Meeting Cats and Other Big Adventures!

So here we are at 12 weeks. You'll be happy to know that Beasley is fine after her little incident last week and we have changed her pee route to avoid similar incidents. Even still we are (really me) a little nervous about any changes with the dog. I haven't posted in a little while because we have only had a few stories here and there which I figured would be more convenient to combine into one post.

Being Social
Last weekend we had some more of my family over to meet Beas! My uncle and cousins came and had a nice visit. I am so thankful we are a dog family! It makes it easier because the family knows when she bites or barks it's not something to be concerned with. The littlest visitor Jetsun (almost 2, shout out to my cousin's blog) has lots of dog exposure so we didn't have to be worried about him being scared or Beasley being rough with him. She got spoiled with more presents once again and we recently realized that we really haven't bought her any toys since we got her since she keeps getting things from family and friends. Come to think of it we had lots of visitors both days of the weekend and Beasley was an angel!

Mid Week Scare...
So back to the paranoid puppy parent I have become. On Tuesday night or so, we fell asleep on the couch and when we were putting Beasley into her cage for the night I noticed that one pupil was very dilated and the other was small. Me, being a television doctor educated MD thought the worst of course. I made Glen call the emergency vet just to ask about what it could be. She seemed fine otherwise. The vet said he obviously couldn't diagnose it over the phone and said if we were worried we should come in. It could be anything. Ugh, no thanks. I am actually quite surprised to find how much in veterinary medicine is still such a question mark. I know that dogs can't tell us what hurts really, but neither can babies.... We opted to leave her and check on her in the middle of the night. She was fine and the problem went away.

Beasley Gets a Job
Well not quite. I was off this past Wednesday so Glen suggested that I bring Beasley with me when I picked him up. She doesn't mind the car except for the first five minutes when she doesn't know what is going on. Right now we have been taking her in a travel crate, but the plan is to get a harness that plugs into the seat belt when she grows up. She was a big hit at Glen's work...like she is everywhere. She did great, very playful and not scared at all.



Beasley Meets Cats

On Friday we went to my sisters house for dinner and brought Beasley to meet her 3 cats. These cats have had dog exposure so they were relatively cool about it. If they didn't want to meet her they would just hide but they call came out to say hi at some point. Beasley liked to chase them when she saw them, but was not aggressive in any way. She also got her first exposure to stairs and she did pretty well with some help. That was the most active she has ever been. She didn't have her evening nap until around 10pm and she usually has had 2 naps by that time! She was also pretty saucy.



Beasley Visits the Vet...on purpose this time

This past Saturday Beasley had her first (scheduled) visit to the vet for more shots and for an exam. For those of you who read my pre-puppy post about vets, we decided on The Westway Animal Clinic. So she got her full puppy exam and we got to ask questions. She was never scared, just playful and curious. She weighs 9.5lbs (she was about 7 when we got her) and is in good health. We were told seeing her skinny ribs is normal and we got the vet to take an extended look in her eyes. The vet told us that dogs have neuro-muscular connections so if she pulled a muscle in her right side it could dilate her right pupil. I don't know why the emergency vet wouldn't have suggested that. Anyways, at the end of it all she got another shot right in the butt and didn't even feel it. She really is quite laid back that way.





Other 12 Week Observations

• Beasley has now become more playful with the dogs she meets in the building. Instead of the sniffing she gets one whiff and then wants to play. It's very cute and other dog owners don't mind...even when the leashes get tangled with each other. 
• She can be annoyingly defiant. It doesn't happen a lot but sometimes we ask her to sit 6 or 7 times and she doesn't. Rude. 
• I bet you are wondering about house training.... well...We get glimmers of hope where Beasley hangs by the door and even uses her pee pad! Followed by her squatting in the kitchen and peeing just because. One thing is for sure, she will not number 2 in the house! So maybe that's progress??
• She's taller! And she is growing into her features some say she's even cuter now!
• Deep bark. Sometimes when she gets protective she barks a little bit deeper. Our tough girl!
  
