[PyrNet-L] Re: Puppy Day finally came!

[Stephanie W <srwhitney@earthlink.net>]

Well, I may as well get my announcement in, too.  Last night our new little
girl, Anais
d'Hiver, came on a Delta flight from Colorado to NJ.  I read a description
once which contained the phrase " the cool grace of mid-winter", which is
such a lovely image to me and seemed to also describe the breed pretty well,
so since she was born in
February, I decided to turn the thought into a name, in French.  Now I just
have to learn how to pronounce it :)  She is calm and sweet and wonderful!
She was introduced to the others one by one in the front yard with no
problems.  She barked most of the night in her crate, and I jumped up every
time it got quiet to make sure she was OK :)  This
morning she is getting more adventurous, running up and down the hall, going
in and out the dog door with just a little help.  She is not so pushy that
the others feel the need to react, so far, so things are going better than
expected.  My female Australian Shepherd on borrowed time with kidney
disease (who was/is my biggest concern) has been quite tolerant of her so
far.  She keeps looking up at me when the puppy approaches and I tell her
what a good girl she is.  The Wolfhound seemed quite happy to meet her last
night.  Today, he seems more hesitant and tends to go the other way if she
comes running up.

We had our first visit to the vet's this morning, and she barked and growled
at all the dogs in the office.  I had to explain that she was only 10 weeks
old.  She was also laying on the kitchen floor growling, not at anything
particular, earlier.  My vet says that at 10 weeks, they are just
experimenting with the sounds they can make.

She put up with about a half hour of my trying to get mats out of her coat
in preparation for giving her a badly needed bath, remarkably patiently.
I'm afraid to bathe her until I work on her coat some more. I've tried all
the tools I own (pin brush, slicker, rake, swivel tooth comb) and the pin
brush seemed to work the best.  Is there a
better tool to use?

Thank you all for all your support and encouragement!

Stephanie, Anais, Ciaran (IW), Melissa (AS) and Midnight & Smedley (14 year
old poodle/sheltie mix litter mates)