Play time!

We now have a fenced-in back yard! To celebrate, here's a video of me playing with Nyxa on a beautiful, sunny day. This video was taken yesterday:

Beach puppy

Have I mentioned how much Nyxa loves the beach? She loves to dig...

...to lick (and chase) the water...

...to run...

...and to make goofy faces. :)

Little Miss

Look how big Little Miss Nyxa is getting!

A rose by any other name...

So we're starting to suspect that Nyxa isn't a pure labrador. Contrary to popular belief, pure labs can have patches of white, like Nyxa has on her chest, but there are other things making us wonder. Mainly:

1. She's starting to develop this very pretty brown brindle coloring on her back/butt area.
2. Most labs have ears that flop down and look like upside-down triangles. (See Exhibit A below.) Nyxa's ears, though, have started to do this thing the past couple weeks where they fold in and look more rectangular. (See Exhibits B and C below.)
3. In addition to the star on her chest, she's starting to develop white in her tail and on her legs. It's really pretty! I can't wait to see what she'll look like when she's fully grown.

Exhibit A. Nyxa's ears a month and a half ago. Perfect little lab ears.

Exhibit B. Nyxa's ears now. See how they fold in?

Exhibit C. Nyxa's ears now. See how they're rectangular?

Of course it doesn't matter to us either way, and we probably won't ever know what her genetic makeup is. But it's still interesting to try to figure it out!

"Food! My favorite!"

A hungry puppy for your weekend enjoyment:

Cutest. Video. EVER.

Disclaimer: The glasses in your home may shatter from your squeals of happy. You may "aww" so loudly, your neighbors might complain.

You have been warned.

Excited puppy

I'm working on uploading a dozen more videos, but it's taking forever -- sorry about the wait. In the meantime, please enjoy this video of Nyxa being excited to see me!

We take her for three walks a day (at least a mile per walk), and this was one of our early-morning walks at around 8 am. I was running late, so Mike started without me and I met up with them. So what you're seeing is Nyxa being excited to see me after only about ten or so minutes since she'd seen me in the house before they left. (Imagine what she was like when we came back after being out of town for a week!)

Queen Nyxa of the Puppylands

I like to do this thing where I act out what Nyxa might be thinking at a given time, as if I’m her. If that makes sense. And usually for some reason she calls us peasants.

So, for instance:

“I already know how to sit, peasants!”

“GIVE ME TREATS, PEASANT.”

“I see that you have a toy of mine, peasant, and I demand it back.”

“You shall play with me immediately, peasant! Play with me! Bark! Bark! Play with me!”

(shrug)

Reunited

Back home with our baby! More posts coming soon -- pictures, videos, and a description of Nyxa's reaction when we got home from the airport. :)

Separation anxiety (or lack thereof)

Mike and I are out of town right now, visiting my parents. We miss our little beautiful puppy so much! Mike's brother, who is puppysitting, sends us periodic updates.

We like to think that in this one, Nyxa is sad that we're gone. (In reality, she probably hasn't even noticed that we're gone.)

Sand puppy

Nyxa loves the beach! She especially loves to dig trenches in the sand so she can lie in the cooler sand.

Pensive puppy

To be

or not to be?

Forsooth

a storm approaches

the troubled puppy

waits.

Puppy play time

Last one for today, a video of Nyxa playing with a treat we gave her. (It started as a hollow edible treat shaped like a ball, so in the video you're seeing half of the ball.)

Kisses and giggles

If my other videos didn't make you smile, this one is sure to:

A worthy foe

Here you can see Nyxa battling with her arch-nemesis, the broom:

Sleepy puppy

Please enjoy this video of Nyxa struggling to keep her eyes open before finally giving in and falling asleep.

Fireworks + beach + puppy = happy

Well, we had a lovely July Fourth this year. My brother and sister visited, played with and got licked by the puppy, and left just in time for Mike's mom and sister to go and watch the fireworks with us on the beach right by our house. It was a much smaller show than the Boston one we're used to, but you really can't beat the beach view and the relaxation of not having to deal with traffic, trains, etc.

