Whoa Little Doggie!!

After weeks of discussions weighing the pros and cons, we finally agreed it was time to get our family a dog. We loaded ourselves into our car and headed to the pet store to see if they had the type of dog we were interested in. Sure enough, there were 2 Golden Retriever puppies for sale. When we were initially looking at them, one of them was reserved. We walked around the store a bit and when we came back, the sign had been removed! We decided it must be fate. We asked to have a visit with each of the puppies separately, spending about 15 minutes with each one. We then reserved one while we went off for a snack and to discuss things a bit further.

We came to the conclusion that everything seemed to be lined up in our favour, and purchased the puppy. Our power was out yesterday for about 12 hours, so we chose not to bring her home until today. We bought some dog dishes, food, toys and a cage for her and then headed back to the store to pick her up. After a lot of research for the right name, we have decided to name her Nellie. She is the sweetest little thing. Peeing and pooping all over the place!! What a doll!



We had no option but to give her a bath as soon as we arrived home. She was a pretty smelly little Nellie after living in the pet store for the last week. She did very well for her first bath and barked and played with the air from the hair dryer afterwards!



Here are the girls sitting up on the kitchen counter watching Nellie have her bath in the kitchen sink.



I'm not sure Calli could have been any more excited. Once we had Nellie in the cage, Calli couldn't stop talking. "I wondered if we were going to get a puppy...and we DID!!!" "Nellie, I really love you. Now you have me...and I have you!" "Can Nellie sleep in my bed with me?" This continued right until bedtime. She even got out of bed to give Nellie one last kiss goodnight. Calli is a bit scared of dogs after a friends dog jumped up on her back and pushed her down when she was younger, so she wasn't entirely thrilled when Nellie kept coming to her for some love.



We are hoping that having a dog will build Calli's confidence for any future encounters with other dogs. Of course she needs to be aware of dogs and the signs of unfriendly dogs, but we also don't want her to have a lifelong fear of them. It's a fine line.



Marin just barks at Nellie, imitating every little sound she makes. It's all fine until Nellie starts licking Marin's hands...



We got about 4 inches of snow today and we headed out after dinner to shovel the driveway. Marin got a snowsuit and Calli got snow pants today, so they are all ready for winter. As I was shoveling the snow, Marin kept toppling over in her suit and boots and Calli learned how to make snow balls. We put an end to the snow ball making party Calli was having, when she thought it was funny to throw a snow ball in Marin's face. Not funny. I think Calli ate enough snow for the season while she was out there. Remember, this is really her first time in snow. Powell River's snow didn't really count considering it came and left in the span of a few hours!!