Brand New Puppy!

Friday night, we drove down to Idaho and stayed with my parents.

Saturday afternoon, we drove to the puppy breeder and picked up our puppy!

My parents came with us, to see the puppy and take some pictures. As we walked into the house, she was sitting on the couch with a red bandanna around her neck. She looked absolutely adorable, and as Kevin entered, she became very excited.

We were the last family to pick up our puppy, and the other puppies had all been gone for a week. The breeders asked us if we had changed our mind, because they had gotten kind of attached to her, and informed us that, in their opinion, she was the very best of the female puppies.

That made us pretty happy, and we assured them that we hadn't changed our minds. The woman was especially sad to see her go, I think. She showed no shyness at all, and greeted Kevin with exuberant kisses. He immediately loved her.

She's a Norwegian elkhound. Grig's first dog was part Norwegian elkhound, and they later had a purebred one. We've been looking for one for a while, and are so grateful that we were able to find one. We really liked the breeders too. They seemed very responsible to us.

 My dad was kind and took the first three pictures (since in my excitement to rush in to see the puppy I had neglected to remove my camera from the car). We got the pup's vaccination record and some of its current brand of puppy food, and after visiting for a few minutes, left with our newest family member in tow.

She's adorable. She just turned eight weeks old.

Here's all of us!

Grig rode in the back with Kevin and the new puppy to help her stay in the box. We were worried she would be like Arkhon and get sick or nervous on the way home. She panted a bit, but after a few minutes, she laid down and went right to sleep. She slept most of the way home, and we only had to stop once to let her out for a restroom break. 

 We named her Siff. We'd been looking into Norwegian mythology, which naturally led us to Vikings and their gods. After looking through Norse female names, we found a couple we liked, but the name Sif (the wife of Thor) really stood out to us. We added an extra 'f' for personal reasons. I think it's super cute, and its seems to fit her. Allopex (Grig's brother) calls her our "Asgardian princess." It's nice to finally have another girl in the house again. We're still outnumbered, but at least I'm not alone anymore.

After a bit of a drive, we got home and I took her into the backyard to relieve herself. Then, we brought Arkhon out, who was a little bit overly energetic because he hadn't seen us in two days. Despite this, he and Siff got along great! Almost immediately, after she stopped being overwhelmed by his torpedo-like speed, they became the best of friends.

 Siff was a little stinky, so after we all played outside for a minute, we took her into the bathroom and gave her a bath. She wasn't a big fan, but she relaxed fairly quickly. She shivered after we took her out and we got her dry as quickly as possible.

 Arkhon is ecstatic. He loves having a new playmate. The stairs down from our deck were a little hard for her at first (expect some video of that), but Arkhon tried really hard to show her how. By the end of her second day, she was making it down the deck just fine. She still has trouble coming back up, but he's trying to help her with that too.

 This expression happened after I made my elephant imitation. She didn't run away, just cocked her head back and forth, trying to figure out what the noise was. She's not jumpy at all. She can be cautious, but she isn't frightened. She becomes curious instead. We really like that about her.

 She loves Arkhon. They play and play and play. Arkhon is super gentle with her. as long as he is aware she's around. He's occasionally knocked her over on accident, but she recovers quickly.

This is Kevin's favorite thing to do. He loves to pick her up. We have to limit it actually, because we want her to be able to walk around to. I think he loves feeling strong. She's very gentle with Kevin and very rarely bites him. I've always owned border collie crosses, and so it's nice to have a less-nippy puppy. She still explores with her mouth, but she doesn't want to bite his heels when she's chasing him. It fun to have a different set of instincts to work with.

So far, she's had a couple of accidents, but she's doing really well! Her crate training is going awesome, and last night, she only got up a couple of times.

We're pretty happy with her. She seems to be perfect for our family. We're trying to enjoy every moment her her puppy-hood, because with any luck, we won't have another puppy for the next 12-15+ years. We decided at the beginning of our marriage that two dogs was as many as we'd ever have. So, we're hoping Arkhon and Siff stay around for a long, long time.