RUnning in the Hallway

5th Vet Appointment

This was their final puppy appointment.  The next time they go in will be at 6 months for spaying.

Ginger 3.2 (lanky & lean)

Wasabi 3.9 (sturdy & stout)

Sunshine Doggies

1st Superbowl Party

A former coworker & his family watched the Superbowl with us.  Shelly fell in love with GInger immediately, and Drake wore the girls out!

Abbie (Wasabi) and daddy

Both of the girls love to help Mark in the studio.  They spend many hours a day either on his lap in front of the computer, or entertaining themselves on the floor while he reconfigures things.  Abbie can climb the stairs into the room and Ginger can't, so she and daddy have developed a little something special.

4th Vet Appointment

Shots

Ginger has developed small hard bumps at the sites of previous injections.  Vet is now monitoring them.

Ginger 3.0

Wasabi 3.5

Why Buy Two??

We buy two of almost everything, BUT Ginger hides hers and steals Abbie’s.  Perfect example is the Nyloplast bones (we went to those so hopefully Abbie wouldn’t choke).  Ginger immediately buries hers between the couch cushions, and fights Abbie for hers.

3rd Vet Appointment

Shots

Dr commented on Abbie’s big ears

Ginger 2.7

Wasabi 3.0

Play Date #2

Had second play date with Gizmo & Richie.  Ginger ran out the front door to greet Gizmo, Abbie barked a bit & was just scared.  

To break the ice, I thought we’d do an activity together so we “went for a run.” (We’ve been running the girls up & down our empty 4^th floor hallway in hopes of playing fetch there someday.)  Well, because it took Gizmo a bit to catch on, me & the girls we on our way back to the start by the time he started.  In a narrow concrete hallway, the three of us were running right at a “charging” yorkie/poodle/mutt.  Abbie stopped dead in her tracks and SCREAMED! It was hilarious!

Play Date

Had first play date with Gizmo, Jeff & Richie.  Girls were excited to meet new people, but froze in their tracks when they saw the dog.  One or two seconds of staring, then then ran away screaming.  Ginger started coming around, but Abbie was skittish the rest of the night.

2nd Vet Appointment

Oral medicine

Huge list of questions including food, bath, teeth, humping (yes, apparently girl dogs do it too), etc.

Ginger 2.3 lbs

Wasabi 2.7 lbs

1st Vet appointment

Our favorite vet who saw Tippy for years moved to Ohio last year.  So we had to find a new vet.  Our neighbor Stan recommended Grassmere Animal Hospital.  We have been very happy with them so far.

Shots & Oral Medicine

Ginger 2.0 lbs

Wasabi 2.3 lbs

Fetch

Not so graceful...

In just one week's time, Abbie has

1. choked on soft treat,

2. choked on raw hide, and

3. fell off Mark’s gear bag hitting her head on the concrete floor.

I think we have identified the clumsy one.  We're much more careful now about.......everything.

The Search

Mark and I began the search for our new Chihuahua puppies in early December.  We reviewed a ton of ads, mostly online.  By the time we finished the searched, I had logged about 40 ads.  We were prepared to drive as far as Louisville, Knoxville, or Chattanooga, but were fortunate to find some folks nearby. 

We had planned for a long time to get a brother/sister pair. We began to get nervous, though, about all the extra adventures a boy dog might bring for us.  Marking things around the house, and seeing things we don’t want to see…... Ewwwww. So the search was for 2 sisters.  Female Chihuahuas, it turns out, were in high demand this year.  So it was difficult to find one, let alone two, female pups. 

We picked a Saturday to start visiting puppies.  To make sure we didn’t get caught up by the first cute pups we met, we planned 4-5 visits that day.  We started with a guy in Lafayette, 2 hours NE of Nashville.  He only had 2 males, but we thought he’d be a good contact.  No one else had returned my calls yet, so we headed south towards the highway through Hartsville, and hoped to hear from someone before we got home.  When we had nearly reached the highway, one of the Hartsville ladies called.  She had a litter that will be ready early January, and was in the process of breeding some of her other females.  So we turned around for a 45 minute drive back to Hartsville.  We had almost reached Hartsville when Gloria called.  She has two female pups from her pets, Bee-Bee and Suzie.  Super! The 45 minutes drive back to Hartsville would get us a two-for-one visit. 

The first lady was kind enough to meet us in town so we could follow her home.  While she was very nice and seemed to care about her dogs, the place was very chaotic.  Baby was screaming, breeding dogs were barking, small cramped house…everything was loud and right on top of each other.

Following the historic tour markers along the battlefield, we made our way to the other side of Hartsville.  Gloria’s donkey, Eeore, greeted us, and her husband led us into the house.  What a different atmosphere than the previous home!  It was warm, quiet, clean…. very comfortable.  The puppies were adorable, and we took to each other immediately.  We were very impressed by the parents’ demeanors, but were a bit disappointed at some of the parents’ physical features.  Suzie as a longer nose than we’d been hoping for, and neither had the extreme applehead we like. Despite our shallow concerns, we fell in love with the pups.

            To be continued…….