepper has to be cajoled to go outside. Basically we have to go out there with her. This is a ten-year-old dog, mind you, not a puppy learning the ropes. Pepper has not had a single accident since Sammie's death, but she doesn't want to be alone anymore than absolutely necessary & that means no solo trips out back. God bless neighbor dogs and dogs we meet on walks. She needs a regular canine companion. She has always had one. She always had Sammie...

So I'm searching Petfinder.com and asking others to do so as well. Or, if you're here in the DFW area, let me know of good animal shelters and rescue organizations you think I should look into in the search. An "Everything Puppies" book was on sale at Borders today where I went to use up a gift card from Christmas so I got it. Maybe we can read some in it to hold off Munchkin a bit while we do a full search for our new furry family member.

If you're game for helping in the search, enter the following info at Petfinder.com and go from there: Dog, baby, medium or large, female, and most importantly zipcode 76021. We live in a large metropolitan area here in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, so there is no need to adopt outside of north Texas. There are way too many needy pups right here! Please note that any dog we get must not be averse to living with another dog and young children.

Also, I have a distinct preference for medium to large-sized hound, shepherd, working, sporting dogs - pointers, labs, retrievers, 'hounds. You get the picture. Poodles, pomeranians, pitt bull terriers, and pampered pooches that require regular grooming & favor ear bows need not apply.

All help greatly appreciated.