Moose - A new puppy

Andrea and I drove down to Bakersfield (a 4.5 hour drive each way) this weekend to pick up a puppy. He's a 19 week old Labrador Retriever we've named "Moose". He'll grow up to be slightly shorter and stockier than what most people think when they hear the word "retriever", but that's fine with me. So far he's been delightful. He only cried for like 5 minutes when we put him into a kennel for the first night. He loves everyone and doesn't really complain about much. I plan to teach him to play frisbee whenever he's capable.

The other puppies in his litter all sold for ~$1200, but poor Moose kept getting calls from interested families who'd change their mind. The breeder (Lacey) said we were the 10th set of people to contact her about Moose. Since he's a bit older than puppies normally are when they're adopted, we got him for half price. Which was nice since it was about the same as we would have paid in adoption fees for a rescue dog.

He has a little cut on the left side of his snout... a keepsake from one of his uncles, I believe. But it's almost healed over now. Andrea and I are shocked at how good Moose has been. No messes to speak of. And he's very good about chewing on his toys as opposed to things like... I don't know... furniture, cords, clothes, shoes, blankets.

Our apartment has several floor to ceiling mirrors that serve as doors to various closets. Andrea called Moose over to one, not even thinking about it. The puppy caught a glimpse of his reflection, then turned around and bolted for me. He leaped into my lap (I was sitting on the couch) and just buried his head. There have been a couple other instances where he's been scared witless by something pretty ordinary. Automatic doors at Petsmart come to mind.

Instead of buying a normal water bowl we'd need to fill daily, I picked up one of those special water dishes that keeps itself filled with a 3 gallon plastic tank. I think Moose drinks more than he actually wants just so he can watch the bubbles.

At any rate, we're enjoying ourselves by welcoming Moose into the home.