Here's my brother bonding with Nyxa:

And Nyxa having fun on the beach:

And Nyxa sleeping on her grandma:

Rescuing a puppy: risks

There are definitely some risks associated with getting a rescue puppy (rather than a breeder puppy). If you go through a breeder, you'll know exactly what to expect, and if it's a reputable breeder then you shouldn't have to worry about health problems later on, because they will have specifically been breeding healthy dogs, etc. With a rescue puppy, though, you just don't know.

I think I've already said that we adopted Nyxa through a great rescue organization, Adopt A Lab, which was highly recommended by a former colleague of mine. They spay or neuter the dogs before adopting them out, and they give them a number of vaccinations, too. However. However. We have been very disappointed with the communications we've received from them, the spotty responses, and the incredible attitude we've gotten from them.

Before we went to pick up Nyxa, it was all I could do to get an email or phone response from them. I'm sure they must be incredibly busy, and more than likely their staff is made up of all volunteers, so it wouldn't be possible for them to respond quickly all the time, and that's completely understandable. Nonetheless, on multiple occasions I just got no response whatsoever, not even a brief response or a let's-discuss-over-the-phone response, nothing. The whole thing felt very impersonal and strange to me: I emailed an application, heard back quickly, frantically had to jot down what the woman was saying over the phone, and was then sent the form email with pickup directions on it. That's it. When I tried emailing with further questions, calling, etc., nothing. A couple days before the pickup I did get a confirmation email, which was my only indication that the adoption was still happening.

I'd been told that we would be able to ask questions while we were there to pick her up, so I didn't think too much of the radio silence. I brought a list of questions to ask (how much have you been feeding her/how much should we feed her? how old is she? [there was a lot of inconsistency there -- the website had said 9 weeks, the woman over the phone had said 11 weeks, the health records we'd gotten had no DOB or age listed at all], etc.), figuring they'd all be friendly there, because how could they not be, if they were the kind of people who rescue animals?

It turned out they were doing a HUGE adoption day, which we hadn't expected, so we waited on a line for about a half hour before we got up to the front and saw our sweet little puppy playing with the other puppies. A woman asked who we were picking up, we told her the name, and she told a little girl, who picked up Nyxa and handed her to me. (Spoiler alert: my heart grew three sizes and we lived happily ever after.)

And then we got to the front of the line, where a woman was handing out folders and medicine (for kennel cough, as a preventative measure, to be given if needed -- which, as it turned out, it was). We tried to ask her questions but she said she was just a volunteer to help give out folders and we should ask a man, Lee, farther up. Okay, fine. We got to Lee, prepared to ask a few questions, and he immediately said he didn't know the puppy's information, didn't know how much to feed her ("read the bag" -- gee, thanks), and, "look, she's a rescue puppy, we don't get much information about them." Okay.... I had a bundle of squirming, lickety puppy love in my arms, plus another couple dozen people behind us waiting to get through, so we didn't press the subject.

She did have kennel cough, and we gave her the medicine, and she was fine. She had a nasty still-healing scar from when she was spayed, and I have to say it was pretty sloppily done, a scar covering a big chunk of her belly that will be there forever and so many internal stitches, our vet said, it will take at least a year for them all to dissolve (!). And if that had been it, I wouldn't have thought anything of the rest of the process, brusque as it was.

But.

At the first visit we found out that Nyxa had not only Giardia, but also (related to me over the phone, after my last post) tapeworms and fleas. What?? She'd already been treated for fleas, first of all, as stated on the health records we received from Adopt A Lab. And, okay, she probably got the tapeworms through the fleas, and it's possible she got the Giardia after she'd been with us, but the vet thought she'd would've gotten it before from the other puppies. And she also has some skin condition, where she has random bald patches, which the vet said is just a puppy dermatitis something-or-other, which she'll outgrow. But still, all of this cost hundreds of dollars to take care of, before we'd even had Nyxa a few weeks.

And then.

