A Very Big Update

My original plan was to get a puppy in May...then, I decided to get an adult and I got impatient and started fostering in February. Well...I guess I caught puppy fever, because look who arrived today:



Ryan, as I've named him, is one of a litter of 5 male puppies that came into TDBCR. There is another tri, a split face, a black and white, and a dark brown pup. I think they also had a red and white sister who was sold before the puppies came into rescue.

Ryan was put on a flight this morning at around 7:00 am and I picked him up at 12:15 pm (hour time difference, though, so he was in transit for about 4 hours I think). When I picked him up, he was lying in his crate happily chewing on a bone, and when I opened the door he came right out and bounced/rolled around on the grass outside.

I am completely in love with my little Ryan and he's only been here for 9 hours! Come to think of it, that might be why I'm completely in love with him :P So far he hasn't had a chance to do anything wrong - no accidents (lots off pees and poops outside and lots of praise for that!), no chewing anything but his toys, and no crying. I'm sure the crying will start tonight when he realizes he isn't with his brothers anymore.

Abby isn't sure what she thinks of him yet. She'd really like to play rough with him, but he is too little to play like that so I think Abby is pretty frustrated. She keeps getting really excited and racing full speed around the yard and taking flying leaps over him, while he lies on his stomach chewing a toy and wagging his tail. She keeps pawing him in the face, but he doesn't seem to mind that. She hasn't corrected him for anything yet - she just warned him to stay away from her bone and ball. She did roll him once while trying to play and then she looked completely shocked when he screamed.

Ryan is next to me passed out right now...oh the cuteness! He's got so many freckles all over his nose and the tiniest ears in the world. He weighs about 7 lbs and is between 7 and 8 weeks old.

We went to the school field tonight and Ryan flopped around with a stuffed toy while Abby played ball. A family came to the playground with a Golden and 2 girls on bikes, so Ryan got to meet them. He seems to be nice and outgoing and runs right up to everyone. On the way home we met a girl with her cat on a leash, so Ryan met the cat too. It was a perfect cat to introduce a puppy to - he was nonchalant about a puppy sniffing him. Ryan was a bit unsure of the cat but some liver treats took care of that.

I'm going to have to work really hard to bring him everywhere for socialization since there are way less dogs and people around here than there are at home (and I'll be here for Ryan's whole critical socialization period). I contacted someone about puppy classes who is supposed to be really good. I'm also planning on taking him (and Abby) to lots of agility trials and maybe flyball trials to meet other dogs and dog people. We live right by the university, and I can bring him to work sometimes so that will be good for meeting people.

I just took a break and played with the dogs, then took Ryan out for a pee before bed. He is now screaming his head off in the ex-pen. This will be interesting - my first puppy :D