Post #17: Our New Puppy

We met the woman selling the puppies at the appointed time.  There was another couple ahead of us, and three puppies in the back of the SUV.  We were told that the other couple had called first, and got the first pick, so we had to wait.  When they left, there were two puppies left, a male and a female.  The female was already spoken for.

The little dachshund puppy was sweet and adorable, so we accepted him into our family.  We were told that the pup was 6 weeks old and had all of his shots.  We completed the paperwork, and scooped him up. 

On the way to pick up our new puppy, Wife told me that she decided that if we selected a male dog, she would like to name it Petey.  I had no problem with the name.  I was excited about the prospect of a new puppy.  I felt like this was going to be my dog.  The dogs we had owned before were really the boys’ dogs.  We had let our sons pick them out, and they spent the most time with the dogs.  This one would be an “inside dog” and I expected that we would be a lot closer to this dog than we had the others.

So now, we had a new family member: Petey.  We did not realize that six weeks was considered young to take a puppy away from its mother.  And we had not realized that his date of birth put Petey closer to 5 weeks old than 6 weeks.  Most books recommend leaving puppies with their mothers until the puppy is 8 weeks old.

We went directly to the vet’s office to have him checked out.  More shots were given, and he was given a clean bill of health.  Our next stop was to run by my office and show off our new family member.  One of my staff members, Shari, has a knack for naming things.  She heard the name Petey, looked at me, looked at the puppy, and offered that an appropriate name for Petey would be P.D.  PD could stand for Paul’s Dog, and still sound like Petey.  The name stuck.  The initials don’t always stand for Paul’s Dog, however.  Sometimes, they stand for Peeing Dog.  Sometimes they stand for Personality Disorder.  PD is really quite a versatile and appropriate name.

Peeing Dog?  It seems PD was a “submissive pee-er.”  An adult could not bend over and pet PD on the head without a puddle forming under him.  Sometimes, PD would manage to wet the friendly greeter’s shoe.  He has even managed to spray one unsuspecting victim in the face.

But that was later.  For now, we had PD, and it was time to take him home.