Leuca's Homecoming

The big day couldn't come any sooner. Vince, Amanda and I were excited to pick up Leuca on the weekend of December 19 eventhough, snow was in the forecast. Besides the weather and distance, Vince was working a second job, he was also asked to work on his regular job one day that weekend. But, as determined as a bully, my husband was not deterred to get his Christmas present on time and working so many hours without sleep did not stop him. Amanda and I felt the same way. We worked it out by sharing with the long drive and letting Vince sleep. I researched on the items that we thought we'll need when we take her home and purchased them online to save a few bucks. The the play pen/ baby gates came in early that week but the crate, the lounger, food bowl, toys, treats did not. We decided to bring blankets and have her sit with one of us in the back seat instead since her crate did not come in time. We also decided that we just pick up the puppy food on our way home from the local Petco. We also discussed an alternate plan just in case her crate did not come in time. I guess it helped that Vince and I have kids of our own and learned from experience that you can never be too ready even if you think you are. Plan for the unexpected....the only thing is that we did not know what else to expect so we decided to just go with the flow.

In Derby, we waited with the family for the breeder's husband to come home with the puppies. The husband took them to the vet for their first visit. All four puppies were in a crate for the first time. It was their first car ride. When they got home, the wife cleaned them up one by one with waterless shampoo as they soiled the crate by accident. The husband reported that the puppies did great at the vet and got their first vaccination shot. Our Leuca was 7 lbs. and 11 oz. The kids played with the puppies for the last time. A lady also came to pick up Leuca's sister, the white one, whom we called NomNom during our first visit. The lady called her Libby. Libby was a Christmas present also to her parents. She was later called Sophie.

We stayed for a bit while Leuca socialized with her littermates, the breeders and their kids and with us, of course. It was a great beginning...


Such as life, you can never be too ready and then something unexpected happens. On our way home, I sat with Leuca in the back seat, while Amanda took the wheel. We stopped at a nearby Arby's for a very late lunch but didn't want to leave Leuca alone so we took turns to use the bathroom and ordered in the drive through instead. Leuca was asleep. After we were done we gave Leuca some water and took her out by a grassy area to see if she needed to potty. She didn't go and was shivering. It got nippy out and soon it started snowing.

We continued our journey home. While in the back seat, I was massaging Leuca's skin and saw a flea. We didn't quite know what to do. I called the breeder to warn her that perhaps she got it at the Vet and that the others may have it too. She said, just wash her when you get home with a dish detergent. It will be fine.

It was almost 6 pm when we got back to Jersey. The 2 hour ride became 3 and Leuca slept or sat quietly in the car the whole time. It was snowing hard and it was windy. In New Jersey, we bundled Leuca up in a blanket and took her in our local Petco to get food and some flea medication. Everyone we met there was immediately drawn to us and smitten by Leuca. Everyone had an advise to give, including which Vet to go to. Everyone just wanted to touch her. Poor Leuca was so tired we had to say no to her fans.

We made it to the register and ended up getting her the Wellness Puppy Food since they did not have the Solid Gold Puppy food we originally wanted. We also got her a natural flea spray made with rosemary. Since she was only about 8 weeks, she was not allowed any other type of flea medication. We decided to take her to the Vet on Monday to get her checked out.

As soon as we got home, we sprayed her with the flea spray, combed her and gave her a nice warm bath with her new Procare Melaleuca shampoo. We opted to use natural products to heep her healthy. I continued to comb her fur after blow drying it to make sure I could get out all the fleas. Thank God it was not that much.

Vincent's cousin, Michael, stopped by the house that night, with his 6 year old daughter, Annie. Unfortunately we were not sure if Annie should be handling a puppy with fleas so she had to watch her from a distance. Mike helped us assemble her crate. The items we purchased online including her crate were delivered and left on the porch while we were out.

Finally, Leuca was groomed. It was time for her first meal in our home. Feeding time was a breeze. She was very hungry and ate everything we gave her. That same night we decided, we start a book log to monitor and note Leuca's daily activities.