Two Better Than One?

From day one, Isabella has been considered my husband's puppy. He was the one so adamant about getting a puppy, a husky at that, and he was the one that searched site and after, looking for the perfect puppy. When he finally found The One (Whispering Oaks Farm), he was the one that contacted the breeder and set up the time to meet and get our new puppy. Because of my husband's job, it was well after dark before we made the hour-plus drive to get our girl. She slept in my lap almost the whole way home.
Isabella went from being among brothers and sisters for the first eight weeks to being an "only child" (only dog?) for the next six months or so. She whined about it at first, but got used to being alone during the day while we were at work. But once home, she followed us around constantly. Understandable, and cute at times, but more often times than not, it started to border on annoying and distracting for me, having a little shadow behind me everywhere I went. I started thinking about getting another puppy, a playmate for Isabella. I didn't want there to be alot of age difference between the two, and I knew I wanted potty training and such to be done with once and for all sooner rather than later down the road.
I decided to get a male instead of another female, in hopes of keeping fighting between the two to a minimum. And since Isabella was clearly our Alpha girl, she'd be sure to keep a male husky in check. :)
Since Isabella was my husband's puppy, this one would be "mine." So it was my choice where to look and which to choose. After much searching and contacting a few, I tried contacting Isabella's breeder, and as luck would have it, they had just had a new litter-- Isabella's parents' new litter, at that. And I had first pick.
More or less eight weeks later, we made the same after-dark drive with Isabella in tow.
Unlike Isabella, Jake was very much awake when we first met him, and although he wore the same serious expression the whole time, his tail never stopped wagging. He had big paws for a little puppy, so my husband said he knew he'd be a big dog one day-- probably bigger than Isabella.
We got Isabella out of the vehicle for the two to meet. Isabella was excited beyond belief and couldn't contain herself, which probably made little 'ole Jake a little nervous. He growled at her. No teeth, just a low, throaty growl. We'd pull Isabella back, then try again. Growl. We let Jake play in the grass for a bit, then put him in my lap for the ride home. We only let him stay there for a short bit, however, because Isabella kept trying to come in the front seat, wanting the same closeness and attention that this new furball was getting. So into the backseat Jake went. It took a few minutes of adjusting, but before long they settled down, Jake squished as close to the other side of our seats as he could be, and Isabella laying more or less on top of him. (To this day, they ride more or less like that, with Jake still content to be squished a bit and always as close to us as can be while in the back seat.)
The look on Isabella's face at times during that ride home was priceless. "Okay, this was fun when we were outside, but what's he doing coming home with us?"

Unlike Isabella, Jake went from being around a brother and sister to another sister, so he never got used to being alone. He was such a whiner in those early days...still is when penned up, but not near to the degree he was in those first few weeks (maybe even the first month or so). My husband wasn't so sure Jake was going to cut it at first, but Jake has -- slowly -- started to get there. Here's hoping for leaps and bounds more. :)