Well! His Lordship Malarkey and I took a sixtyish mile drive yesterday morning, out of Shropshire, through Staffordshire and briefly into Leicestershire before nudging into Derbyshire where we found a litter of four puppies. Three girls and a boy. They are three and a half weeks old and just about getting onto their feet and waggling their little stumpy puppy dog tails. Talk about heart melt!
Mummy dog is a working cocker spaniel. She was very sweet - a bit cautious of us for all of three minutes before deciding we were her newest and very bestest of friends. Father dog is a miniature red poodle. He came from a stud nearby and we were welcome to see him if we wished.
But we were too busy playing with puppies to worry about that. The boy dog had already been reserved, so we had a choice of the three girls. One was noticeably lighter in colour; she was also VERY squeaky vocal and, we felt, a little on the anxious side. The other two were almost identical, except one had a tiny flash of white on her chest. They were both happy to pootle around and explore, and seemed about as confident as a three and a half week old puppy can be.
Andy checked them all over. We both cuddled them all. And we watched as they all collapsed into a big puppy pile and fell fast asleep. We chatted with the breeders, a lovely couple who clearly knew about dogs and who clearly loved their animals. We were happy with their situation and they were happy with ours.
We chose. We both thought we were going with the little white flash girl but somehow we were both drawn to the other, who is dark red all over.
(They are my knees in the photo.) I had taken a tea towel with me, and some kitchen roll, to collect some puppy scent to bring home to Bambino in an exercise of cross-scenting.
At the moment, our little girl is about the size of an adult Guinea pig and, I reckon, just under a pound in weight. She will be considerably bigger and more active when we collect her in about 5 weeks’ time. The breeder is going to send us regular photos so we can see her growing.
Back home, after a very scenic detour because NO WAY were we going to fork out another £7.70 for the honour of using the M6 toll road as we did on our outward bound journey, Bambino greeted us as he usually does when we’ve been out, with miaows and tail up enthusiasm, and a tiny reproachful stare for having abandoned him for four hours. And then he sniffed us, covered in puppy smells as we were. And then he sniffed us some more, with very serious intent. He seemed interested. He didn’t hiss or react negatively, which was my main concern.
I presented him with the scented tea towel, spread out on the kitchen floor. He sniffed it. Then he sat on it for a while. Then he used his front paws to gather it into a neat ball. And then he walked off.
I am taking this as a Good Sign.
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KJ