It's a Boy!

We've under gone another change to our family of fuzzies in the last week. After Kyo went off to become a service dog, we noticed great improvements in Glacier, but Aria was lonely. Kyo was her buddy, her go to brother. They used to play all of the time; gigantic Kyo lying on the floor with his mouth open, while tiny Aria danced around him play nipping his ears and getting into his mouth. I knew once he left she would be sad. Glacier and Roscoe don't play with her-as working dogs they have been trained since they were babies to pay attention to humans not other dogs. So, they don't really play with other dogs, especially not annoying little sisters.
With that in mind, we decided to start looking for another miniature Duxhund. We knew we wanted a boy for several reasons. They are usually more easy going than the females and a boy would be less likely to fight with Aria-or rather, Aria would be less likely to fight with him. Males are usually more affectionate as well and I know that is part of the reason Mr. K wanted another one. Aria has attached herself to me and pays a lot of attention to me. She follows me around the house and sits besides me on the couch when I'm on the computer or watching TV, but she doesn't really do this with Mr. K. So our search for a boy puppy for Mr. K commenced.
Our search led us to a kennel called Porth Kennel. They have been breeding for years and seemed really nice. They also provided an ownership contract and a one year health guarantee. It made us feel like they really cared about their dogs. We were also informed that if, for any reason, we couldn't keep their dog, regardless of age, that they would always take him/her back. There were profiles with pictures of each dog available up on the site and we picked out three or four before going to visit.
We went last Saturday and brought Aria with us. We wanted her to meet her new brother before we took him home. We went into the kennel and sat down in squishy armchairs and talked with the woman who owns the kennel. We met a bunch of her breeding stock as they were running around. She brought out two of the male puppies we had seen online for us to meet. There was a little guy who was born August 24-he was a cream of some sort, but was not considered an English cream because he had markings on him. He was very sweet and kept trying to burrow his way between my body and the chair. I think Aria was a bit too much for him. The second guy was a Black and Tan Pie Balled. It's funny because the title is a bit deceiving. He was black and white with absolutely no tan on him. In fact, he looked like a miniature dalmation. :) He was a bit bigger than the cream guy and had a lot more spunk. He and Aria ran around and played and when she stopped playing with him, he would grab her leash and take her for a walk with him. Mr. K fell in love. I think he was also won over by the copious amount of kisses Mr. Black and Tan liked to dish out.
I gave the cream guy back and while we were filling out the paper work, she let us hold two long haired males who were only four weeks old. They were adorable with their gigantic searching, toothless mouths. They were both Black and Tan, but Mr. K was sold on the bigger short haired (or Smooth Coat) Black and Tan.
We named him Albus at the kennel and headed home. We stopped at a friend's house so they could meet him and then went home to introduce him to Glacier and Roscoe. He threw up between our friend's house and ours, which the owner of the kennel warned us of. We got him home and he seemed to fit right in. He didn't really bother with the big boys and still doesn't, which is what we want.
We have now had Mr. Black and Tan for just over a week and he is turning out to be quite the addition to our family. We ended up changing his name to Balloo because people kept thinking we were calling him Elvis instead of Albus and because he goes crazy when you sing "The Bare Necessities," to him. He is almost three months old and weighs 3.6 pounds; much bigger than Aria at that age. He has a little black marking on his bum that looks like a snowman-the perfect Christmas puppy.
He did have an allergic reaction to his shots on Tuesday, but apparently this is common in this breed. With a little Benadrill though, he has made a full recovery. He is eating more than ever and he and Aria are best friends. They play all of the time and he always wants to be with her when they are napping.
His house training is going So-so. This breed is known for their stubbornness and refusal to house train, but with Aria, Glacier and Roscoe as his role models, he is doing quite well. We only had one accident yesterday and that was first thing in the morning-he peed in his crate. I think that may be our fault though. We bought crate pads for both puppies so that they could be warmer and more comfortable. The problem is, he can pee on the pad and it just soaks it up so he doesn't seem to mind so much. So, tonight, and until he stops peeing in his crate, he will not be able to sleep with the crate pad.
Other than that, everyone seems to be settling in quite nicely. Glacier isn't even phased with him here. These guys are so small they can't push him out of the way when they want attention or anything like that. That means, Glacier is still mine and he doesn't really have any competition that he feels threatened by.