This is what we had last night.

Around 3pm Zen started straining while trying to pee with very little output. This constant piddling with nothing coming out progressively got worse until 9pm at night when we decided to take her in to the Emergency vet because we were so worked up about it. Turns out she does have a UTI and they gave her antibiotics for it.

I had written our breeder before we had made the decision but as she is on east coast time.. she didn’t get it right away. By the time we made the decision to go it was way too late to call. We called her this morning and it was obvious this happens all the time and there were more holistic methods that could have been applied. We feel pretty stupid. But ah well. We learned.

Good news is, she’s doing MUCH better crating up. Here’s some photos:

I have to say, those eyes make her look more calculating and observing. I really like them, but we are already getting funny comments from people. “Weird” or “haunting” or “striking”…

Brian’s dad epitomizes it in this little video he took on the way back from the breeder.

Off on Southwest he went. We got the largest carrier possible and we were worried it wouldn’t fit under the seat. But it does! He took some pictures as they were taxing on the runway. It fits! But man, it looks cramped. I am already starting to worry..

Next time I see this, a pair of blue eyes will be staring back at me.

Until I get a little Zen in my life.

In the meantime, I’ve been busy. Besides two jobs, kids and other bits of busiesss… I’ve been cleaning up loose ends to get ready for being a dog owner.  We have a new vet.  Dr. Atton of Felton Veterinary hospital. Brian interviewed him on Monday and he seems perfect. Zen will go for her first check up with him the Thursday after she arrives.

We got pet insurance. I did quite a bit of research of companies but decided to go on the recommendation of our breeder. We went with PetFirst Healthcare. There is some interesting debate about whether or not pet insurance is driving the costs of pet health care up … in the same the way human insurance companies are.  Many breeders are against it for this reason, and recommend instead.. that you put away the same amount of money you would use for premiums into a savings account. But I read some horror stories of puppy owners who were waiting for their pending insurance to go into affect and then discovered some big congenital health problem. I don’t expect that with Zen, but it did scare me enough to want to have some protection.

And we signed up for Puppy Classes. Our first session will start July 9th when she is 10.5 weeks old. We decided to go to Sirius in Los Gatos. It was more expensive than our friend’s school Living with Dogs in Santa Cruz.. but we chose it because they allow kids as young as three to attend, where the santa cruz school required that kids be as old as six. We’re excited about it and signed up for their complete puppy program. Six weeks starting at 10.5 weeks, with a two month break in between… and then we’ll start up again for another 6 weeks in October. Sirius mainly subscribes to the Ian Dunbar guide of off leash/lure reward system. (It is his school after all..) They give homework, charts to make sure you keep track with socialization, and a manual for easy reference.

Here’s a little Ian for ya.

Sit Zen, Sit. Good girl.

Meet our new pup. Blue eyed Zen. A different kind of Swissy, for a different kind of family. Our breeder describes her as a really confident pup, who would do well as a single dog.. but very sweet and easy to handle.

We have decided to name her Zen Pixie. Zen for most everything, only adding the Pixie when she’s being naughty.

Can’t wait to meet you little girl.

Airline tickets are bought, so I feel safe enough to show photos of our litter. Here are the little darlings at 6 weeks. One of the girls in this batch will be ours, and brian will be flying out to his home state to pick her up on June 21st.

Here they are at 5 weeks. This was a “Z” litter for the breeder, and while the jury is still out as to a theme, it did throw a kink into our naming plans. Maiwenn for the longest time wanted the name the dog Tinker Bell. God, no! I was determined to thwart this. For  awhile I had her talked down off the cliff by compromising and saying we could name the dog Pixie. But then when we found out the dog was coming from a “Z” litter.. well. That’s kind of special isn’t it?  A “z” name just hit us like lightening the other day.  It seems really appropriate considering everything this dog search has given me during this difficult time.  We still need to meet her to make sure it’s going to fit, so I will hold off in revealing it quite yet.

Here they are at 4 weeks.

Next week is the last week before they get to go home to their new owners. Our breeder said she’ll be posting individual puppy photos then, and probably figuring out who’s going home with who. She probably be evaluating their temperaments and giving them their final series of shots.

Its been a long journey trying to find one of these guys, but the search is over.  Now the truly hard work is going to begin. A friend and I were lamenting how in a big way, this process for me has been very analogous to all that time preparing for the birth of my first child. All the hours, researching… more researching..anticipating..joining message groups.. networking… stressing and then finally getting to the point of having one. I remember that morning in the hospital holding Maiwenn in my arms and thinking “now what?”  But we learned fast. And i feel we are more prepared for this learning curve than we were parenthood. It’s going to be fun. I can’t wait!