Scratchings-and-Sniffings

Posted: 17 Apr 2009 11:33 AM PDT

We're up in Albuquerque catching a flight back east to visit some friends. The best pa Dr.-Larry-with-Miles rt of the trip so far is that we finally got to meet Miles, the Labrador Retriever puppy my daughter recently adopted. It's so great to have a new puppy in the family. We've not really gotten over the loss of Darcie yet and having a new puppy to play with and worry about will help us on that front.

My wife Chris and I were talking about how pets, especially puppies, can be a healthy addition to any family or individual. Like we discussed a couple of weeks ago on the PurinaCare blog, pets force us to live in the present. For a law student and single young woman like Claire, the present can be an imposing place at times. A world of all work and little play, plus the growing realization that most college boys are too immature to merit serious effort and attention, is not always a pleasant place to be.

But Miles has brought sweetness and light to Claire's world.

And today he did the same for us. Claire was in class when we hit the big city and we made a bee line over to Claire's hovel, er... efficiency apartment. Thankfully, Miles is not a stickler for cleanliness as Claire seems to have inherited her mother's penchant for tolerance to dirt and clutter. OK, enough of that.

We o

pened the door to Claire's place and out tumbled this little bundle of puppy. I had tried to envision what Miles would look like and he exceeded my expectations. He greeted us with the uncomplicated world view of the Lab puppy and we were immediately in love. You can see why from the pictures we took. By the way, he is a golden Lab puppy despite the dusty dirt spots he sports from rolling around in the dirt. New-puppy-Miles

He is clearly above average as Garrison Keillor would say. After he greeted us, he dutifully did his business, both number one and number two. We praised his efforts effusively and he seemed pleased with his civilized behavior.

Claire will have our car for a week and she is off tomorrow to purchase the appropriate puppy food, some chew toys and a crate. As a law student Claire spends some long hours in class and at the library. She tries to get home every few hours to let Miles out so he can poop and pee. She's read the puppy potpourri post and has focused in on potty training 101. Claire will be crate training Miles so he gets used to spending some time by himself without getting into any trouble.

Miles has had his first series of vaccinations and will return for his second round in a couple of weeks. He has an appointment to be tutored (neutered) in about a month. Claire is working on socialization and basic training right now. Miles already has playmates and older, well behaved mentors.

In short, he's off to a good start. And, as you can imagine, we'll be closely following his progress here on the blog.