Month: August 2009
First Ventures Out
Day 12


A huge milestone
One reason I’ve started this blog is because I can’t remember from one puppy to the next when they got over the worst of their puppyish behaviors. But last night something wonderful happened: Brando slept quietly from 10 p.m. to 5:55 a.m.
Will this continue? I’ll report it here first!
On other fronts, he has peed in the house 6 times since we got him. He has not yet pooped in the house, and we fervently hope he never will (though if he doesn’t, that will be a first in all our dog-raising experience.)
One thing for sure: he already understands the CCI “Hurry” command (which applies to both urination and defecation.) He pees every time we take him outside and tell him to hurry.
But among the budding bad habits: he LOVES digging.
Meet Brando!!!

I got him to the vet’s by 8:40 a.m., and there things got crazy. At one point he had a massive diarrheal attack (in the back room), and the vet tech was telling me it was almost certainly parvovirus (which can be fatal). I okayed a parvo test (cha-ching! $32), and of course that came out negative (as I had been certain it would, considering how meticulous the CCI breeders are.) They gave him subcutaneous fluids and anti-nausea meds, and sent me home with special dietary dogfood (total bill: $155), but only after I had to endure a confrontation with the vet in which I had to order her not to do a stool analysis and blood panel (which would have added another $100 to the bill!)
It was all very exhausting. For Brando too apparently, who slept away most of the rest of that afternoon. But by Friday night, he had perked up considerably and seemed to enjoy being fawned over by our friends who joined us for dinner that evening. Our friend Howie Rowen took this wonderful shot of Maya Lau holding Brando: