“Of Bears, Bull and Beagles!”

Puppy-Picking

Yesterday we finally got to go and meet the litter and pick out our puppy! The breeder lives out in New Jersey so we had to hire a car for the day. The journey in itself was a bit of an adventure. We opted to rent the car in Jersey City near Mark's office (just over the water from us) so as not to have to drive in the city. Firstly when we got the car there was a problem and we had to switch cars, which delayed our departure by about half an hour. Then, although the journey should have taken us a little over an hour, exiting Jersey City on the right road proved almost as hard as trying to find the exit in a Las Vegas Casino! The road layout is a complete nightmare and we wound up going round in circles for 30 minutes trying to get onto the right Interstate (Motorway) at the right junction. So even though we allowed 2 hours for the journey we still wound up being late! "Quelle surprise!"

We were the second couple to pick our puppy, and the first couple actually choose to have two, so we had a choice of 3 gorgeous little guys. Being only 4 weeks old they were all very tiny and not used to being away from their Mom and handled by strangers, so there was a fair bit of crying and shaking! At first I had no idea how I was ever going to pick one, but after spending some time with them and watching them play with each other it suddenly became easy. One of the puppies was very quiet and timid and we quickly ruled him out as not being feisty enough for our household! The other two however, were very sprightly in trotting around the play pen and playing with each other. With no prompting Mark and I simultaneously pointed to a puppy and said "Him!" Of course we pointed at different puppies! It was only a matter minutes before Mark came round to my way of thinking when Jeremy did something or other that made Mark's heart leap and he said, "Yes, that's Jeremy!"

Terry kindly then allowed us to spend about an hour with him. The poor little mite started of crying and shaking so much but all the while his tail was wagging furiously, so I don't think even he knew what to make of it all. Soon he fell asleep in Mark's arms and snuggled into his jumper for a very contented nap. When he woke up he seemed much more relaxed and very happy to be passed from one of us to the other and have his photo taken whilst he napped some more!

Mark and I are both very happy and excited and can't wait to bring him home on Nov 20th. It's going to be a long 3 weeks!

See the photos in Jeremy's Photo Album