Thant changed over the past year. We are both retired at present. And the pandemic has prevented us from visiting friends or having people over. Plus, everyone seemed to have a dog. So we began to think about it again. Darlene felt a kitten would be enough for her, and they were easier to come by, but I was opposed, and wanted a puppy. After all, it was easy, wasn’t it? just call the SPCA and go and pick one out. But it turns out the pandemic has changed that as well. Now, even with the SPCA, you have to fill out the application, and almost get a police check. And that’s for a 12-year-old dog who is blind in one eye! Even thought, we tried, and failed.
Through a friend at our Tai Chi classes, we learned of a breeder of Golden Doodles (cross between a poodle and a golden lab), from whom she got her dog, and of whom she had high praise. And her dog is well-behaved, and lovely. So we contacted them, paid a deposit, got through the initial interview to check our worthiness, and waited. And waited. Finally, in late 2020, one of her dogs got pregnant, and our pup was born in a litter of ten, on February 3, 2021. That meant we would have a pup in late March. We had a deadline, and worked towards it. A few trips to the Dollar Store, and a few to Pet Valu. Also some searching for second-hand things from the web (FaceBook Marketplace), and from friends, and we thought we were pretty ready. Darlene, the researcher, went on ahead of me to read what she could about raising a puppy: you see, we had never had a puppy, since Buddy was adopted at the age of 11 months. We were nervous, but felt we were up to it.
The breeder had one down side: she live north of Durham, Ontario (a two-hour drive from here). So we decided, rather than go both ways the same day, we would go up the night before, stay in a motel, and the next morning, get our pup early and head home. We stayed at Lilas Villa Inn in Flesherton, run by an Indian couple and their son. Very nice people, they provided us with a dinner to take in our room (because of the pandemic, their restaurant was closed), and we had a pretty good night’s sleep.
The morning of April 3, we were up early, got our car charged a bit for the ride home, and went to get our puppy. We were met at the spot by Jamie, who went over the paperwork with us, and then got our puppy. Jamie put her in my arms, and I was hooked.
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The it was time to load her into the car and head home. Darlene kept her on her lap while I drove. Along the way, we tested her out on serene classical music. She fell asleep to Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto, and also to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (spring). So we wondered about naming her “Brandy” or “Viva” because of this. But there is a lot of competition for names. As I write this, we are beginning to close in on “Lily”. But “No Name” is also a possibility.
We had planned to stop about half-way for a pee. But the pup threw up a few times along the way, so we stopped three or four times altogether for some air and a pee as well. Got her home, let her out of the car, and carried her to her designated “elimination” spot, and she immediately pooped and peed. What a good girl!
We had planned ahead to have Cathie Klein, who is a dog trainer and has agreed to help us. She had agreed to come on our fist day and help us settle into the routine. She came, was pleased with what we were doing, and helped us get her down for her first nap. That was a traumatic experience: we put her into the large crate, closed the door, and left the room. She cried and whined for about fifteen minutes, but then settled and slept. If it had not been for Cathy, we would have given in to her. But she was fine, and this did not “poison” the crate for her. She still prefers the smaller crate, and that is where she sleeps at night.
And speaking of night, Darlene and I agreed that we would share the night. She was to take the first shift, staying up with the pup until ten or so, taking her out for an elimination break then, and putting her to bed after that. I would get up at five or so and relieve her. As it happened, she slept that first night from ten to the point that I took over at about 5:30! So we lucked out.
End of the first day.
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