The Puppy Formerly Known as Red

We found out the last week of June that the puppy that we had picked from the litter came down with Parvo.

He had a pretty bad case and spent about 5 days in the vet hospital.

We were very sad and were waiting for news that he had passed.

Well, it turns out that he made it through!

The problem was that he was going take a long time to fully recover from his ordeal and might never be the dog that he would've been before his sickness.

Then, the breeder did something incredible.

She offered her pick of the litter to us.

She wanted to be able to focus on the recovery of the sick puppies (there were a total of 2, including her older dog) without the worry of contaminating her healthy puppy.

She just couldn't stand the thought of that happening.

She said that if we were up for it, we could come pick up the puppy the day after the Fourth of July.

We hemmed and hawed.  I did more research, talked to my Mom, purchased an at home Parvo test and lots of bleach (just in case)...and finally we decided

that we would take the risk and go for it.

July 5th was puppy pick up day!

Red Puppy (called Red because of the color of the string collar he was wearing) was a big dude.  He was 19 pounds at pick up.
He was very curious about us, especially the kids, and seemed happy and friendly.

It was a long drive home from the breeders house - about 2 or so hours.
He had the company of a stuffed fish that he got as a gift from the breeder and did pretty good.  There was only a bit of crying and whining.

He got lots of love the first day home.

Mikey was a bit unsure and kept his distance.  Only swooping in to pet him when he was asleep.

His first night in the crate was...okay.  There was some whining and barking, but overall we thought it would be worse.

The next day, Red Puppy's official name became Ralph.

Over the course of this past week, he's made great puppy progress.

He's only had, I think, three or four accidents in the house and if the door is open will walk himself to the kennel to do his business.  But, it's all still a work in progress.

He's working on Sit, Down, Off, No Bite, Drop It, Sit/Stay and has pretty much mastered Come (especially when there's a treat involved).

We've been watching for signs of parvo, but have not seen any.  I also performed two Parvo SNAP tests and they were both negative.  So, I think we are out of the woods as far as that is concerned.

We also found out that our yard is lined with dangerous plants for dogs - hydrangeas and rhododendrons are poisonous if eaten.  Sigh.  So, we won't be letting him roam the yard for a looooong time.  Unless, we rip up our entire backyard.

He chews.  Anything.  Anywhere.

All sorts of yucky stuff too - dirt, moss.....

Even people sometimes.

He eats, pees, poops, plays and then sleeps.

Sleeps A LOT.

Pretty much all day.

"Mom, when is Ralph ever gonna wake up?"

He likes to lay down in very small, cramped places.

Sometimes, he will even try to lay in the toy basket.

It's pretty funny to see.

As all puppies do, Ralph gets excited and tries to nip at any exposed body part and or piece of clothing you are wearing.

Mikey has really made progress with this.

He isn't afraid of Ralph anymore and will even give him commands when Ralph tries to nip or bite his clothes.

That doesn't mean that he doesn't come downstairs prepared to deal with Hyper Puppy.....

Ralph loves his puppy pool.

We've been gradually filling it up more and more each day.

The kids enjoy splashing around with him and getting him to put his head in the water to get toys.

He blows bubbles out of his nose.

They can't wait until he can actually swim somewhere.

Big Wet Puppy.

Ralph also loves to cuddle.

He falls asleep in my lap at least once a day.

Not sure how that is going to work when he hits 90+ pounds.

Here's some Ralph craziness for you to enjoy.

All in all, it's been a great week getting to know Ralph and becoming a puppy family.

We're glad that we took a chance on him.

Yes, I'm a little tired from having to get up in the middle of the night to let him pee and at 5:30am on the dot everyday for his breakfast (he's like an alarm clock!).

Yes, it's hard to juggle puppy, kids, dinner and all the other stuff that needs to get done around here.

Yes, I have scratches all over my legs and the kids have tooth holes in some clothes.

Yes, our house smells like dog now.

Yes, we might have to rip up or fence off our poisonous bushes costing us lots of mula.

And, yes, we have dog hair tumbleweeds.

But, sigh, he's cute.