51 Hours and counting till Lucy comes home!

I've made it this far- I'm sure I'll make it through the next 2 days, but I'm so excited that I can hardly stand it! A part of me loves that I'm this excited about something! It's great to be an adult and feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning, it's just not something that happens very often!

Here's the story:

On the 12th of March, just 10 days after loosing my little basset hound, I stumbled across an ad for boxer puppies born on the 4th of February. I had done a lot of research, and was certain that a boxer was going to be our next puppy. I called the breeder, and told her that I would be by after work. I told my fiance that I was just going to look, although I sense that he knew better. After all, who isn't going to fall in love with a litter of beautiful boxer puppies? And in love I fell... I couldn't wait to get home and tell Rob about the beautiful little female, I dreampt of puppies that night, and I had a hard time the next day waiting to drag him over there that night. I was certain that I wanted to claim that little female and even more certain that her name would be Lucy!

We left that house that night with smiles on our faces (or on at least one face- one of us was having not so pleasant thoughts about unhousebroken puppies that chew everything and anything in sight!) as the little fawn boxer female was to be named Lucy and she was going to be ours! The only catch was that she wouldn't be ready to come home with us for a few more weeks. But, that was okay, because I'm a big girl- I'm patient, I can wait. Yeah- right.

Over the last 3 painfully long weeks, I have spent many hours at the home of the breeder playing with Lucy and her littermates. There are 11 puppies in the litter, although several of them have gone to new homes. I've loved my time with these pups, they're so adorable with thier little stub tails, and floppy ears, and oh how they love to kiss! It's pure bliss! I could bring them all home with me, although I'm sure that me and my new canine companions would probably end up homeless. They're so wonderfully funny, and innocent and precious! Everything is a big adventure. The breeder also has 2 other full grown boxers in addition to Lucy's mother and dad. They absolutely love people, and I get plenty of laughs out of these enormous, funny faced dogs wagging thier entire bodies and wriggling closer to plant a big, sloppy kiss on my face!

I have eagerly awaited Easter weekend, when she will be 8 weeks old and ready to leave her beautiful mom, littermates and her "grandparents". I'm more than ready! The house is puppy proofed, we've got chewy, bouncy, stuffed, noisy and interactive toys (some of which I've already been warned that they might cause insanity- in the humans- not the dog!). There's a kennel (I suspect she'll be spending nights in bed with her mom and dad from early on in the game) complete with a nice fuzzy bed, a Snuggle Puppy complete with heartbeat and a warmer (so she doesn't miss her littermates), a playpen so that she can assist her mother at work, leashes, leads, car harnesses, collars, dog tags, food and more puppy treats than you can even imagine.

In an effort to be the best human possible for my little boxer, I've spent countless hours pouring over puppy training books and websites and learned all kinds of wonderful things about the boxer breed. I've even put a reservation in for puppy kindergarten in May when she'll be about 12 weeks old. She's a smart pup, and I'm sure we'll be well into our training 4 weeks from now. I can't wait to teach her to sit, come and of course KISS (the last is going to require very little instruction.)

I've found a sort of "boxer" family in the boxer mailing list! There are people from all of the country who love and raise boxers and post about thier lives with these pups. I sent out an introduction yesterday, and got several warm replies and comments back. After hearing from people who have been raising boxers for years, I'm even more excited to bring Lucy home.

So all there is to do now, is wait. Incidentally, it's 50 hours and counting now...