  
  

Pet Vet

Listen, I don't want to blog too much about this but we had a small puppy emergency yesterday. Veterinarians and consultations were involved. I consider us good puppy parents and we got extremely lucky when Beasley got into something in her pee spot out the back of our building. We watch her all the time because she's always into something, but she still managed to eat something that was toxic to her system.

One of the perks of having a puppy in a pet friendly building is that Beasley gets lots of exposure to other dogs and people. She will be well socialized. The downside is that there are all kinds of careless people out there. So many things in our building have been brought to my attention now that we have a dog. Things like, amount they salt the entrances, how quickly dirt tracks through the lobby, and the worst, how many people do not use the butt stops provided by the building.

The veterinarians think that is what landed her in the hospital. The important thing is she was treated and seems to be ok now. It was very scary (and expensive) and no innocent animal should have to be put through such a trauma. I wish singing this song would stop Beasley and her curiosity.

That is all for today. Pet owners beware!!!

Changes

We are now in our 3rd week of owning little Beasley and its amazing how much has changed. For starters we are both more responsible people. That was almost an immediate change. We have a schedule and a routine to follow. We had one before, but this one supersedes that one. Since we both work we have to make sacrifices to make sure the dog gets what she needs before we leave her all day.

Sleep is a big sacrifice. We now get up at 6am to take her out and to make sure she gets almost 2 hours of playtime before we leave her for the day. I never thought anything could make me get up at six. Sometimes on the weekends she lets us sleep until 7:30 god bless her. This will hopefully only be a puppyhood wake up schedule...at least on the weekends we are hoping to sleep in until 8:30 one day.

We also make our lunches the night before and I have become a night shower'er so the mornings are left for her and the little prep we have to do for the day. Our apartment has never been cleaner. I mean it gets messy, but we have to clean often so she doesn't eat something or chew something we don't want her to. Plus we are usually having people over to meet her so that is motivation as well.

New Family Portrait

These have all been positive changes so far. Yes, there is a dog to consider when we want to hang out with people or when we need to want to go shopping, but we can have people over to our place if we need to socialize and is staying home from a mall really the worst thing?

I know for me it has made me really value down time. There is not much to go around these days so when it comes its amazing. I can't compare having a dog to having a kid, but there is a weird parental feeling that comes with raising a puppy. You have to worry about more than just you and that's something new.

Once our wedding was done and before Beasley was here Glen and I would spend most of our evenings watching tv, lazing about and going shopping. We do run as well, but that's not a huge part of us. Now we have all sorts of things to do when we get home. We still get to have TV, but not as much and she was just the excuse we were looking for. It will only get better as she grows and is trained... and of course in the Spring where she realizes going outside is fun and not torture as she once thought squatting in -30 temps.

I am actually surprised at how many people say "oh we will never have a dog". It's not for everyone, but we seem to enjoy it!

A Few of Our Favourite Things

I don't have much to report on the house training process. Slow and steady I suppose. I thought instead of harping on training I would talk more about some of Beasley's favourite things.

Chewing is puppy-hood stage that will last a long time which we are prepared for. In order to keep her from chewing us (which happens on occasion) or our furniture, we have an assortment of toys to help keep her occupied. The good thing is she isn't quite big enough to actually destroy any of them.

Ring, Tug, Piggy, and Fox

 

Toys

Here are a few that I recommend. We didn't go nuts with the toys and we certainly did not spend a fortune because we know that she will be able to dissect them when she's big enough. She has a variety pictured above. The teething ring is a good one for her to chew and because of the shape and style we aren't worried about any pieces breaking off. That is a good one to keep in her crate while we are out. Tug of war with a rope from dollarama is good when she is being aggressive and no huge pieces come off, if swallowed it's pretty natural. Piggy is one of her favourites and makes a great sound and is a neat texture. The fox has two squeakers but no stuffing which is also a nice change. Not pictured here is her ducky which has a body of only squeakers and that is the only toy we "splurged" on and paid 8 bucks for or something. Its a good one for the crate as well.

