FAQs

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Puppy!

Lowchen puppies. Born May 5th, 2012. Photo taken May 14th.


We have some very exciting news to report from our household. On Friday of last week we officially committed to a puppy from the litter pictured. Our new little girl will be coming home sometime during the week of July 1st. 


For several months now we've been discussing, researching and making decisions about whether or not to bring a new dog into the family. I've been having lots of heart to hearts with Asher about getting a sibling, but he has not given me any sort of definitive answer about his feelings on the topic. 


What started the search and the desire for a new dog is my desire to have a companion animal for emotional and physical support. I spend my days at home, mostly quiet and resting, and feel that the snuggle time with a dog would be very therapeutic. Asher is always near me, but he isn't into a lot of cuddling. Getting a new dog is part of our way helping me to live the best life I can with my illness. It's been so helpful to focus on the puppy search in the midst of everything.


I'm so excited to finally be able to say we are getting a new family member! Some history indicates that the Lowchen used to keep princesses company in the middle ages. I think I will just wear my tiara while I hang out with our new dog! :) Oh wait, I don't have a tiara! :P  Searching for our new family member has been a very time-consuming but exciting process...and we know the adventure is only beginning!  





The puppies sunning on May 14th. Two girls and one boy.


Here's a little more about our journey to this dog for those of you who are interested. I'll try to answer the most frequently asked questions I get when I tell people we are getting a new dog! :)

Do I have a name picked out? No. I am carefully looking through my Jewish baby name book and the name will be a surprise. When we adopted Asher I had two names picked out and did not decide on a final name until the moment I met him. 

What breed are we getting? A Lowchen

Why did we pick this breed? We first fell in love with the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel but after a couple of visits with acquaintances who had them, we found the shedding to be too much for us. We knew that this time around we wanted to focus our search on dogs bred to be companion animals. We needed to find a dog that was non-shedding, good for allergy sufferers, and small (but not too small) in size so that both of us could lift it for the entirety of its life. This pretty quickly narrows the breed choices! 

Our biggest focus was to find a breed that was well-tempered. The Lowchen is a companion animal that is a good fit for the elderly (hence a good fit for me! :)), good with children, good with strangers, good with other dogs, playful and joyful, not excessively barky, and very adaptable. They enjoy walking, but do okay if they miss a walk. Basically our focus was on Temperament, Temperament, Temperament! Another plus about the Lowchen is that, because it is fairly rare, it is generally a very healthy breed. The coat can be kept in a puppy cut and the dogs don't mind being fussed over and brushed.

What does a Lowchen look like? Cute! :) They come in a variety of colors--it looks like ours may be gray and white, as the puppies will lighten and change as they grow. When used for show they are  presented in a lion cut, which we will not be using. We will keep our dog in a puppy cut to keep it manageable for us. You can also leave them long. Here is a link to a video of a full-coated Lowchen in action (not from the breeder we are using). You'll fall in love, I promise. They are about 9-18 lbs.

Why did we get a puppy? Why didn't we rescue a dog? Ah, if I could only express how much and how carefully we weighed this decision. We ultimately felt that, after advice from others, Asher might respond better to a puppy than an older dog. We also found it hard to find rescue dogs that were small and non-shedding. Mostly, we had to decide what we could handle and what would most enhance our lives right now. We felt that we had the most chance for success in choosing a puppy from a breeder that we truly trust. Making this decision was not easy and I do still feel guilt over not rescuing a dog. I also know that adding more stress to our lives by bringing in a dog with significant health or behavior challenges is not fair to myself or to Mom. I cannot bear to add things to our lives that add to Mom's stress.

Where are we getting the dog? We will be getting our puppy from a breeder in NY. She has been amazing in emailing with me and answering any question I ask her. After a LOT of dialoging with her, we decided that she was the person we wanted to work with. She is so committed to her dogs, making them homemade food, going to dog shows, only breeding one to two litters a year, etc. that we felt very comfortable with her. She even emails me updates on the puppies as to how they are growing and what changes are happening (i.e. their eyes opened on Saturday!).

When was the last time we had a puppy? Um, 1990. So, if you have any favorite books or DVDs--especially DVDs since reading is so hard for me--we're all ears. We are in for an adventure. Basically we have blocked out the next several months to be completely puppy-centered. :)

Thanks for sharing in our joy and excitement! I'm over the moon!

Blessings,

Emily




Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Mom Time: Birthday and Mother's Day!

Look at these gadgets!


In addition to Mother's Day, Mom celebrated her 67th birthday. To keep her 'hip', I loaded up my old iPod full of tunes and gave her my previous camera. She was SO excited about her new gadgets! :) 

For her birthday, we went to the Farmer's market together, something we haven't been able to do together in a long time. The rain let up just enough for us to go. We had sushi, a big salad, and a fresh chocolate torte from the market for dinner and dessert, giving Mom a much needed night off from cooking. We topped off the day with an episode of her favorite show, and our favorite show to watch together, The Good Wife. 

Mother's Day was rainy and dreary, so we ended up snuggling up in bed for another episode of The Good Wife in the afternoon and one in the evening. It felt completely relaxing and indulgent just to watch some TV and have a quiet day together. No gifts and no cards on this day.


She's already used her red cast iron pot from Jeannine several times. Her beloved one from my grandmother had seen better days.
We're working very hard to make holidays less stressful. I feel a lot of pressure to show my mom (and others) appreciation through gifts and cards, but I increasingly have less energy to do these things. If I'm stressed about getting a gift made or a card made, I find that I'm not able to be present just to spend time together. So, we really focused the two days on simple, satisfying ways to spend quiet time together. 

She has taken the pressure off of me. It is me who has to let go of the unrealistic expectations of myself.



Make a wish!

Thank you to my mom for showing such resilience, patience, strength, adaptability, and grace in the face of our very new and different life. We so often focus on the person who is sick, but without caregivers like my mom, I would not thrive in the ways that I do. My life is immensely blessed by having her as my mom. Every day she takes care of all of my instrumental activities of daily living without complaint or resentment. She has learned to find enjoyment in things that I can also enjoy. We have created a new life filled with lots of love.

I love you, Mom.

Emily


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Gotcha!

Open these new treats, will ya?


We celebrated Asher's Gotcha day last week. He celebrated by opening a box full of goodies. 

We can't believe we've had this handsome little guy for 10 years now! 


Look what I found in that box!

We love you Mr. Fuzz, and we thank your foster mom, Jean, for brining you into our lives.

Blessings,

Emily