Then I noticed a strange rash on her belly, pink and white spots all over (can you see them in the picture? they extend up on her legs and armpits), and they seem to itch a lot because she's been dragging herself through the grass on her belly. I called the vet to find out if this could be related to the bald patches, and he said he didn't think so. He sounded exasperated at all the things we were finding in this poor puppy. "Could you call the adoption agency and find out if any other puppies in her litter had xyz?" (I forget what exactly xyz was. Scabies, maybe? Mange? Not sure.) Sure, I thought, no problem, I'd call that Lee guy. After all, the adoption papers clearly say that, after we've adopted, if we have any questions or concerns, call Lee. Okay.

It was clear from the moment he answered that he had no idea who I was, which puppy I was talking about (though I gave him all the relevant info -- and in all fairness, I'm sure he deals with lots of dogs, so I didn't really expect him to remember any one dog), or why I was calling. I explained the situation, and he immediately got defensive. "Well, if you want to return her, we can arrange a pickup."

What??? That was his first response. His default. Problem? Give her back.

Me: "No, we don't want to give her back, we just wanted some more information about her litter, if possible."

Him: "Look, I don't know. Whatever was in the information we told you is all we have. What is this vet's problem, anyway? Do you want me to call him myself and find out what his deal is?"

Me: "I don't know what you mean. Problem?"

Him: "Well, I can't believe he'd ask you to call us about this just from what you told him over the phone."

Okay, fine, so I explained the other symptoms to him (the ones listed above), even though he's not a vet.

Him: "Well, come on, those could be anything, and more than likely she didn't get them from us."

Me: "I'm just trying to find out about this one thing, the spots on her belly. Do you have any information you can give me?"

Him: "If you're having a problem, we're happy to provide medicine, and giardia is common in puppies anyway."

Me: "..."

Him: "Can you hold on?" (puts me on hold) "Okay, I took a look at her record. It looks like the vet who treated her also treated her brother, and they both had these spots on their stomachs. She determined that they didn't need treatment and that the spots would resolve themselves, which it looks like they did when you got her."

Me: "Oh." (wondering why this wasn't indicated anywhere on her records and why I had to fight just to get him to look it up for me) "But they came back. So should we be concerned?"

Him: "I'm not a vet. If you want to give her back, we can arrange that."

Me: "I already said we're not going to give her back. She's a member of our family."

Him: "Well, like I said, I don't know what your vet's problem is........." (etc.)

I don't know who, if anyone, is at fault here, but I do know that the customer service at Adopt A Lab is atrocious. I thought it would be worth warning others. So, there you have it. Be warned.

That said, we're still thrilled with Nyxa and we can tell she was treated well by the agency before we got her: she's brave, happy, hasn't been abused, etc. Would we adopt from them again? Absolutely, yes. But still, it would have been good to have known up front about what we would have to deal with.

Sorry for the downer post, everyone. Coming up next: fun pictures! And happier stories.

Our first vet appointment

Fleas! Our poor baby has fleas. This explains all the itching, though I'm kind of baffled because she already had a flea treatment before we adopted her, and each treatment is supposed to last a month (and it's only been 2.5 weeks). So... what gives? We gave her another heartworm/flea pill, and we'll give her another bath today (perhaps we'll take pictures this time?), and we need to wash all of our linens and such. And hopefully that'll help.

Otherwise she seems to be the picture of health! She weighs just under 15 lbs and is about 11, maybe 12 weeks old (says the vet). We picked a birthday for her: April 8, 2012 (4/8/12). Hooray! Hard to believe that when she was born we were still living in Boston and hadn't even started packing yet. We got so lucky with her!

She's SO smart, by the way. She has mastered sit, like I said, but she's also pretty much mastered paw and down -- but only when the motivation is good enough, mind you. No treats, or pretend-treats-but-your-fist-is-really-empty? No tricks. But that's okay: she's still a baby, and as she gets older and has an attention span longer than a few seconds, she'll keep getting better and better at all these commands.

Well, the weather here is perfect today (72 and not a cloud in the sky!), so we're off to the beach. More beach pictures of Nyxa? Yes, please! Coming soon.

Sit! Stay!

So happy together

Hello! And sorry for the delay in posting.

Getting a few minutes to spare to do anything that is not Nyxa-related is a challenge these days. Nyxa is about 12 weeks old now, and she is a handful! She's also a really smart dog (I know I'm biased, but still) -- she has already mastered sit, and we're working on down, stay, paw, come, and heel -- though certainly not all at once. Oh, we've also been trying hard to teach her the command off, for when she's jumping up on the furniture and we want her to get down (because down is for lying down, and we don't want to confuse her). She's a fast learner when we can keep her attention for more than two seconds (ah, the puppy attention span!). I'm hopeful that puppy training school should be a breeze.

She's the sweetest, cuddliest dog! She gets along with everyone -- infants, toddlers, teenagers, adults, old people, dogs of all sizes, probably cats (though right now she's a little afraid of them). And she's so friendly. She is basically the perfect dog, is what I'm trying to say. 

Exhibits A and B will show you how snuggly she is:

See? I don't lie. She just loves to crawl right into our laps and fall asleep. It's soo cute -- and she still has her puppy fur, so she's all warm and soft and fluffy and smells like puppy. :) But she's also teething, and sometimes she's like a little piranha (exhibit C):

We'll be glad when that part of the puppy stage is over. (She actually tore our roommate's dress! Said roommate was understandably furious and sort of hates our puppy now--and maybe us.)

It's been fun to watch her grow up over the days, too. At first, any chew toys with squeakers in them were terrifying to her. Then she grew curious about them, but she still couldn't figure out how to make them squeak on her own. Now most of them don't even squeak anymore, because she figured out how to bite them to make them squeak (and thus punctured most of them with her sharp piranha teeth). All that happened in the span of 36 hours or so, mind you, but it was still highly entertaining to watch.

It's also adorable to watch her fall over randomly because she hasn't quite figured out how to walk, and watching her chase her tail is endlessly entertaining. I know we'll miss these things so much!

Her ears are really floppy, and when they flop up she looks kind of like a bat, so sometimes I call her Nyxa Bat. Exhibit D, for more squealy adorableness:

Can you tell that she's asleep in that picture? She falls asleep in the funniest, most awkward positions. :)

It's only been about a week and a half, and we already love her to death (and it feels like we've had her for months)! She has her first veterinary appointment this afternoon -- we, her parents, are excited.

Things we will surely miss:

• How sweet and cuddly she is right when she wakes up.
• How sweet and cuddly she is when she's tired.
• The way she struggles to keep her eyes open when she's tired and then inevitably fails.
• The way she falls asleep in awkward positions.
• The way we can move, talk, laugh, and bang around while she's sleeping without waking her.
• How small she is.
• The way she bounds around when she gets excited.
• The way she pounces on her toys (or on us) when she's playing.
• The way she gets easily distracted and fascinated by evvverything.
• The way she pounces on leaves and sticks like they're her mortal enemies.
• The way cats and ants confuse her.
• The way her whole body wags when she sees anyone for the first time in 5 or so minutes. (Hopefully this won't go away when she gets older!)
• The way everyone wants to meet her, from little kids to our elderly neighbors.
• The way everyone oohs and ahhs over how adorable she is.
• The way people exclaim over "what big paws she has!"
• The way she snores when she sleeps
• The way she twitches and barks in her sleep when she's dreaming
• The way she walks (awkwardly, like a puppy)
• The way she falls over randomly
• That puppy smell, and that puppy breath

Things we won't miss:

• Being woken up in the middle of the night because she has to pee.
• Having to take her out every hour or so to pee (or else she pees inside).
• Cleaning up after her when she goes to the bathroom inside.
• Her sharp piranha teeth.
• Her chewing on everything in sight, including our roommates' possessions.
• The way she gets easily distracted during walks and refuses to move.
• The way she sits in the middle of walks and refuses to move.
• Having to watch her every second of every day to make sure she's not getting into trouble.

Overall? These are the happiest days of our lives. :) :) :)

Our bundle of puppyjoy

On Saturday, we brought home the sweetest, cuddliest puppy in the world! Meet Nyxa, named after the Greek goddess Nyx, goddess of the night.

Choosing a name for the puppy

This decision feels all-important, defining, terrifying. I imagine the feeling is similar when choosing a name for a baby, though perhaps more daunting because it lasts longer (the name, I mean -- though probably also the feeling, come to think of it).

