This is what he looked like when I picked him up last Wednesday, July 29. He was one day short of 8 weeks old and weighed 14 pounds 9 ounces. His full name is Brando II, as there apparently was one Brando before. This is what he looked like that first day.
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:
