Nov 9, 2009
Your friendly neighborhood dog advocate here. Katherine, please reconsider your expectation regarding your next dog after Bella is gone.
Be aware that for every dog obtained from a breeder, another dog is euthanized at the humane society. There are hundreds of thousands of dogs and cats euthanized every year, because there is no room to keep them. Also a major reason to have dogs and cats spayed and neutered (ahem), but that is a topic for another day.
As far as puppies, yes absolutely, puppies are available for adoption. And if you want a specific breed, most likely, you can find that, too. The only thing is, if you are too specific, it may take longer (or you may have to go a little further) to find exactly what you seek.
I highly recommend you look at http://www.petfinder.org, (although, I caution, if you go there, you may be getting Bella a companion sooner, rather than a replacement later).
Also, regarding \"totally getting the kids another puppy\", versus, \"we won\'t be replacing Bella\"... Among reasons *not* to get a puppy, are all the stuff that comes with puppy-dom, housebreaking, training, their chewing and destroying everything, etc. The best bet is to skip the puppy stage and get a young dog that is already housebroken, and past the puppy stage.
So, for example, a pupppy named Dallas Ray is available right now in Statesboro, about an hour east of you. http://bit.ly/DallasRay Or Pancho (also within an hour drive or so) is young and crate trained... http://bit.ly/PanchoDog Here\'s a search for you: http://bit.ly/MacKathDog
(stepping down from soapbox).
Not to mention that mixed breeds don\'t suffer the ailments that inbreeding leads to, blah, blah, blah...
God Bless!