Day 1

Anne and Dia in the back yard

My best friend of 38 years, Celeste, came up from RI to pick up Dia with me.  She brought a small crate from one her small dogs, we put a blanket and a toy in it and set out. 
 

About half an hour from our destination, Carol (the breeder) called to say that Dia and several of the other pups had some diarrhea and/or vomiting that morning and she had a vet appointment set up for shortly after my arrival.  So we got there, each of us picked up a puppy, and we set out for the vet.  It was clear that the collar I bought was going to be much too big for now.
 

It wasn't all that long ago that the pups had been to that vet for their first shots and, despite the amazing Great Dane sculpture that greeted us in the lobby, the pups...and especially Dia...were not pleased to be there.  We had no crates, no collars, no leashes...just me, Celeste, and Carol holding squirmy, whiny puppies.
 

Dia, of course, made the most noise of any of them and seemed to be fairly certain that death awaited in that little back room.  But we persevered and eventually they settled down on the cool top of the examining table.
 

Nothing too horrible occurred.  They each weighed in...10.5 lbs for Dia...and each got their temp taken...all normal.  The vet suspected nothing out of the ordinary, sent us away with some little pills in case it was a rotavirus and another dose of de-wormer and we were on our way. 
 

Celeste and I left from there with our bundle, with Celeste driving and me in the back seat with the crate but holding Dia.  After whining loudly for about 20 min and trying to crawl on my head, she looked over at the crate, walked in it and went to sleep with her head on a rope monkey.  She stayed there for the rest of the 1.5 hr. trip, made longer by accidents and traffic jams from those looking at them.
 

On arriving home I closed the crate door for the first time as we carried her down to the fenced-in back yard.  Out she came and the above picture was taken.  She did her business, she explored, and we played a game with her kibble to teach her to come.  She did pretty well with all the distractions around...including the black cat watching from outside the fence.
 

Celeste had to go back home and after a bit more outside (with Dia getting her head stuck between fence post and house), Dia and I ventured into the kitchen.  Lots of exploring, discovery of toys, and one accident on the kitchen floor.  We practiced "down" with the trash can and the counter and the table and the microwave stand a number of times.
 

She didn't seem ready to conquer the stairs, so in the next phase I carried her up where she found her larger crate, more toys, and the giant, omnipresent toy called the carpet.  We went out several more times (no more accidents), I fed her a bit more (being careful after the dietary upset in the morning), and let her drink once more before picking up her water at 8 pm.
 

She began to wind down about 9 pm so we went out again and I decided to just get ready for bed myself.  She followed my every footstep, and then we went out one last time about 10.
 

Into the bedroom we went...her first time really exploring in there.  I put the smaller crate that Celeste left beside my bed and she went in and out of it a couple of times.  Then she discovered the mirrored closet doors and bit the nose of the other dog she saw there several times.
 

I climbed in the bed, which is clearly where she also wanted to be.  But it was too high for her to get up.  I didn't even try the crate...we both needed each other.  So I lifted her up and, like spoons, we slept...more or less...until 6:30 am.

Click on the PuppyBlog tag below for more posts about Dia.