A Word About Nylabones


Medium Density, Bumpy Teething, Flavoured Dense Bone

After sending a picture to the breeder of Beas she called to alert me about the dangers of nylabones. Totally freaked me out, but that's another story. I read a lot of stories on the web about dogs that had choked to death on Nyla's. BUT They seemed so effective for chewing. We inspected the nylabones we owned and made the decision that as long as we were supervising they would be fine for her.  We actually went to the store and got a more dense bone for her as she has already gone to biting harder plastics. They are a good tool for getting Beas to chill out and take a nap. She will typically sit with us and chew her bone and fall asleep shortly after. We make sure to never leave the bones in the crate alone with her and follow the directions when buying for the specific size and age of the dog.

Kong, Fully loaded in the freezer

The Kong!!
Her favourite and our favourite. It is an absolute essential for a pup! This hard rubber toy is good for chewing and keeping puppy occupied. The toy is like a puzzle for the dog. Each night we stuff it with peanut butter or cheese whiz and a few small milk bones as an added bonus. I got a tip from a co-worker to put it in the freezer the night before so it feels good on her gums and keeps her occupied longer. Its great, and she doesn't even notice when we leave for work.




I imagine as she begins to lose teeth that we will be out buying more. She's got a hard plastic one that she has just tried today and seems to enjoy. I hope to get her more of the puzzle type toys. Kong has a whole line of perplexing puzzles for puppies. We will try not to spoil her too much!

What Goes in, Must Come Out...Almost Immediatly

Another word on inconsistency. Hers, not ours...

After a weekend of what we considered progress we begin our week with all hope lost again. One accident all weekend. We even saw signs of her trying to communicate she had to go. Then comes Monday with not only a 5am wake up (usually WE get her up at 6) but a plethora of accidents every 10 minutes.

What comes in must come out right? We feed her on the same schedule and water is available in monitored quantities but she is all over the place with her timing. You'd think she didn't know better or something :p

Today I am tired and am in need of the reminder that she is only been with us a week. We have had a mix of good outdoors time and inside accidents. This process is particularly hard for us living in a high rise so there is no such thing as shooing her out the door as quickly as possible. When she is caught in the act we quickly transport her to the pee pad, but she usually is done.

It is just not clicking. We don't want to spend our evenings yelling at her or rubbing her nose in her mistakes but that is what this is turning into. I can't yell at a sweet face anymore. So we took a break, did a bit more research for helpful tips. Much like trying to diagnose yourself via google, there is a bunch of conflicting advice one article will say "don't yell if you catch her in the act" the other says "make a loud noise to stop her"....We will just have to find what works and as soon as we do, we'll let you know. We are starting fresh and working harder.

hows that for consistency...

hey you know what is consistent? her naps!

Trying to get her to go out right after napping.

Week in Review

Puppy has now been here for a week... and what a week it was. Joy, frustration, exhaustion, pain...we felt it all. I almost don't know where to start this post. Puppy parenting is hard. There are lots of philosophy's about how to train your dog and I think we have tried almost all of them. We do understand the importance of consistency but its hard not to change something when it doesn't work. There were a lot of  "I think we should" or "someone suggested we...".

Monday:
I took Monday off so pup had some more time to get acclimated to her new home. It was almost as if puppy flipped a switch. Her sweetness was now buried behind aggression and new found confidence. Add that to my lack of sleep and it didn't take much to test my patience. She was lunging and head butting just a terror. Pooping and peeing in and out of the apartment. It took her almost 4 hrs before she was tired enough and I could get some peace. The bright side was I managed to teach her how to which she picked up right away!


Tuesday:
This was the first day back to work for me which meant the first day puppy would be alone in her crate for most of the day. We started our new morning schedule. Starting at 6am we get up and the dog goes out. Then breakfast and some playtime. We trade off who is getting ready and who is focusing on the dog. It worked pretty well for us. Glen came home to let her out at lunch and she wasn't crying and didn't even wet her crate! That night our friends Sean and Amanda came over to meet Beasley and she was pretty hyper with lots of biting.

Wednesday:
Same as Tuesday pretty much. A lot of accidents in the house. She went from holding it for an hour or two to going every 20 minutes, anywhere she wanted. This was extremely frustrating. Especially since we would take her outside and would refuse to go. Then when she came upstairs she would go. We thought we were making progress, but no such luck.

Thursday:
After a long week, we had a heck of a Thursday. Glen's mom came over with our sister in law for dinner to meet puppy, which we were both looking forward to. I always arrive home after Glen and when I arrived it was like a mad house. The dog had just peed inside, and somehow it got into his mom's hair. She was hyper and bitey and needed to go out every 20 minutes. She wouldn't settle down. I know... she's a puppy, but gawd enough! Luckily during dinner she was content chewing on her new toys so we were able to sit without following her around. She must have peed 20 times inside that night. I think she was marking her territory. She peed defiantly and there is nothing more frustrating than that. Trying to make the dog learn remorse is the hardest trick. Once she was asleep dinner was very successful. Its hard to entertain and make dinner and make sure the dog is not peeing somewhere or getting into something she shouldn't.

 Friday:
 I had an early call on Friday and had to be in at work for 7am. In order to do so I had to get up at 5. We have had a bit of luck with the crating and the dog does not usually wake up until we come and get her so I tried to get ready quietly without her knowledge. It only worked for about 20 minutes and then Glen had to take her out while I finished getting ready. Luckily she went back into the crate to sleep giving Glen time to shower and get mostly ready without having to worry about her. I left the two of them to there own devices and I got a lot of updates via text message about pee scheduling. After the night we had chasing her around cleaning up after her we decided its time to take her more often. It seemed like everything was going well...until I received two photos of some doggy damage. Somewhere in the course of playing things got rough. Glen was now nursing a split lip from little razor sharp puppy teeth. The pictures make it seem worse than it is, but looks like the punishment has fit the crime and she is much less aggressive these days. I got home early and I decided its time to make Beasley enjoy the outdoors (she hasn't really taken to walks just yet) I took her for a few long runs across the field which tired her out for when daddy came home.

Saturday:
What a treat to get to hang out with Beasley all day. We're dog people now, which means home bodies. We let her tell us when to get up with her barking, which was about 7:30am. Most of the day was playing, training, going outside, napping and eating. We did leave for a bit to grab some groceries for the weekend and just like crating during the weekdays she did well. Beasley got to also meet her cousins Luke and Bailey! She took to them pretty well, but was very distracted when I needed her to go outside to pee. Luke, my brother Aaron's toy fox terrier was a little feisty with her, but she could handle it. I hope she gets to join there little club.







Sunday:
More hangouts at home. We were going to have more visitors, but they couldn't make it. After our morning routine and breakfast we did what is becoming the usual around here. Glen and I had some errands to run so    we crated her for about two hours while we went to Walmart and Petsmart.

She has had a very good few days with us. She is learning all the time and knock on wood no accidents in the house since Thursday! She still has trouble telling us she has to go so we take her out every 30 minutes. Apartment house training is very difficult so far, but I do see light at the end of the tunnel.

In other news :

• Beasley can Sit, Shake a paw and we are working on "lie down"
• Kongs are great time consumers for pups
• Men enjoy puppy cuddles as much as ladies do, if not more
• Beasley is afraid of empty 2 litre pop bottles
• It's always funny to put music on for the dog
• She could care less if she falls flat on her face, even though it looks and sounds painful.
• There is such a thing as too cute
• Beasley likes meeting people
• Firetrucks distract her from her "business"
• People can't resist talking to you if you are holding a cute dog.

Bedtime

Napping in her crate. All on her own!

We knew that this would be the most challenging thing about having a puppy.  We are strong believers in crate training and we have set hers up in our second bedroom to keep her independant from us.  We want her to treat this as her sanctuary. She has already run in there once when she got scared so I think we are on our way.

Going to bed with a puppy is how I sort of imagine it is with a small child. No, we aren't crazy people that read her a story, but we take her into the room with her crate and tire her out so she is ready to lay down in the crate and shortly fall asleep and then we sneak out of the room. All of this of course, is after a short bathroom break.

Don't get me wrong, she sleeps a lot, but never at the right times. Here is how its been so far:


Saturday Night:

12:00am- Bedtime
2:00am- Whining
2:30am- Sleeping
4:00am- Whining
4:15am- Sleeping
5:00am- Whining
7:30am- Uppy Time

The first night we couldn't blame her for being scared so we did go in and see her after some excessive and loud whining. We never took her out of the crate, just laid on the couch beside her until she calmed down, which took no time at all.

Sunday Night:

11pm- Bedtime
3am- Whining
4am-Sleeping
5am- Whining
6am- Uppy Time

Time for tough love. Not sure who it was harder on. We only went to see her the first time she cried and didnt stay in the room. The next morning she was pretty agressive with chewing and running around. I think she was either mad that she was left in there all night, or just getting used to us.

Monday Night and Tuesday Night:

11pm- Bedtime
4am- Whining
4:15am- Sleeping
6am- Uppy time

She seems to be getting more and more comfortable having only woken up once the last two nights. Although we did cave in and helped her get back to sleep. We aren't really sure if that's bad or ok. In the morning we have been getting up before she cries to get ready for work and she is just sitting in her crate hanging out. Tonight we are going in with a firm game plan so we don't wake up at four saying "should we try this... or that"

The good thing is she hasn't had an accident in her crate as of yet... although as I say this she probably is doing it right now. We are hoping that this weekend she will be sleeping through the night. We still are kind of making it up. Once she is confident with her bathroom breaks and the chewing we wont make her sleep in her crate, but it feels like that is miles away.

One thing for sure is that we can't resist that sweet sleepy puppy face.

Just for fun, enjoy these puppy dreams!

 

Introducing Beasley!

Our first weekend together, as you can imagine was exhausting. The hype up to getting the pup along with the energy to entertain her combined with the lack of night sleeping makes us a tired little family.

Arriving Home:

I'm no mind reader, but I imagine it was exciting and a little stressful for Beasley to come home. She did great in the car for a whole 2hrs!! I hope she stays as a good car dog. Not once did she seem to pine for her mother or siblings. Which was very reassuring to us. We thought that would be the hard part, but her mother has been in her own kennel for a couple of weeks so she’s used to not having mumma around. As for her brothers and sisters… I am sure that she misses them, but likes that she doesn't get jumped on all over by them.

As soon as we arrived home we had people to meet! I have read how important proper socialization is so we made sure we had some of our family members home ready to meet her. We took so long at the breeders that everyone was practically waiting in the lobby for us. She was very calm throughout, not skiddish and she is very good when she gets picked up. Watching her explore was very amusing. She took to her bed right away, she kept falling off of it though. She has that cute puppy clumsiness. Not long after meeting everyone she fell right asleep, half on her bed, half on the floor. When she was in a deep sleep we put her into her crate…just as an experiment. We left the crate door open and left the room. She was a little disoriented when she woke up but no crying.

The next day it was mostly just the three of us hanging out. We were up early at 7:30 or so to let her out and spent a good deal of time playing and worked on a little bit of training. She goes out often for pee time although it was hard getting her to do number 2 outside. Instead she prefers to do it inside....It's been so bitterly cold its hard to blame her. In fact I left the two of them alone to go get her a coat and her name tag made. When I got home Glen's dad had dropped in to meet little Beasley and she spent most of the time sleeping under his feet.  We also met most of our neighbors throughout the building this weekend (we've lived here for 2 years) and they just love her.

Next weekend we plan to introduce Beasley to the other dogs in our family, Bailey and Luke.This weekend took a lot out of us we were both exhausted especially Sunday night. Thank goodness I had Monday off to rest up...and by rest up I mean get up early with the dog and  play with her for hours until she finally fell asleep during The View. I'm such a good house wife.

Puppy Day!!

So, the day finally came! We have been excited for a month, but the closer we got to the day the more excited we were. It was actually a productive week for us, we wanted to get all the personal errands out of the way so all our time spent was with puppy when she arrived.

We cleaned the house from top to bottom and did a puppy inspection to make sure there was nothing for her to get into. We woke up early on puppy day, we were too excited to sleep! We went out and got snacks for our family coming over to meet her that night and I even had time to finish my previous post on vet care. Finally 1pm hit and we were off to London.

When we got there another little puppy was on her way to her new home. I couldn't help but wonder, what if they were walking away with the best pup?! After some small talk with the breeders in the kitchen we headed down to the kennel. The pups were smaller than I thought they would be...to my delight! They pulled about 5 out and they were running around like crazy, stepping all over each other...pooping. We held a few different ones and played a bit on the floor to try and gauge their personalities. They did not reveal genders to us as they wanted us to get an idea of the dog based on who they are, not based on what type we prefer. I liked this, although I still had a strong feelings for a female dog. We ended up narrowing the search down to 3. Two girls and one boy in the mix. Those 3 came back up to the house with us for further evaluation.

Once we were up at the house you could really get more personal with them. Glen and I were both worried that we might like different pups and find it hard to choose. The boy was the first of the 3 to be eliminated...at this point we did know it was a boy. It seemed that as we sort of figured out who we wanted the others would bump up the cuteness. It was hard. Down to the two girls I could have chosen either one, both were so sweet. Glen and I had the same instinct with our girl. I didn't want to sway him, but it turns out we were on the same page!

Getting Tattooed 

Then they took the spare pups away and we started on the paper work...well I started on paper work, Glen played with puppy. We filled out basic forms for ownership and registration with the Canadian Kennel Club. A totally new process for us as we have never had a dog that was pure bread and part of the CKC. She also got her first round of shots while we were there. Took it like a champ. Her tattoo on the other hand... was a little painful. She got de-wormed (its not as gross as it sounds) for a third time and got her pretty little nails filed down. After that she was pretty much ready to go home. The whole process took about two hours. Most of which was the deciding part. It was a very good experience. They also gave us 2 15kg bags of dog food a leash and puppy collar. She slept for the almost the whole 2 hour drive in my arms. We didn't end up using the travel crate. The last 10 minutes were a bit scary with a possible full bladder on our hands, but she did great!

Searching for a Veterinarian

This past Monday I went searching for a Vet for puppy. For years my family has gone to the same vet for a variety of animals. 4 cats and 3 dogs have been patients at that clinic. Unfortunately we do not live in that area and due to the bankers hours that most vets have we were tasked with looking at new clinics. I was very weary of this because although we want the best for our dog, we don't want to be over charged and I have watched one too many Marketplace episodes not to do some background research. It doesn't help that we technically live in the city where everything costs a little more.

To do the research I started off with google maps and did a "search nearby" for vets. From there I looked at about 10 websites of the vets nearby and narrowed it down to 5 places to call. I also took a look at a vet rating website: http://www.vetratingz.com/ but I find those difficult to gain information from as many reviews contradict each other. I piled a list of a few questions together (mostly relating to costs) and started with my inquiries.

