peek-a-boo!

it's our baby! so in addition to wanting an excuse to put a picture of our pooch online- not much happened today- but the weather was nice enough to take her to the park- and we were home at a reasonable hour before the sun went down . . .

this is amber, although we often refer to her as any number of other nicknames from ham (for the camera and as much attention as she can get!), pepe (her tail curls like pepe le peu at times- and she occasionally releases 'le peu'), miss snarly pants (she's very moody and thinks that we're afraid of her ferocious, and harmless, snarl as she wrinkles her nose), and even on occasion the simpsons references lamp and puppy goo-goo . . . regardless- she's our babe- we love her and adore her and are better people with her in our lives . . .

now a little bit about amber . . . she is not my first ever pet, but she is my first independent pet . . . after graduating with my undergraduate degrees from ohio state, i joined teach for america and taught 6th grade science and social studies in rural north carolina . . . during my first year, i decided i wanted to get a dog and a cat- and i would start with the kitten so that she could still maintain some dominance when the puppy outgrew her . . . i started reading mostly about puppies that winter and had been looking online and through rescue groups for both- the kitten and the puppy- the last week of school, i went to a local shelter to look at kittens and ideally adopt one (there were so many cute pictures online and i was so certain i would find a kitten that i bought food, dishes, a litter box, collar and leash- for a kitten) . . . well- most of the kittens looked a bit sickly and none of them seemed all that interested in me- so i decided to walk down the puppy/dog aisle . . .

that . . . changed . . . everything . . .

you see- there were these eyes- so big, so brown, so sad, and they just quietly stared into me . . . all the other dogs just barked and barked, but this little black thing just looked eagerly upon me . . . what did i do? i opened her cage- she came to the edge and her tail wagged . . . i asked the staff guy about her- how long she had been there and what her outlook was . . . she had been dropped off nearly 2 weeks ago (she was only 6-8 weeks old when i saw her!) she had been left with her 3 brothers and sisters and he thought she was a shepherd/chow mix . . . since she and her sibs could share a cage- and they were young- they were fairly safe- now that her sibs had been adopted (because they were solid black- whereas she looked like a rotti pup) she was nearing a possible super sad fate if more dogs came in . . . that literally broke my heart and i told him i would be back- and with that- he said he would hold her . . .

why didn't i take her that day? well- at the time my landlord didn't allow dogs, i had an appointment to see a possible townhome i was hoping to rent for the 2nd year, and i wanted a bit of prep time as well as the ability to take her straight to the vet before i took her home . . . needless to say- once i saw the townhome, i was excited- they would allow a dog! and i couldn't think about anything else that night- i went and bought puppy food and some toys and made plans to pick her up the next day . . .

so that saturday to the shelter (where she promptly went #2 on the floor of the office and got all waggy), then the vet (where she weighed in at about 4#, we received her de-wormer and special soap and she sat patiently on the counter as we checked out) and back home and straight into the bathtub we went . . . now the first weekend i had her was scary- and the following monday she spent the day at the vet so they could observe her and get her nutrients to stay down- since then she is a puppy vacuum- and we recently got her a special food dish with obstacles (stay tuned) . . .

i really wish i had realized that i wanted to post about amber before now- because i don't have any electronic versions of her puppy pictures . . . but i will try to scan some this weekend- they are completely adorable - she could steal anyone's heart - and she still can . . . as i've rambled on about our meeting, i'll save more details about her for later . . . as i could talk about her forEVER!

(picture taken on our second road trip as she took control of the back seat :)