There is absolutely nothing like waking up with butterflies and having them there for an entire morning. That’s how I felt this morning when I woke up, as I sat through breakfast and as we made the hour drive to Diane’s house to pick up Orso. I was so excited, but in a weird way. Every time I thought about him, my eyes would tear up. Weird, huh? We arrived at Diane’s house early in the day, once again armed with enough photography equipment to shoot the next edition of Sports Illustrated. Most of the pups had already gone home since our visit on Friday, so it was much less hectic in the puppy room. We took a bunch of photos, asked a ton of questions, stared obsessively at Orso for minutes at a time, collected our belongings and started our way home. It was that simple! Below are my favorite photos from the visit to Diane’s house, including a few family photos and a couple of shots with his sister, which is the female first pick that Diane is keeping for herself. Orso slept the entire way home from Dade City to Miami, which was a solid 6-hour drive with bathroom and food breaks. We got some nasty weather on the way home, which slowed us down, but he didn’t even seem to notice. Our dog sitter & vet technician, Nichelle, waited for us at the house so that she could assist us with the first round of introductions with Luna & Mouse (our Catahoula & Doberman). It was pouring raining when we pulled up at home so we were a little bit stressed about how we were going to be able to follow our plan for the introductions. I had been doing considerable research on the best and less stressful way to allow everyone to meet, and my conclusion involved all three of them having to be walked on leashes down the street from our house so it would be somewhat neutral. Our plan didn’t go exactly as we wanted because of the rain, but overall it went well. Luna was curious, but aloof. Mouse was not happy about the whole situation and expressed his disapproval by either barking when at a distance from Orso or refusing to acknowledge him altogether when up close. At the end of the day, though, we couldn’t complain given the circumstances. I felt the introduction went better than I expected. Everyone was brought into the house and no more contact was allowed for the rest of the evening. Everyone ate dinner, including us, which was graciously brought over by my parents, the loving puppy grandparents (see below). Orso cried every time he needed to go potty, which is a testament to Diane! No accidents in the house so far! Bedtime was perfect. Orso’s crate is temporarily in our bedroom so we can monitor him at night. He will probably be OK to sleep with the other two in the dog room in several weeks, but for now we felt it was more appropriate that he stay close to us at night. These are all the photos from Diane's house this morning:
0 Comments
With the stress of the puppy selection behind us, we went last night to celebrate our the addition of our newest (and cutest) family member at the Tampa Bay Brewing Company. Many toasts were made in honor of Orso throughout the night!
After a morning of some rigorous cardio to work off last night’s indulgences, we spent the day at Busch Gardens riding all the roller coasters. While standing in line for the rides, we took turns staring at Orso’s photos that I had uploaded to my Blackberry that morning. Everything we saw reminded us of Orso – little kids, baby hippos, animal topiaries – it was the beginning of an obsession! Dinner tonight at Ceviche in Soho was also in honor of Orso! Orso is one very celebrated little guy! If only he could have been there with us. We were just mere hours from picking him up and starting our journey home, but it felt like the time was dragging by! The day has finally arrived to meet Diane, Saggio, Alondra, the whole litter and pick out our boy! We left Miami at 7am with a mix of anxiety and happiness and uncertainty and certainty – all at the same time. I had a plan and we had practiced it in our heads over and over again. When we arrived at Diane’s house, we were greeted by an impressive pack of Cane Corsi! We had never seen one in person, so it was quite a sight to see the true size of these dogs! They were HUGE! And they were all kind, playful, curious and CLEAN!!! I entered the house armed with all my photography equipment and started to snap away – photos and videos alike! We immediately met Saggio and Alondra, along with several other Corsi who live indoors with Diane. After meeting all the resident adults and one spunky pup named Fin, we started our puppy selection process. Since the entire litter was blue, all 7 males were potential pups for us. Given that we were looking for a show quality pup, Diane had already narrowed it down to 3 pups for us. We entered the puppy room and met all 13 pups. Diane then separated the 7 males for us so we wouldn’t get confused with any of the females. After looking at all of them, she only left us with the 3 who were show quality pups. From that point on, it was so difficult to decide! Since this pup will also be a working pup, we went through the Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test with each of the three. Interestingly enough, the 3 we were looking at were the ones I especially liked from all the photos – the one with the dark blue ribbon, the one with the light blue ribbon and the one with the white ribbon. My immediate favorite was dark blue ribbon pup. Light blue ribbon pup had a great temperament and white ribbon boy had a fantastic head. Dark blue ribbon though was the best of it all! Amazing bone structure, daddy’s famous head and the boldest character of all of them – he scored consistent 3’s on the Volhard Puppy Aptitude Test with a 2 and 4 here and there. I was set on him! He took a bit more convincing because dark blue ribbon pup has some brindling, which we were not planning to pick a pup who wasn’t solid blue, but he was just so perfect that it was the right decision! At the end of this entry is a video of the 3 pups playing tug. So, after spending almost 3 hours at Diane’s house, we left with a warm and confident feeling that this delicious pup was our guy. Having said that, we are proud to introduce to you Mar e Sol Orso di Costa Bel! For anyone who may be wondering, “Orso” means bear in Italian. Today we sent a very long email to Diane with a ton of questions! We had a 45 minute conversation working out the last minute details. Ears have been cropped but no photos have gone out. They must look funny all taped up! 2 days until we meet our boy! Wow, we are really excited!
We heard from Diane – she emailed us with feeding instructions. No photos though! I can tell by her email that she must be going nuts over there. I am sure we are not the only ones counting down until the day they get to go home!
From Diane: “The day for the babies to go home is approaching quickly. I am attaching the feeding schedule to this email. I will send you home with enough food for several days and a good supply of the supplements. Have a nice weekend!” Our day to pick up our puppy is quickly approaching! We have decided on a name, ordered pet ID tags, purchased a harness, collar, 3 beds, an exercise pen, a crate for upstairs and a whole bunch of toys! We haven’t heard from Diane in a little bit, and we have not wanted to bother her since we know she has her hands full with all the growing pups. Their ears should be getting cropped soon, so we might be getting an update or photos soon…
|
YVONNE
|