Bringing Your Puppy Home

When bringing your puppy home for the first time, it is always very exciting.  This cute adorable bundle of fur and tail and paws and ears and for me, those adorable lab eyes make the first day awesome.

Our day home started with a seven hour car drive.  We started out thinking that maybe we should have the crate, but that went for all of 20 seconds before severe whining started.  Sine we will be hearing a lot of that, opted to go the lap route.  So, with me in the driver seat, and the wife riding shotgun, Kenzie started in her lap.  Begin squirmy syndrome!  After 500 feet I finally suggested that she drive and I'll take first shift of doggie care.

Ten minutes into the ride, things were gong swimmingly well:

By our third hour, the floor in the front of the car was also satisfactory.  The hum of the engine and the darker environment made almost the entire drive home perfect.

But when you think about it from the dogs perspective, it's pretty terrifying.  You've been alive for eight weeks and all you know is your litter mates, then all of a sudden, they are all gone.  There's these new sights and sounds and smells and you have no idea who these strangers are or what the heck is going on.

The best you can hope to do on night one is to really play with them a lot!  It will tire them out and make the first sleep easier.  Mine is sleeping under my legs right now.  There was a little whimpering, but shortly after that she crashed pretty hard.

Make sure you provide plenty of water and get the breeder to give you at least a few cups of what they're feeding with.  Don't freak out if your pup doesn't drink a lot or eat everything...they're going through something pretty traumatic right now.  Pet them, rub tummies, let them nip a little, and just be very attentive. Give water often even if they don't drink it.

Also take them outside often to eliminate. We had one accident already, but it's going to happen. Just try to clean in up when they aren't looking.  Use enzymatic cleaners to kill the scent too and you may as well buy stock in paper towels too because you're gonna be using tons of them.  I also left her BMs in the yard so she knows where to go.  These will get picked up every few days...eventually immediately, but she is in a new learning phase now.

Just remember, patience and love!

Hello to Kenzie! Now at Seven Weeks!

Very excited to announce that we are now in agreement and our pup (barring a major personality discrepancy) will come to us with the name Kenzie!  We are in the final days before picking her up this coming Saturday, so please join us in welcoming Kenzie:

Six Weeks! Time to doggie proof the house!

After Maggie, we pretty much boxed up all her things and are still somewhat emotional about opening the memories, so it's off to the pet store, and boy did we drop some coin.  Collars, leashes, crates, treats, toys, and so much more - it was pretty amazing!

Any guesses as to how much we spent on the following:

And of course, the weekly growth shot:

Shelby Versus Penny - Five Weeks and Counting

Well, we are cruising right along, and are now at 5 weeks old..21 days undle the furry frenzy comes home.  It looks like we are settled in two camps - one of us likes Penny, and the other likes Shelby.  Naturally, neither likes the other's pick, so it will unlikely be either of these names, but it sure has made for some animated discussions!

"Penny?!?!  How can you like Penny?  It's nickname will be Penny-poo!  Who would name a dog poo?!?!"

"Yeah, well it's better than Shelby!  Shelby becomes Shelby-Shoo which means you are constantly telling the dog to get away from you...shoo shoo shoo!"

Oh to be a fly on the wall, eh?

Hello Purple Collar - It's Four weeks and counting

She's getting larger, but still very much a tiny ball of fur!  Without a name, we are referring to her as Purple Collar for the time being. Some of the names under consideration thus far include:

• Amber
• Keely
• Shiva
• Penny

Which one(s) do you like?

Week 3 - Names Under Consideration

We're avoiding names that start with M for obvious reasons.  Here's our other criteria:

• Short - two syllabes is ideal
• Ends with vowel sound - We like the "eee" sound, or the "ahhh" sound.  Hard ends in consonants is not our style.
• Real names - Legitimate names that could also apply to people are under consideration.  For instance, you would never name a kid "Spuds"...
• The name can't be one from our family already - this makes it challenging because both families have lots of names that we have an association with!
• Must be distinctively feminine

Poor girl doesn't have a name yet at 3 weeks old:

Welcoming our Pup to the World

We found a breeder that has some Fox Red Labs that will be ready to take home when we will be back from our trip.  So, without further ado, we put in our deposit and starting searching for names.  After the deposit, the breeder started sending weekly photos too!

Here's the new pup at two weeks old...