Little Puppy Rosie

Around about January of this year, I was looking for a companion for little Sammy. Noon wasn't so sure about getting a second pup so soon after bringing Sam home, and indeed he had been a handful during that time too. Plus we'd been advised that it would be better to wait a little while before we added another dog to our family.

Still, I decided to go ahead anyway and started browsing advertisements on the net and in the papers. Call me stubborn and compulsive - I don't mind... always have been :)

Had originally wanted a beagle for a second dog; how could you resist those droopy eyes and floppy ears? Called around a few local breeders as well as the state's beagle club. Straight off I was told how hard it was to own/train a dog of this breed and despite the fact that I was prepared to put in the effort, I found the tone of these conversations very dissuading, which was a surprise.

Then a colleague of mine at work mentioned that her daughter's lab had just had a litter of 10 pups, all of which would be for sale. Noon and I talked it over and decided that since it was so much trouble getting a beagle, and since we were both so happy with Sam, getting a second labrador puppy might be a better move.

So off we went to visit the newborn pups, and since we were the very first in, we got first pick of the litter :)

Here's what we saw in the whelping box. Which one would you pick?


We couldn't really decide ourselves... they were all so tiny and cute. The one that Noon picked up literally fit into the palm of her hand - that's how small it was, at just a week old.

All the while, Bella, the pups' mum looked on, occasionally sniffing us as if to say "Be careful with my pup up there". She's a lovely dog, Bella, with a very friendly disposition and no aggression whatsoever.
Over the next couple of weeks, we went back to visit several times more and managed to pick one out of the litter that we liked. Here's how we made the choice:

• Little Sammy was a rather darker shade of yellow... so we wanted a pup with a lighter coat.
• Little Sammy seemed to frown a lot... so we wanted a pup that had a happier look on its face.
• Little Sammy was a boy... so we wanted him to have a little sister to grow up with.

With that in mind, we ended up with.... Rosie!!



Once when we went to visit, the puppies were still asleep and had to be woken up for their meals.


At 6 weeks of age, the pups were ready to be sent home with their new owners. Noon and I picked Rosie up on a Friday evening after coming home from work. That first night at home was quite an adventure, let me tell you!

But that's a story for another blog entry :) That's coming up soon, I promise!

Gonna leave you all now with a few more pics of Rosie romping around with her littermates just before we brought her home.