We never planned to have three dogs. Two seemed just right, and it was for a very long time. But time and chance don't always line up to your plans.

When Gus died in 2008, we went rather abruptly from two healthy dogs with a perfect age difference of five years to one young dog. And then Jax fell into our laps a few months later. Since then, we've had eight glorious years of hikes, therapy dog visits, and all kinds of adventures. But while we never planned on three, suddenly Jax was eight and Comet 9, and our friend Jill offered us the extraordinary gift of a gorgeous puppy whose take-home day was the first day of my April break. So we decided there would never be better timing for a perfect puppy to have two veteran mentors who were still young enough to run circles around him.

And so, enter Murphy, PoeticGold Murphy Oil Soap. Yes, we couldn't resist continuing the cleaning product names.