Almost Paradise

We have a new puppy. He’s a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, just under three months old, and we’ve named him Farley.

Judy and I had started talking about the idea of getting a third dog more than a year ago. Rusty, our Tibetan Spaniel, is almost three years old now, and Kirby, our Shih Tzu, will be ten this spring. The two of them have formed a close little mini-pack. I suspect Kirby often views Rusty as an annoying yap machine, but Rusty is really, really attached to Kirby. When we take Kirby out of the house for his grooming and vet appointments, Rusty goes into a deep mournful funk until his return.

While we don’t like to think about it, it’s an unavoidable fact that one day Kirby will be gone, and we have to plan for that. Kirby is in his middle age, and he’s slower than he used to be, but he’s certainly not ready to go just yet. We decided that it would be best to add a new dog to the mix well in advance of the first sign of Kirby’s decline.

So Judy started researching dog breeds again. She was again looking for a good companion dog, a small house dog. One who’d be compatible, size- and temperament-wise, to the two we have already. She settled on the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and inquired at Pet’s Central (where we’d gotten both Kirby and Rusty) as to availability. On Wednesday, Judy got a call. They’d just gotten in a batch of Cav puppies, and might she be interested?

We were there that evening. Tommy was beside himself with excitement.

There were four Cav puppies there, but one caught Judy’s eye almost immediately.

He was smaller than the other three, and quieter, but still very friendly.

And he had such a cute face.

We took him to a cubicle-sized enclosure where we could play with him for a bit. Judy and Tommy were in love. I have to admit, he was a sweetie.

We signed the papers and paid the money, and Tommy said goodbye for the night.

We brought him home the next day, Thursday afternoon. He’s only about three pounds, a lot smaller than our two grown dogs who’re about fifteen pounds each. I’d forgotten how small and frail puppies are!

So far he’s been surprisingly well behaved, and his housetraining is going well. Kirby barely notices him. Rusty was suspicious at first but is slowly warming up. Judy thinks that when Farley is a little bigger, he and Rusty will be great playmates as they seem to have comparable energy levels.

Good lord, we now have three dogs and a cockatiel in the house, and six turtles in the yard. Welcome to the zoo.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 21st, 2007 at 11:55 pm and is filed under Animals, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.