This morning I had the pleasure of finally meeting my puppy. I was sooooo excited, and a complete bundle of nerves (silly, I know). I took the trip alone, and it was actually quite nice to do it on my own. The drive down to the breeder's ranch was wonderful... the trip took a little over an hour and was quite peaceful. (sidenote: I LOVE living here in SoCal, and don't ever plan to move. I LOVE that I can be driving with the ocean on one side of me and hills on the other, and then 15 minutes later I'm deep in the hills and feel like I'm in the countryside!)
My puppy is from AP Ranch, and I don't think I could have found a better breeder. Not knowing what to expect, but hoping for the best, I was still pleasantly surprised. The breeder, Pauline, is a very knowledgeable woman, who got into dog breeding for the joy of it (her ranch is primarily for horses). I was greeted by Pauline and 2 of her dogs, who were amazingly friendly. I followed her around the side of her house to an area of lawn, and she brought a comforter out so I could sit and visit with Jasper (since the puppies aren't allowed on the grass yet). First, she brought all 3 puppies in the litter out, just so I could see them all. The puppies mom (along with another female doxie) came out to join us. And the other 2 dogs were still near, also. It was really nice to see how amazingly calm all of the dogs were. The mother dog didn't seem to have any problem with other dogs being close to her litter, and she came and went, leaving me alone with her pups. After a while, Pauline took the other dogs away so that I could spend time with Jasper alone. And I fell in love.
He was a curious little puppy, wandering around on the comforter and checking me out, too. But he was so amazingly docile when I picked him up. He just totally relaxed in my arms...his heart rate didn't increase or anything. He checked me out, gave me some puppy kisses, and then started to fall asleep as I held him for a while. WOW!
I spent about an hour there, just playing with him and the other dogs, and chatting with Pauline a bit. Everything she told me made me feel like I had made the right choice in choosing her as the breeder to go to. For instance, she said that the whole family handles the dogs as much as possible, so they are used to human contact and being held, including being held on their backs (usually pups tend to struggle here a bit). Being around all the other dogs, they are being socialized that way, as well. They are used to sleeping in their crate at night, and she has started potty training them (which they are taking to wonderfully). The mom dog has started sleeping separate from the puppies at night (sleeping with Pauline), and yet the puppies seem to all be sleeping through the night quite well without her there. She handles the dogs paws a lot, and has even started cutting their toenails, so they are used to their paws being handled. I noticed while I was there that the pups are learning to have a "soft mouth" when they bite. Awesome, awesome, awesome! I couldn't be more happy.
I brought my point-and-shoot camera and got a LOT of pictures while I was there. It was good practice for Jasper, who needs to learn QUICKLY that the camera will be pointed at him quite often. ; ) In any case, here are a few favorite shots from this morning.
Jasper and his siblings (Jasper is the one in the middle):
Jasper and his Mom, Jazmine:
He completely fell asleep as Pauline held him:
