Sometimes, your puppy needs another puppy.
In January of 2014, I was at my part-time job as a receptionist. I worked 2 hours every night and then 5 hours on Saturdays. No one came in Saturdays so I usually spent those hours on assignments from school. The evenings weren’t terribly busy either, so I had some free time on my hands some nights.
This one particular night, I decided to browse Craigslist. Not for anything specific, just check and see if anything caught my eye. Out of curiosity, I checked out the dog section. Low and behold, a title did catch my eye, posted just minutes before: “Pure bred collie puppies for sale.” Before I knew what I was doing, I had scrolled through the pictures and was already in love with the tiny little babies and dialing the number at the bottom of screen.
Juliet was still pretty rowdy at 3, and she needed a playmate. Emma was 14 and nearing the end of her time with us, so she wasn’t up for playing with Jules much. Since I had gone back to school and dad had remarried, retired, and started a new job, Juliet was home with just Emma quite a bit. Emma liked to sleep all day so Juliet didn’t have much to do.
The woman on the phone was very nice. I asked how many female puppies she had left. She told me that in the 15 minutes since she posted, 6 of the 10 puppies had already been reserved. I set up a time to come visit the remaining female puppies that weekend.
Just as a preface, I was living at home with my dad. I knew he wouldn’t want me to get another dog, but I was planning on caring for her just as I had Juliet. I also knew the financial responsibility I was getting into as well. But I knew that he wouldn’t want another one. So I played my cards carefully (sorry dad, but I really wanted her!)
When I went home that night I started just by showing him the pictures of the puppies. He said they were cute but didn’t say much else. I never directly asked him if I could get another dog – because I knew if he said no, I would be disobeying (was I 24, yes, but I was still living under his roof). I casually dropped the line that I was going out there to meet the girl puppies left, but that didn’t mean anything. “We don’t need another dog,” he said. “I know,” I paused. “I’m just looking, daddy.”
Yeah, no, I was going to get one of the puppies no matter what.
I drove out to Prole, Iowa, about 30 minutes away, to meet the young pups. They were all too young to be taken from their mother, so I really was just going to pick one out. The woman had even told me over the phone to bring a collar so they could put it on whatever puppy I chose to mark her as reserved. I had already been studying the Craiglist post daily, and one puppy stood out more than the others. Her markings were beautiful, and she was marbled in color, with the sable, white, brown, and black fur.
When I arrived, I was stunned at the large house on an acreage with long circle drive going back to the house, where they told me to park. I could see the mom and dad in a little wooden paddock that had an opening to an extremely large yard. I went to say hi to the parents (they were both gorgeous dogs) when I got out of the car. They were standing on their back legs with their front paws over the gate. Hyper and excited, they showered me with kisses.
The woman’s husband came out of the house and asked if I was Bailey from on the phone. I said yes, and he led me towards a garage that was connect to the paddock with the puppies. When I showed the woman’s husband the picture, he knew which little girl I was talking about. “Yeah, she’s still available,” he said. “I’ll go get her.” I waited as he went through the connecting door to the paddock. He returned within a few minutes, holding the smallest puppy I had ever seen. She was only about 4 weeks old and just snuggled against me as I held her.
“Yup,” I said without hesitation. “She’s the one.” After a few minutes of cuddling, I reluctantly gave her back along with the puppy collar I had purchased. He slid it loosely over her little neck. “Alright, then,” he said. “We are planning on having them all ready to go by Feburary 12th or 13th. Some people are giving the pups as Valentine’s Day gifts.” I smiled, but also knew I had to figure out a way to make a new puppy seem like a good idea to my dad without him outright telling me ‘no.’
“We will give you a call when you can come pick her up,” he said, returning her to her mom. “Sounds like a plan,” I said, already anxious and excited for my new little one for Juliet and I. I decided to spend the next two weeks getting ready for her and trying to think of a name.
Two weeks took a long time, in my mind. I had almost settled on a name when I got the call I could pick her up on the 13th. I had outright told my dad I was picking her up that night. Again, he never actually said no. So when I told him, he just said, “She’s gonna be your responsibility!” I reassured him that I could take care of her. He had to work that night so he left before I did to pick up our newest family member.
My friend Emily joined me on the ride to pick her up and bring her home. I was so excited the whole way there. I had already set up a small kennel for her in my room with a little squeaky toy waiting for her. Emily and I discussed names and I told her I was mostly set on the name Luna. She liked it. Wondered if I got the name from something like I had for Juliet. “No… it’s just been floating around my mind and I can’t shake it.”
When we arrived, there was a quick exchange in the garage of money for the puppy. She had doubled in size in the two weeks since I’d seen her last. She was still just as cuddly. I let Emily hold her on the drive home. I firmly decided on Luna for her name as we drove back to my house. Emily would groan every few minutes and laugh.
“What?” I would ask each time. “She keeps drooling on my hand!” she laughed. We figured it was just because she was sleeping on and off during the ride home (I later found out that Luna gets carsick… the drooling only happened around food and when we were in the car, shortly followed by puppy puke).
We let her do her business in the cold air when we arrived home, and then took her in to meet her siblings. She was still so small. Smaller than Emma. Juliet had been 12 weeks when we brought her home. Luna was only 8 weeks.
We set her on the floor in the living room with Juliet. Jules was so excited to see Emily that she didn’t even notice Luna until she tripped over her. Then she was sniffing her all over and trying to figure out who this little new dog was. Emily and I giggled when Juliet lost interest and Luna just sat on the floor watching us. Emily scooped her up and we both jumped onto my bed to snuggle with Luna and let her play with her new little squeaky toy. That was when Juliet got jealous.
Juliet had never once jumped on my bed. Just like she never goes upstairs, she never jumps on anything higher than the couch cushions. But that night, she sprang onto my bed like she had been doing it her entire life just so she could check out Luna some more. Emily and I watched her with curiosity, as Jules had never been around a young puppy. She always was the young one. So when Luna reached for her little squeaky toy, Juliet growled. Emily and I both snapped at Juliet, telling her “no” and protecting Luna with our arms. Juliet jumped off the bed and went back in the living room to pout.
As the night went on and Emily went home, Luna fell asleep and I put her little self into her new kennel. She immediately woke up and began to cry. I figured I’d let her cry it out and fall back asleep. But she just kept crying! I broke and put her up in bed with me, where she snuggled up and immediately fell asleep. Of course.
Dad got home and peeked in to see her. I told him her name and how Juliet had reacted. He just nodded and all he said was, “She is a cute puppy” as he turned to go upstairs to bed.
The next morning I had my 5 hour shift at work, so I took Luna in her little kennel with me. She slept most of the time, ate a little food and drank a little water, but mainly slept. I let her play in the backyard with Juliet when we got home. Juliet was still unsure of Luna, but Luna was definitely not unsure of Jules – she followed her all around the backyard that was filled with snow. She loved her! Juliet had seemed to come to accept her over that afternoon, though she still maintained her dominance. The two were like mother and daughter after a few days, with Juliet bathing Luna like she was her own pup. She still cleans Luna’s face to this day, always making sure to get her eyes and ears clean while Luna closes her eyes and gets her face wash.
As Luna got older, her personality came out. She was very vocal, preferring to howl whenever dad or I came home, making us laugh every time. Dad fell in love with her, which made me laugh since he didn’t even want her in the first place. She loves him too. So much so that whenever he comes back from California (where he currently lives part-time with his wife), Luna will pee with excitement when she sees him. Luna loved to run and be chased by Juliet, and visa versa. She was the perfect playmate. She was wild, too. We joked that Luna was short for “Lunatic,” as she just wanted to chew on sticks and run.
Juliet became noticeably calmer after we had Luna for a time. She took on the roll of a mama and it seemed to age her by years. But the two were never far apart from one another.
Luna turned 3 this last December 28th. She is still wild and crazy, still loves running like a mad dog and stripping the bark off of sticks and fallen tree branches. She cries when she can’t keep up with other dogs – which is astounding because she runs fast. Makes it horrible to catch her if she ever gets out. She’s still naughty as can be, too. She likes to test the boundaries with us when it comes to commands and rules. For a long time, she wouldn’t come in from the backyard unless you propped the door open and walked up the stairs to the kitchen (my boyfriend ended that REAL quick). But she’s still the same goofball who loves to run and stand on your chest in the morning to wake you up. And she still melts your heart with her goofy and sweet personality.
We figured out this winter that Luna is having seizures. She’s had three so far over several months, but we can’t seem to determine the trigger. She hasn’t had one in almost three months, though, so we are hopeful.
She’s still my baby and my naughty little puppy. And no, she never slept in her kennel again during the night. She’s either curled up on a couch with Jules in the living room or lying in bed with me these days, as she’s gotten much more snuggly… and she still hasn’t lost the softness of her puppy fur so she is a great snuggle buddyJ
Oh, and just an FYI? Do not get two collies if you hate dog fur. They literally lose fur in giant chunks during the summer months. I think it’s worth it, but then again, I’m their mama, so I might just be a touch biased ;)
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