The guidebooks have some helpful guidelines:

1. Choose a name that is only one or two syllables long
2. Make sure it doesn't sound like a command or commonly used word (e.g., Flo sounds like "No")
3. But don't make it too complicated (e.g., Snuffleupagus)

But after that point you're kind of on your own. What to choose??

We started by coming up with names from our favorite TV shows, movies, books, and songs. But then we realized that 75% of the names we'd come up with were male names... they wouldn't suit our sweet little girl puppy. So now we're down to a couple of finalists... ackkk.

Well, I guess we have eight hours in the car to look forward to. By this time tomorrow we'll have a puppy in the car with us and will hopefully have decided on a name. Stay tuned!

(Puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy...)

Puppy-proofing

Last night we made a feeble attempt to puppy-proof the house. We taped and coiled electrical cords, covered up empty electrical sockets (hey, you never know if she'll try to lick one!), and sprayed some bitter spray (pictured on left -- click to enlarge) on the legs of furniture we don't want her chewing on. Tonight we leave to head puppy-ward! Three hours north, then a rest overnight, then another hour tomorrow to Connecticut to pick her up. Then it's a four hour drive back -- and then playtime!


My thoughts right now:
Puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy puppy

I'm just a teensy bit excited..

Preparation for a new puppy

It's starting to feel really real. We got the paperwork from Adopt A Lab, scheduled the pickup, and bought TONS of puppy supplies. Our bundle of puppyjoy will be here in just a few days! For anyone who's wondering what you may need for a new puppy, here's a handy list of everything we bought:

1. A crate. There are two different types of crates. If you're going to be traveling with your dog (putting her on a plane, for instance), you'll want to use this kind:
   
   but if you're planning to use the crate mostly at home, this kind is better (it lets her see out more so she doesn't feel like she's being punished):
   
   
2. Food. Your new puppy will need something to eat! If possible, find out what food she's already eating (from wherever you're getting her from, whether it's a breeder or shelter, etc.) and get the exact same one. You can transition her later to something else if you want, but you don't want to change her diet suddenly. In our case, we bought Eagle Pack Puppy Formula, which is what Adopt A Lab feeds their puppies.
   
3. A food container. This isn't strictly necessary, but it'll keep the food fresh, plus it'll keep your puppy and bugs from getting into the open food bag.
   
4. A collar. Your new puppy might come with a collar, but she might not -- and anyway, you'll probably want to get her a stronger one for when she starts to grow. If you're getting a larger breed like we are, you'll want to get one that can grow so that you don't have to buy a new collar every month.
   
5. A leash. Nowadays they make these fancy collars with two hand loops in them for ease of training your dog to heel. Brilliant! For your first leash, don't get one of those retractable ones. Those can come later, if/when your dog is trained and isn't too strong to break one of those. More important is a sturdy leather one.
   
   
6. Food dishes. The kind you'll want to get will depend on the breed. For small breeds, any cutesy thing you see will be fine. For larger breeds, like our puppy, you're going to end up needing heavier bowls anyway, so you might as well get the good stuff to begin with. These stainless steel bowls are a failsafe for any dog and any owner. They will last the dog's entire lifetime -- it's a worthwhile investment.
   
7. Toys! We got our puppy a variety of toys so that she can have some soft things to tear apart but also some stronger things that'll last years without falling apart. Some toys will help your puppy's teeth by preventing placque and making their gums stronger, so make sure you get at least one of those, even if you can't afford (or don't see the need for) other store-bought toys.
   
8. A brush. For puppies, you'll want to get one with soft or rubber bristles so they don't hurt your puppy's sensitive skin.
   
   
9. Cleaning supplies. Not sure these really need to be explained...
   
   
   

Those are all the bare essentials, I think. Later on you can worry about things like dog toothbrushes and ear drops and shampoo -- or you can get them ahead of time like I did if you really want to strain your bank account balance. PHEW. I'm exhausted just thinking about all the work we've already done for this puppy. It'll all be worth it once she's here!

Did I miss any essentials? Do you disagree with my assertions? Let me know in the comments!