Thanks Barbara! Yes, I think we're on the same wavelength. We're taking toys and a blanket that has both our smells and Nyx's too.
And that's it! We're leaving tomorrow, at around 6/7 am, so in 6:30/7:30 hours. All going well 8 or 9 hours later we should be getting to the city close to where we're getting Kuma. Then on Monday, we'll meet Silvia and Kuma and a bunch of beautiful Akitas and Shibas. Most likely, on my next post I'll already be telling you stuff about the little guy! Unless we have internet at the hotel...
I am soooo happy for you!!! Quite exciting. Definitely take lots and lots of pictures. One thing I did, was measure Mika....throughout the months. Unfortunately, we moved and we stopped doing it, but it was fun.
We're very tired, and I missed Nyx a lot. It was a hard day on all of us. Rui's just come in after a walk with Kuma - I'm 'stuck' in the bedroom with Nyxie until the vet sees them.
I have lots of pics... we just have to figure out logistics first though!
So, I'm already in bed while Rui's still running around the house. I have to take care of little kittie, you see.
So, I'll make myself useful here and let you know about our drive.
First of all we met Silvia at around 1pm CET. She invited us in, we saw Shibas and a couple of Akitas. Kuma and his bro were still in the pack, but the girl, named Sanae like her mum, has already been adopted by someone in the UK. She was very nice, such a warm person! We even met her aunt, a little old lady doing crochet!
There wasn't time to see the adults, unfortunately.
We made it out about an hour or so later and the journey started off a bit badly. I stayed at the back with Kuma all through and at first he was very restless - he peed twice - thankfully the first time not on my lap and the second I had already made sure the seat cover was also covering me.
I have to apologise for the lack of technical info/detail that a dog lover might think of adding - I'm still a cat person, ergo, I have started with peeing problems with dogs!(Nyx is reading what I'm typing, so I better be careful !!)
I did the best a beginner owner could - I cuddled, stroked, cooed over, tried to hypnotize the little (haha, yeah - Nyx is a little over 500g and this guy must already weigh 8kg!) guy to keep him calm feeling safe and sleep. I think that by and large that mission was accomplished. We stopped off to let him drink and pee some more. He's a very sweet dog, really, it's nice when he looks up at you with those pretty eyes and whines (ooooh yes the little guy whines!)
Oh, we already have 2 nicknames for Kuma - 'El gordito' (the fat one) and Teddy.
We arrived in Lisbon and passed by Rui's parents' house so they could see our second bundle of joy at around 10pm. They love him and he licked hands happily (although he might have thought the hands came bearing treats). We got here, I got all my cat's stuff in the bedroom and then we got him up and he ate, pooped in the kitchen and the rest you know..
Now Rui's in the next room, the study/spare bedroom with 'El gordito' and I'm with Nyxie Pixie - we just spoke to each other through the wall... our own Berlin Wall...
So now it is 1am here, and I'm starting to finally relax. Kuma is sleeping about 2meters aways from me. He started on the vetbed I got and worked his way out from over it. Then he went for a bit of water and fell asleep by the water bowl. I'm so tired right now after 1600km in a day and a half...But it is all worth it, and felt even more worth it when he got comfortable to sleep with his head on my legs as I sat on the floor. Right now it's just such a big mix of being tired, happy and scared at the same time.
Can anyone see the slide show? On the finished post I can't, but if I do a preview, it's there. Strange...Brad, can you help me out a bit? I'm feeling a tad stupid.
Going back a bit, to something I forgot to say, although Nat did: Silvia was great with us! She's a very nice person, gave us all the information we needed, the info we asked for and the info we forgot to ask for. She has loads of beautiful dogs, and she knows loads about them. I wish everyone that get's a dog from a breeder could have such a nice experience.
Congratulations! What a beautiful boy you have there. Now get some sleep, from what I've heard, you're going to need it! And keep sending pictures!!!!!!!
I'm so happy for you guys, I'm glad the drive went well. Congrats! I'm so stoked to watch him grow. :c)
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As for the slide show, I looked at the src and saw that you can view it in the preview but it breaks in the page... I think it might be escaping the SRC URL that Google adds to the embed code... I'll look into it. sorry. :c(
The little guy just woke me up whining a bit, and he peed in the study (that's going to need some work) and now he's back to sleep (it's freakin 6am!!!).
