New furry family member Finn

I kinda figured our Pepper girl would be lonely since Chorkie went to live in Austin with our older daughter and Ollie passed away. That's my excuse for cruising over to the cairn terrier breeder's website where we got Pepper almost six years ago. And boy am I glad I did since I discovered she decided to retire from breeding these sweet dogs. As luck would have it, two of her females had final litters this spring. Meet our newest family member, Finn, born on April 19.

 

 

Isn't he a cutie? So much so that I haven't minded my empty nester life being turned a bit upside down to accommodate this little guy's needs... much. Just like childbirth and bringing home a newborn, you forget all of the time and energy a puppy takes until they get past this stage. The transition to life away from mom and littermates that entails pitiful crying and whimpering for several nights. The need to puppy proof the house, investing in several new baby gates to protect our lovely zebra rug on the dining room floor. Taking this tiny-bladdered creature out into the backyard every hour or so to keep him from using my new living room rug for his personal toilet. 

It's a lot of work, y'all, but that precious face makes the effort worth it. He turned ten weeks old on Wednesday, so he'll need to mature a bit more before we can begin the serious kennel training. He's now my constant shadow, and Pepper has been really patient with him. The little fella stays busy trying to gnaw on my furniture, locate roly poly bugs on the back patio to eat, and fetch his favorite toys. Since he's still a baby, his motor runs down throughout the day and he flops down for naps. Sometimes he does the dream paddling and appears to be remembering nursing, so he makes little smacking noises and his tongue sticks out.

The younger daughter joined me on the drive to the breeder's ranch up in the northernmost part of the hill country to fetch him. While there, we got to see Pepper's mother Trudy (see below). She's an old girl at eleven, but is in good health and seems to enjoy her grub. I can relate!

This post will serve as a warning that you'll be swimming in puppy pics and anecdotes on my blog for the rest of the summer. There's nothing sweeter than a baby animal. And they're always doing cute things. Oh Lord, I'm praying for strength of purpose, mindful consistency and patience as I weather the next few months with our growing Finn.