75 Mindy Hammond It’s puppy love as the Hammonds welcome a new four-legged friend
You may recall our plans for a new family member and the excitement as along with 10 other prospective owners we counted the days down to the “puppy party”. When the puppies celebrated being in the world for six weeks, we all converged on a house in deepest Somerset for a pink, blue, green, purple, orange or red letter day.
Sam, the breeder, would tell us who was matched with which pup on this important day and as we all sat on various picnic rugs and cushions under a canopy in her garden, there was an undeniable buzz in the air. Between us, several hundred miles had been travelled to meet the puppy that would join our families.
Sam’s daughter, Emma, ceremoniously handed each of us our own “magic” envelope, inside which was a coloured ribbon that matched a ribbon around the puppy’s neck.
Sam beamed, “Please wait until everyone has their envelope and I’ll tell you when you can open them.” Moments later, checking the pups were behind the back door, she announced, “OK everyone, time to find out which baby is yours.”
Willow tore open the seal and grinned, holding up a pale blue ribbon – it was the puppy we had both bonded with on our first visit.
As we all celebrated, the back door opened and 11 bundles of joy came trotting out in their gaily coloured ribbons. Our boy was a little hesitant at the crowd that had invaded his garden, but soon came over to investigate and promptly clambered on to Willow’s lap for a cuddle and a snooze.
Everyone was delighted with their puppy, although after an hour of fuss and excitement it was time for the babies to go back
indoors before the hot weather and giddy atmosphere overwhelmed them.
Sam went on to more important matters – training and aftercare. Each of us would receive a bound folder on collection of our puppy in a few weeks’ time. It covered everything from management of different types of coat to feeding, crate training and basic obedience. We each completed a form for microchips – to include our puppy’s name – and I had to apologise to Sam and her daughter.
“Erm, I hate to tell you this, but we’ve decided on a different name. We thought Hendricks sounded a bit harsh, so we’re going to call him Ojo, after the girls’ favourite character in Bear In The Big Blue House. It kind of feels a bit similar to TG, too, and we sort of need to pay homage to her.”
“Oh, OK,” Sam smiled. “I’ll be sure to tell Emma. She’s been calling him Hendricks.”
I grimaced, “Uh-oh, I hope he doesn’t get confused.” “No, he’ll be fine,” she assured me. “It’s still early days.”
We were treated to a visit from several of Sam’s other ’doodles and her Bernese mountain dogs, all wagging their tails and desperate to meet everyone. Coulson, the new father, was especially fond of one lady in our group and decided to sit on her lap, but even though he is the size of a German shepherd, he was greeted by cuddles. We had all made a decision to welcome a large, sometimes over-affectionate woolly dog into our lives, so Coulson’s behaviour came as no surprise.
Izzy had been at work and Richard about to land when we left for Somerset, so we took lots of pictures of Ojo and both of them were delighted to know the pup we had nicknamed “fat boy” (he is the chubbiest of the litter) was going to be ours.
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve had daily updates on the puppies’ progress and on Saturday, at eight weeks of age, most were collected, ready to start their lives in their new homes. Some cried, some were a little car sick, but all were quick to embrace their new surroundings. Ojo and three of his litter mates are staying with Sam a little longer. It’s holiday season and, like us, some of the other owners are delaying collection until they’ve had their stint in the sun, even though it means Sam moving house with four extras.
In three weeks’ time Sparrow, Dimple Chicken, Blea and Captain will meet their new brother and at the rate he’s growing he’ll be the biggest of the bunch on arrival. It’s going to be a busy summer. We can’t wait.