Brad - Thanks, but don't worry about it. I thought I was doing something wrong. I'll just put up the link or something.
What a darling! Great pictures, it was like he was posing for the camera. Be prepared to be sleep deprived for a while. Congratulations and have fun with your new furry baby.
Thanks Patty! Actually I've been sleep deprived for a week or so, hehehe, and these last three days were kind of a straight big day...We are pretty tired...
This was Rui. I'm on Nat's laptop and somehow it sign me in as her...
This is Natasha again... seems like I had an intruder
Kuma isn't very energetic, he just slobs around the house really. Rui said he's active outside on the lawns especially. At the apartment, he either gets up to follow us around (he has a thing for my toes it seems) or else he slips a quick pee. It's over in a flash before we can reprimand him in the act - I think Rui caught him in the act while I was having a shower a little while ago. This makes me appreciate cats even more - I've never had this kind of problem with them
Frequent sneezing is something I'm a little concerned about (in Kuma) - he only did it a couple of times during the ride but it got worse at the apartment. I hope he isn't allergic to the cat! Anyway, we are going to the vet in less than an hour so that should be taken care of.
From Nyxie's POV, I'm trying to stay with her as much as possible to make sure she doesn't feel forgotten. I am not sure Kuma is aware there's a cat in the house, but Nyx is smelling something's up! We're trying to keep them in different parts of the house until we get the go ahead from the vet.
He is kinda lazy and mellow around the apartment. He's either sleeping or eating or drinking or peeing (that's what he does the most) which i think is only normal for a baby his age. He has a lot to grow and needs every bit of energy to do so. He does play on occasion, and he's quite strong. When i take him outside after he's eaten so he can poop, things change. He starts running around and inspecting every bit of grass and leaf. The stupid thing is that the lawn close to our building is full of landmines other people left there. So he's always trying to sniff them. I stop him from sniffing the ones I can perceive, but some he manages to get close before I can stop him. I'm worried he might get something out of them.
We went to the vet with the kids today.Both got weighed, Nyx is now 700grams(200grams increase in a week!!), and Kuma is 6,6Kg. Nyx got her first shots and her claws trimmed. She put on a show to let them trim her claws, hehehe. The vaccines went considerably smoother. Kuma just got a quick check since he came vaccinated from Silvia, and dewormed too. We just arranged for me to deworm him and then go there for the re-vaccination.. The assistant was thrilled to see an Akita pup!!! And today we had a few questions like "What breed is he? - Ah, never heard of it!" "do they get big?" Kuma is a sport, meets everyone with a wag, doesn't shy up or show any sign of aggression. The little guy is so mellow that a HUGE Rottweiler came out of the vet straight to him, trying to sniff him and he didn't even react. I tried to keep the Rott from him, cause the Rott was kind of a brute, and eventually picked him up, cause the Rott's owner didn't seem to be able to control him veru well. Kuma didn't even make a sound.
On another note, Kuma loves to pull fleece fibers from his vetbed. I had to correct him 4 times, the final one I might have hurt him a bit, poor guy. Does anyone know if those fibers are harmful to him, or just innocuous? I guess I should correct him to avoid him doing that to other pieces of clothing or so, but it kind of made me feel bad for hurting him. He stayed away for a while but he's back now.
That Rott was HUUGE and the owner was half the size of Rui, if that!! He was short and light, looked like a mechanic or something. The dog was dragging the owner I just stood aghast!
That's all good news! He sounds like a "proper" Akita, confident and cool... I'm so stoked for you guys. You will get so much attention due to El Gordito, Hilo gets more attention than any of our other dogs!
He sounds like Hilo, Hilo is VERY chill in the house (sometimes you don't even know he is the room with you), then you get him outside and he is a crazy man! It took Hilo a bit to learn he needed to hold his bladder till we got him outside, but once he got it he never had accidents again (unless he is sick).
Pick him up and play with his feet a lot, get him real used to being touched, the last thing you need is 90+ pound Akita that doesn't wan you to touch his feet!
Comments
Thanks Barbara! Yes, I think we're on the same wavelength. We're taking toys and a blanket that has both our smells and Nyx's too.