Westway Animal Clinic:

This was the first clinic I called and they left me with a great impression. They were very friendly and seemed genuinely interested in our venture of getting a new dog. I didn't feel for a second that I was getting "sold to". There location is also close to home and they are open 7 days a week, reduced weekend hours, but that's ok. They have a full range of services for the dog and even offer a pediatric appointment for people in our situation. The price of shots were pretty average and tests not hugely expensive. Spaying and microchip for our size dog ran at about $480.

Rathburn Animal Clinic:

I was not as impressed with this clinic. First off, I was hung up on... not intentionally...I hope. I called back and was hoping for a bit of a shpeel on there services, but this receptionist was not very peppy. She didn't even inquire about the dog breed once or congratulate us. The vaccines were a bit more than Westway,but the spaying was less at about $430. She didn't mention anything about pre-surgery blood work up or anything like the last place and she said we would have to pay for the cone... $10, but still. I didn't get the same feeling from this place as I did the first.

Islington Village Animal Clinic:

Islington was a mix between the first two in terms of friendliness. As with the others they are a full service animal hospital. Vaccines were moderately priced at about $75 dollars for 12wk and 16wk boosters. The spaying and chipping was $520 PLUS pain meds to go home with the dog. I was not overly impressed with that price. It did get a high rating on vetratingz (4.7/5) but there are a lot of suckers out there that do not do full research so again I took that with a grain of salt. This clinic stood at #2 so far.

Kingsway Animal Hospital

I could tell by their website that this place was going to be expensive. Not that their website was so great, but they had a picture of a rustic looking house in the kingsway village. This was the only place I called that did try to sell me on it. The receptionist was peppy, but she did not have a lot of knowledge readily available. This got her into the small talk of trying to sell me on this clinic. Then the prices came in. Spay and Chip $533, average checkup is about $137 (includes annual vaccines) and 12 and 16wk vaccines were $150 each. This would be #3 based on the cost.

Meadowvale Animal Clinic:

Just for fun, I gave a call to our family trusted clinic to see if places outside of Toronto really did offer cheaper appointments. Another friendly receptionist that was enthusiastic to help. This clinic is a bit different as it is a satellite facility of a full service hospital. What that means is they only do vaccines and checkups and dispense drugs for the most part. The only surgery we are planning for is the spaying so we don't necessarily need a full service clinic anyways. The spaying and chipping is about $388. Much cheaper than everyone else we spoke to. The rest of their prices were mid range. The average checkup was reasonably priced at 126.40 including rabies booster which is also the price of 12 and 16 week shots.

We still have about a month to decide where we want to bring our pooch as the pups just received their 8wk shots this week. In all likelihood we will go with the Westway Animal Clinic. I just have a gut feeling that it is a great vet. I think my #2 choice would be Meadowvale, but it is out of our city. Our family has a good track record with surgical procedures at the Meadowvale Animal clinic so we will probably have her spayed through there in a few months time. So far this process has been very enlightening!

Prepping for Puppy

Once we decided on Puppy we had to do a bit of prep work. The first night after we visited the breeder we did some window shopping at our local Petsmart. I would be lying if I didn't want to clean the house up for puppy as soon as we got home, despite the fact we would be waiting at least 2 months for her... or him. Luckily we recently had a puppy on my side of the family so we didn't have to go out and buy some of the more expensive things like a crate and travel kennel. We also signed up for rewards programs at both Petsmart and Ren's Pet Depot at no additional cost.We purchased the following items:

Safety/Household Items:

• Plug protectors ( you can never be too careful)
• under the sink garbage can to prevent puppy from getting into the garbage
• Lysol Wipes for little accidents on the parkay
• Bissel foaming rug cleaner (we'll try our best to prevent it, but accidents will happen)

Dog-centric Stuff:

Puppy Welcome Package

• Puppy bed (1/2 Price at Ren's Pet Depot)
• Puppy Collar (Target)
• Straight leash (Target)
• Food and Water Dish (Target)
• Medium Sized harness (Target)
• Puppy Pee Pads (Dollarama)
• Puppy Towel for muddy paws (Dollarama)
• Puppy Blankets (Dollarama)
• Poop Baggies (Dollarama)
• Tennis Balls and tug of war (Dollarama)
• Potty Training Bells (Dollarama)
• Kong and Teething Bone Variety pack (Walmart)
• Milk Bones (Walmart)
• Squeeky Duck-for the bird dog in her (Petsmart)
• Teething Rings (Petsmart)
• Basket for all that crap! (Homesense)

We will get a bag of food from our breeder to start off the pup and we still have to get a roll of padding from Walmart that can be cut to fit into the crate so puppy has a soft place to sleep. Pup is coming in 3.5 days so we only have a short time to get the rest of what we need and to make sure the place is clean and ready for her. 

The Right Breed

Living in an apartment we had more of a challenge in picking a breed that we liked and was suitable for our current lifestyle. One day I was doing some research on different breeds and found one that had everything we were looking for! I promptly sent and email to Glen to look up the breed and get his thoughts. Later in the day he called me asking about the breed, the best part was he hadn't received my email yet. We both saw the same breed on the same day. It was fate.

We decided on a Brittany. Formerly known as a Brittany Spaniel. The Brittany originates from France and is a hunting dog, a pointer.

Here is a little background information about the breed:

 



The next step was finding a breeder as Brittany's aren't your run of the mill pet store dog. Actually it is very hard to find a pet store that will sell dogs of any kind anymore depending on your municipality.

Neither of us had experience with breeders. We found a few Brittany breeders in Ontario, one of which was recommended by a colleague of mine. We hit a dead end with the recommended breeder who did not return emails or phone calls. Which was sort of shocking to us. We soon moved on to the next breeder who did answer our emails and phone calls: Downwind Kennel.

Towards London Ontario (worth the drive from Etobicoke) Downwind kennel is a small family operation in a small town called Vienna. The Breeders Mary Lou and Lorne have been in the business for 30+ years. They live in a small bungalow on a big piece of land and they have a kennel out back with the dogs.

We decided to make the drive up there to put down our deposit. We chatted for a long time discussing the dogs and talking a bit about ourselves. We met all the adult dogs, a few of which hung out in the kitchen with us. We were very impressed with how well behaved the dogs were, they did jump up a bit, but calmed down almost immediately. We went out back and met the mothers and the Sire's (doggy daddies) and saw their facilities. There was fresh snow on the ground so we didn't get to take in the full experience. We did get to meet some 5 weekers and a litter of 11 puppies that were born only 3 days before! We put our deposit down and we have been waiting ever since.

Dog People

You're either a dog person or a cat person. It has been long known that we are dog people. We both grew up with dogs and as luck would have it Glen is allergic to cats...or so he says. For as long as I can remember I have had a dog.

After about a year of research and self analysis we have determined that we are ready to bring home a pup of our own. We have carefully researched not only dogs that we have always wanted to own (like a golden retriever or siberian husky) but ones that make sense for our lifestyle and home life. It took a long time do decide whether or not we were ready. We waffled on it many times, but now that we are married and NOT ready for children, we thought this would be the next step in becoming a family.

This time last year we did a major overhaul on our daily lives. We cut back on watching TV and became "active living" types running 3-4 times a week and I would throw in the occasional swim all in an effort to get fit for our wedding. It worked and we are still those active living types...although not so much in this cold weather.  One drawback is that we still live in an apartment, but we are hoping that with our exercise regimin that we can still provide our dog with a very active environment without the big backyard.

In November of 2013 we made our first big steps to becomming puppy parents and actually visited a breeder. We met the mom and pop dogs and a 5 week old litter and little pups that were just 3 days old! After lots of discussion we put down a deposit to secure a pup! We went to petsmart the next day even though the dogs were at least 3 months away.

This blog is designed to be about becoming puppy parents, hopefully it sticks...not like that wedding blog I created!

We hope you enjoy our adventures!