The puppy

Well, I have a puppy now, and she has consoled me a lot for the loss of my previous dog. I was feeling down about how at every interval of my day I missed my dog. He had followed me and sat by me (or on me) and basically always been there for so many years. Toward the end of August, I decided it was time. I looked at the shelter websites and filled out an application, I looked at ads on craigslist. I didn't feel I could take on a dog that was being rehomed because it had problems or special needs. I myself have problems and special needs enough. 

Finally, one Saturday, I responded to several craigslist ads, even as far away as Seattle. Some had already sold their dog, some didn't answer. I made contact with a lady in Tacoma advertising chihuahua-pug mix puppies. She had one left, a female. She told me the cost, and I told her I was on my way. It was a pretty long drive. She texted me toward the end asking if I was still coming. We set up a meeting in front of some strip mall store. Naturally, I missed the freeway exit I needed, but Google Maps showed me the way, and I got there and called her on my cell. It was kind of like a drug deal. I handed her a wad of cash, and she handed me the little package.

The night she arrived

The puppy slept most of the drive home. It was a long drive, in the dark, and she was just a baby. I took her to the vet a few days after I got her, and they said she was about 8 weeks old. She weighed 1.9 pounds.

The day of her first vet visit

Now she's been with me a little over seven weeks—nearly half her life. I don't see it day-to-day, but looking at then and now pictures I see she's growing. I don't know how much she weighs at this point. I just tried to put her on the scale I use for weighing mail for my work, but she wasn't having it. Anyway, there she is.

This evening

She's still pretty cute. It's hard to get a non-blurry picture of her because she's either awake and wiggly and zooming around, or asleep and curled into a little ball and probably burrowed into a blanket.

She and I are getting accustomed to each other, learning each other's ways. Being a puppy, she's pretty bitey. I've looked that up, and it's due partly to her youth—she's exploring the world by taste-testing everything she encounters—and partly due to teething. Her adult teeth should be in by six months, and I hope and trust the biting will decline after that. 

I have bought her some chew sticks—"gullet sticks" is their appetizing name—and she loves those. I offer her those as an alternative to my fingers, especially at bed time, when she seems to think it would be a good way to prepare for sleep by gnawing on me. Sometimes she takes the chew stick and runs off with it and hides it. She remembers where. Today I saw her climb into the bottom shelf of a book case and get a chew stick she had left there. Gullet sticks are edible (for dogs) so sometimes she just chomps it to smithereens and eats the whole thing up. 

Like her predecessor, she follows me around and wants to be with me all the time. My favorite times with her are when she has burned off some of her energy and she comes and snuggles up to me, and we are comfortable together. She has a short, thin coat, and she radiates warmth. It's good to have a furry companion again.