And that's it! We're leaving tomorrow, at around 6/7 am, so in 6:30/7:30 hours. All going well 8 or 9 hours later we should be getting to the city close to where we're getting Kuma. Then on Monday, we'll meet Silvia and Kuma and a bunch of beautiful Akitas and Shibas. Most likely, on my next post I'll already be telling you stuff about the little guy! Unless we have internet at the hotel...
I am soooo happy for you!!! Quite exciting. Definitely take lots and lots of pictures. One thing I did, was measure Mika....throughout the months. Unfortunately, we moved and we stopped doing it, but it was fun.
We've just arrived home!!!
With Kuma!!
We're very tired, and I missed Nyx a lot. It was a hard day on all of us. Rui's just come in after a walk with Kuma - I'm 'stuck' in the bedroom with Nyxie until the vet sees them.
I have lots of pics... we just have to figure out logistics first though!
Hugs to everyone!
Woooo Woooo! (That's a Hilo celebration sound)...
I have been waiting for you guys to get home, so how is he? How was the drive with him? How was Silvia?
Take your time and get situated, then please spam us with lots of pics! :c)
Congrats!
So, I'm already in bed while Rui's still running around the house. I have to take care of little kittie, you see.
So, I'll make myself useful here and let you know about our drive.
First of all we met Silvia at around 1pm CET. She invited us in, we saw Shibas and a couple of Akitas. Kuma and his bro were still in the pack, but the girl, named Sanae like her mum, has already been adopted by someone in the UK. She was very nice, such a warm person! We even met her aunt, a little old lady doing crochet!
There wasn't time to see the adults, unfortunately.
We made it out about an hour or so later and the journey started off a bit badly. I stayed at the back with Kuma all through and at first he was very restless - he peed twice - thankfully the first time not on my lap and the second I had already made sure the seat cover was also covering me.
I have to apologise for the lack of technical info/detail that a dog lover might think of adding - I'm still a cat person, ergo, I have started with peeing problems with dogs!(Nyx is reading what I'm typing, so I better be careful
I did the best a beginner owner could - I cuddled, stroked, cooed over, tried to hypnotize the little (haha, yeah - Nyx is a little over 500g and this guy must already weigh 8kg!) guy to keep him calm feeling safe and sleep. I think that by and large that mission was accomplished. We stopped off to let him drink and pee some more. He's a very sweet dog, really, it's nice when he looks up at you with those pretty eyes and whines (ooooh yes the little guy whines!)
Oh, we already have 2 nicknames for Kuma - 'El gordito' (the fat one) and Teddy.
We arrived in Lisbon and passed by Rui's parents' house so they could see our second bundle of joy at around 10pm. They love him and he licked hands happily (although he might have thought the hands came bearing treats). We got here, I got all my cat's stuff in the bedroom and then we got him up and he ate, pooped in the kitchen and the rest you know..
Now Rui's in the next room, the study/spare bedroom with 'El gordito' and I'm with Nyxie Pixie - we just spoke to each other through the wall... our own Berlin Wall...
Hey you guys!!
So now it is 1am here, and I'm starting to finally relax. Kuma is sleeping about 2meters aways from me. He started on the vetbed I got and worked his way out from over it. Then he went for a bit of water and fell asleep by the water bowl. I'm so tired right now after 1600km in a day and a half...But it is all worth it, and felt even more worth it when he got comfortable to sleep with his head on my legs as I sat on the floor. Right now it's just such a big mix of being tired, happy and scared at the same time.
I'll go prepare some photos to post...
So here go some photos Nat took on the drive home (probably the longest drive of my life, both in length and relative time to complete)
Hope this works, it an embedded slideshow from Google photos
View Album
Get your own
can't see slideshow but went to the link.
awwwwwwwww im melting in cuteness
Thanks Rina! He is as cute as they come!
Going back a bit, to something I forgot to say, although Nat did: Silvia was great with us! She's a very nice person, gave us all the information we needed, the info we asked for and the info we forgot to ask for. She has loads of beautiful dogs, and she knows loads about them. I wish everyone that get's a dog from a breeder could have such a nice experience.
I think there are laws against being that cute,
Congratulations.
He has such a wonderful little face.
He is going to bring you a LOT of joy. I know it.
Oh WOW! He is so cute! :c) He looks so happy!
