Yesterday we went to pick up the long-awaited Shadow Bear Totoro Murphy. We had picked him from the litter a month ago, and had been preparing for his arrival all this time. The timing was perfect actually, because we just moved house from Boxboro, MA to Nashua, NH at the beginning of the month.
The breeder lives in Harrisville, NH, and if you know anything about the area you know that it takes forever the get from town to town and the roads are either uphill, downhill or unpaved. I had underestimated the total time for our trip so we were actually running 45 minutes later than we were supposed to. Trying to make up time, we rollercoastered up and down these crazy roads and managed to get there in time to get our pup! The breeder was actually leaving to take the second litter (two different litters were available) to the vet's for their shots, so if we had missed her it would have meant not being able to get Shadow until that night.
As soon as we walked through the door we were AMAZED by his size! At 8.5 weeks he weighs in at a whopping 14lbs! We should have named him Goliath;) The boys gave him his names: Seamus wanted to name him Shadow after watching Homeward Bound, Liam kept calling him Bear (probably because he looks like a stuffed bear to him) and then Seamus wanted Totoro to be his other name. Hence, Shadow Bear Totoro Murphy!
I had to admit that I was definitely interested to see how things would go the next day, because Patrick would be at work the whole next day so I'd have both boys in addition to our first day getting into some type of groove with the new puppy.
The first night went fairly well. He refused to sleep in his crate in the kitchen, but did go to sleep pretty willingly in our bedroom in his crate. He slept through the night, though I barely slept for the first couple hours expecting him to start crying at any moment.
The next morning Patrick had to practically drag him outside to go to the bathroom before leaving for work, he was so tired! He slept another couple hours until the boys woke up. I took him out after getting the boys settled pretty quickly then fed him breakfast and took him out again. He was great about going to the bathroom outside! Though we spent the majority of the day outside going to the bathroom or letting him and the kids play on our patio, things settled down after lunch. The kids took an hour nap and Shadow did too. He still refuses to be left in the kitchen along, he doesn't mind if someone is with him but otherwise he demands to be allowed with the rest of the family. So far, so good.
Seamus is adjusting to having a puppy, going through moments of naughtiness then enjoying him. Liam is actually quite afraid of him because of his size, though he thoroughly enjoys him from my arms or while sitting on the couch. All in all, we're exhausted but things seem to be going well!
The breeder lives in Harrisville, NH, and if you know anything about the area you know that it takes forever the get from town to town and the roads are either uphill, downhill or unpaved. I had underestimated the total time for our trip so we were actually running 45 minutes later than we were supposed to. Trying to make up time, we rollercoastered up and down these crazy roads and managed to get there in time to get our pup! The breeder was actually leaving to take the second litter (two different litters were available) to the vet's for their shots, so if we had missed her it would have meant not being able to get Shadow until that night.
As soon as we walked through the door we were AMAZED by his size! At 8.5 weeks he weighs in at a whopping 14lbs! We should have named him Goliath;) The boys gave him his names: Seamus wanted to name him Shadow after watching Homeward Bound, Liam kept calling him Bear (probably because he looks like a stuffed bear to him) and then Seamus wanted Totoro to be his other name. Hence, Shadow Bear Totoro Murphy!
I had to admit that I was definitely interested to see how things would go the next day, because Patrick would be at work the whole next day so I'd have both boys in addition to our first day getting into some type of groove with the new puppy.
The first night went fairly well. He refused to sleep in his crate in the kitchen, but did go to sleep pretty willingly in our bedroom in his crate. He slept through the night, though I barely slept for the first couple hours expecting him to start crying at any moment.
The next morning Patrick had to practically drag him outside to go to the bathroom before leaving for work, he was so tired! He slept another couple hours until the boys woke up. I took him out after getting the boys settled pretty quickly then fed him breakfast and took him out again. He was great about going to the bathroom outside! Though we spent the majority of the day outside going to the bathroom or letting him and the kids play on our patio, things settled down after lunch. The kids took an hour nap and Shadow did too. He still refuses to be left in the kitchen along, he doesn't mind if someone is with him but otherwise he demands to be allowed with the rest of the family. So far, so good.
Seamus is adjusting to having a puppy, going through moments of naughtiness then enjoying him. Liam is actually quite afraid of him because of his size, though he thoroughly enjoys him from my arms or while sitting on the couch. All in all, we're exhausted but things seem to be going well!
