Getting Ready - About Two Weeks To Go

Four of the ten

 

At the invitation of the kennel owner, we went to the Annapolis Valley a couple of weeks ago to see Ritchie's litter of ten puppies. Ritchie is one of the loveliest Golden Retrievers I have ever met. And she is going to give us one of her babes. There were only ten puppies in the pen when we arrived but I could have sworn there were a hundred! It was difficult, by times, to keep track of them all! They had different color collars for easy identification but their roly poly little necks meant that each one had to carefully inspected to see what color was down inside that fuzzy fur. Despite watching carefully, I found myself picking up the same one, over and over again!!!

 

Is this one ours??

 

We don't get to choose the puppy. The owners assess their clients and decide on who gets which one, based on personalities and what kind of dog is desired - a dog for obedience trials, champion show dog, a companion, a field dog, etc. We want a sweet, personable little girl who will be a life companion for the next (hopefully) couple of decades of life, and boss Luke around when he visits! It was interesting to see how, even at four weeks of age, some of them really had distinct personalities and characteristics. Their Dad, Landon, lives in Timmins, Ontario. He is a Goldpaw retriever and you can see from his photo on the website that he is, indeed, a handsome fellow.

 

A trip to the pet store...

 

This morning we went, for the first time, to Pet Valu, a pet food and supply store on Spring Garden Road in Halifax, to stock up on puppy supplies. We normally would go to Global but it was closed today and we were in a puppy frame of mind. We purchased a collar, a few new grooming tools, deer antler (!)chews, small balls, a baby kong, spray tooth cleaner, and a kennel - something we have not owned in the past. But we decided that it would come in handy for training and the short periods of time that the baby will be left alone in the house. Our last dog, Lucy, had Annie as a role model, mentor, and companion. Annie was an alpha female and took the new puppy in hand, so somehow or other, a kennel just didn't seem necessary. And everything worked out just fine. But this baby won't have an older mentor and she deserves a different approach based on her own very individual needs.

The gal working there this morning was really helpful and there was a steady stream of customers (and dogs!) coming and going from the store.

 

So about a couple of weeks to go. We haven't settled on a name yet. We have a short list of possibilities and we will know when we finally see which one is ours.