I'm so happy for you guys, I'm glad the drive went well. Congrats! I'm so stoked to watch him grow. :c)
---
As for the slide show, I looked at the src and saw that you can view it in the preview but it breaks in the page... I think it might be escaping the SRC URL that Google adds to the embed code... I'll look into it. sorry. :c(
Thanks guys!
The little guy just woke me up whining a bit, and he peed in the study (that's going to need some work) and now he's back to sleep (it's freakin 6am!!!).
Brad - Thanks, but don't worry about it. I thought I was doing something wrong. I'll just put up the link or something.
Thanks Patty! Actually I've been sleep deprived for a week or so, hehehe, and these last three days were kind of a straight big day...We are pretty tired...
This was Rui. I'm on Nat's laptop and somehow it sign me in as her...
Too cute. I never really want a puppy except for when I am looking right at one, then how could you not want one?
You guys are going to be great doggy parents, congrats on your newly expanded family.
This is Natasha again... seems like I had an intruder
Kuma isn't very energetic, he just slobs around the house really. Rui said he's active outside on the lawns especially. At the apartment, he either gets up to follow us around (he has a thing for my toes it seems) or else he slips a quick pee. It's over in a flash before we can reprimand him in the act - I think Rui caught him in the act while I was having a shower a little while ago. This makes me appreciate cats even more - I've never had this kind of problem with them
Frequent sneezing is something I'm a little concerned about (in Kuma) - he only did it a couple of times during the ride but it got worse at the apartment. I hope he isn't allergic to the cat! Anyway, we are going to the vet in less than an hour so that should be taken care of.
From Nyxie's POV, I'm trying to stay with her as much as possible to make sure she doesn't feel forgotten. I am not sure Kuma is aware there's a cat in the house, but Nyx is smelling something's up! We're trying to keep them in different parts of the house until we get the go ahead from the vet.
He is kinda lazy and mellow around the apartment. He's either sleeping or eating or drinking or peeing (that's what he does the most) which i think is only normal for a baby his age. He has a lot to grow and needs every bit of energy to do so. He does play on occasion, and he's quite strong. When i take him outside after he's eaten so he can poop, things change. He starts running around and inspecting every bit of grass and leaf. The stupid thing is that the lawn close to our building is full of landmines other people left there. So he's always trying to sniff them. I stop him from sniffing the ones I can perceive, but some he manages to get close before I can stop him. I'm worried he might get something out of them.
We went to the vet with the kids today.Both got weighed, Nyx is now 700grams(200grams increase in a week!!), and Kuma is 6,6Kg. Nyx got her first shots and her claws trimmed. She put on a show to let them trim her claws, hehehe. The vaccines went considerably smoother. Kuma just got a quick check since he came vaccinated from Silvia, and dewormed too. We just arranged for me to deworm him and then go there for the re-vaccination.. The assistant was thrilled to see an Akita pup!!! And today we had a few questions like "What breed is he? - Ah, never heard of it!" "do they get big?" Kuma is a sport, meets everyone with a wag, doesn't shy up or show any sign of aggression. The little guy is so mellow that a HUGE Rottweiler came out of the vet straight to him, trying to sniff him and he didn't even react. I tried to keep the Rott from him, cause the Rott was kind of a brute, and eventually picked him up, cause the Rott's owner didn't seem to be able to control him veru well. Kuma didn't even make a sound.
On another note, Kuma loves to pull fleece fibers from his vetbed. I had to correct him 4 times, the final one I might have hurt him a bit, poor guy. Does anyone know if those fibers are harmful to him, or just innocuous? I guess I should correct him to avoid him doing that to other pieces of clothing or so, but it kind of made me feel bad for hurting him. He stayed away for a while but he's back now.
Sorry for the long post...
That's all good news! He sounds like a "proper" Akita, confident and cool... I'm so stoked for you guys. You will get so much attention due to El Gordito, Hilo gets more attention than any of our other dogs!
He sounds like Hilo, Hilo is VERY chill in the house (sometimes you don't even know he is the room with you), then you get him outside and he is a crazy man! It took Hilo a bit to learn he needed to hold his bladder till we got him outside, but once he got it he never had accidents again (unless he is sick).
Pick him up and play with his feet a lot, get him real used to being touched, the last thing you need is 90+ pound Akita that doesn't wan you to touch his feet!