Puppy Tales: Week One

Sunday 5/10
Mothers Day and Dad’s Birthday. Who can think of a better day to bring home a brand new bouncing, biting, licking, dirt eating puppy?! ( I for one cannot imagine a better possible scenario, however it‘s very likely that my mom could have….very easily, in fact)
Anyways here is the back-story. I have been campaigning for a new family dog/puppy for over a year now, and decided that since I have no current job prospects for the summer and Chris and I are both leaving in the fall (at which point mom (obviously but unadmittedly) will be suffering from empty nest syndrome) I deemed now the perfect time to put operation acquire a puppy into action.
I applied online for the rescue puppy (Lola, an 8-10 week old black lab mix) on Thursday, received a congratulations call on Saturday, and mom, dad and me were on our way to a foster house in Philadelphia to pick her up at 11am Sunday morning. (Talk about a last minute puppy supplies scramble!) There were 17 puppies waiting to be adopted that day from Wet Nose Rescue, all of which would have been put down had they not been adopted. “Lola” and her 3 sisters and 1 brother came up from South Carolina, where they were born from a stray dog in a woodpile. The adoption organization was great and gave us all sorts of info, supplies and samples with our new pup.
She was very well behaved on the ride home and after many name and spellings debate, we settled on calling her “Cole.” Which I had had picked out for a long time now. Cole started out a little timid but enjoyed exploring her new home. We gave her a dish soap bath (Dawn apparently kills fleas) and spent most of the day playing with her and her new yellow frog beanie on the back deck. Cole enjoyed nibbling on Mom’s tomato plant when she wasn’t looking, and often sometimes when she was looking, as well as snuggling under a big blue blanket in the backyard and sneaking under the deck whenever possible. She didn’t eat too much the first day, but she did an excellent job of sitting by the grill “assisting” dad cook dinner.

Monday 5/11
Cole went to bed around 11 and woke up around 5:30 am. We played for a little while then fell asleep on the family room floor together. Cole woke up as the rest of the family went about their routines and I continued my nap on the couch. Cole fell asleep again watching Squawk Box with dad (who wouldn’t?) and I got up around 8:30. Later on she ran around with my birthday balloon, and joined dad and I on a Petsmart trip to pick out chew toys and treats. Cole chose a minty rope toy and a snuggly little squeaky lamb. She also received several dozen belly rubs from the Petsmart employees. Upon arriving home she began chewing everything in sight except for her new toys (my left arm took the brunt of it), and also let out a little excited pee for mom when she got home. Apparently she doesn’t realize that she hasn’t completely won mom over yet and this little incident did not earn her any points. Successful second bath in the evening.

Tuesday 5/12
2&4 am wake ups, handled by dad. I woke up to a surprise shower of puppy kisses provided by Cole with the help of mom. Cole proceeded to make a startling yaking noise after this which had mom running her downstairs so fast I found myself wondering whether I had dreamed the whole thing. Cole and I ate breakfast after that and she settled down for a nap while I scooted over to Petsmart for more supplies (found a cute puppy-sized plaid collar on sale!) I took her for a walk when I got home, using her brand new red harness. We did one block and only stalled once in front of a big German Sheppard with a loud bark. Cole answered back with her own little growl once we were a safe 20 yards past the house. She sprinted the last 50 yards home. In teething puppy news, Cole’s biting force has quadrupled over night along with her hunger for human flesh, as everything from my toes to my face have come to experience. She also now has a tendency to latch onto any inch of our clothing she can and hold on for dear life.

Wednesday 5/13
4:30 and 6:30 am wake ups. Dad and I left her alone for the first time to run an errand and found she had re decorated her crate when we came back. I took her to visit mom at work later where she excitedly peed on several innocent coworkers. She was well behaved for the most part through and received several adoring belly rubs. She ventured some dangerous seat jumping on the car ride home, but passed out in the backseat shortly after. After a quick lunch we were off too the vet for Cole’s first check up! The vet technicians adored her and the vet reported that Cole was healthy with a small case of hook worms, which she received some banana flavored medicine for. Another nap on the car ride home, and another on the front lawn while I cleaned my car. Cole had an evening visit from a few of chris’ friends. She remained calm throughout the exciting visit only to explode into a fury of hyperactivity and psychotic biting after they left. Thanks guys. I blocked off the area under the computer table and side of the couch so that Cole’s secret agent tunneling into computer wire central for chew sessions would come to an end, unfortunately this has not put an end to her affection for chewing and biting everything else in site. After an unsuccessful walk attempt later on, we settled for running laps around the house practicing the “come” command which Cole has come to excel at. Some over zealous biting and jumpy later on landed Cole in her crate around 10:30.

Thursday 5/14
5:30am wake up to a rainy day with lots of naps. Cole has a habit of running and stretching in her sleep then accidentally rolling off her pillow. Its hilarious and adorable. When the rain cleared later, we took a field trip with dad to community park to check on Chris’ Eagle Scout project benches. Cole did some running around there, and very much enjoyed jumping off the benches and eating dirt. She looked extremely cute and hip in her new plaid collar and hot red harness. She napped some more at home and we ran laps round the house again after another unsuccessful walk attempt (what kind of Labrador is she anyways??) Well she is currently the kind of Labrador that enjoys dragging kitchen rugs over to her pillow in the family room to chew on, attempting to eat her own dog tag while its attached to her, and tunneling under the computer table to gnaw wires in peace. In other news, I trimmed Cole’s nails to avoid further scarring on my part, she is eating more and is doing very well with her house training and she is still cute as a bug. More tales to follow

Lauren

Prague Wrap Up

Saturday (4/25) was a sunny final day in pretty Prague. I walked from the Mustek metro stop over to the metronome/skate park to get a last view of the beautiful red-roofed city. I wandered around in the park area up there for a while, found a little restaurant/house place with a gorgeous view of the river and bridges outside, watched oddles of dogs frolicking about and eventually made my way back to the hostel. Later that evening Andrew, Jeremy, Terry, Gennie and I went to ordinary people for a last meal and beer. Some final packing after that (mostly watching Blakeley try to stuff 4 tons of clothing in 2 half broken suitcases) and then some thinking about home, summer plans and how this trip has changed the way I feel going back to it all. I think these past three months in Prague have changed the way I look at the world, the way I think about other people and other cultures, and most of all how I see my own culture and the things that make it home for me. I’m so grateful for the experiences I had and the lessons I’ve learned. My only wish is that my family someday have the same opportunity they gave to me .

Lauren

And now as my blogs about Prague come to a close, a new blog worthy interest has entered my life, in the form of a frisky 11 pound black lab-mix little girl puppy named Cole. Begin: The Puppy Tales