Katiie’s Beer

Kirby today, at eight weeks old

Our family got our first dog on Friday. His name is Kirby Puckett. Why name a dog after a baseball legend? Well, during Mr. Puckett’s memorial service I heard one former teammate, Kent Hrbek perhaps, mention that there were many dogs in Minnesota named Kirby. For some reason that statement struck me. What an honor to have people name their pets after you! I made a little mental note to add Kirby to our list of names for the dog we were considering.

Kirby at one month old

My son and husband have been talking about getting a dog for a couple of years now. They even added Grandpa Roger as a lobbyist for their cause. But without my support for the project, the bill always failed. I always had good reasons not to get a dog: I work, the kids are in school, it costs money, etc. However, as my son got older, I started to have regrets about not making room in my life for a dog.

When we visited my husband’s sister’s farm at Easter, we looked forward to seeing the week old puppies born to their pure bred golden lab mother and excellent hunting dog, Jade, and an unknown black lab father from a neighboring farm. She gave birth on Palm Sunday to a little of ten pups: five golden labs, three black labs and one pure white lab. The lone male black lab caught our attention right away.

Here are the Palm Sunday pups!

That day, we knew we would be returning to take home Kirby when he reached 8 weeks of age. That day was this past Friday. Actually, Grandpa Roger was nice to meet us halfway with the dog, since the farm is a three hour drive for us. We’ve spoiled Kirby already. He has his own bedroom complete with the baseball memoribilia and decor from when it was my son’s old bedroom. The room is also our computer room and will eventually be an office/study when we can afford to buy new furniture for it. For now, is a perfect spot for a puppy named Kirby Puckett.

Kirby’s favorite things

What does the well-spoiled dog have, besides his own bedroom? He has his own central air vent, which he LOVES to lay next to. He has a kennel, which he likes so far, and he has a blankie, a sheepskin bed and three toys: a red tennis ball, a rope toy and a stuffed pheasant toy.

Kirby’s kennel

Kirby’s baseball bedroom

Kirby was very lethargic on his first day home, to the point of not standing up on his own. Turns out he had roundworms, like 75% of puppies. We dewormed him and he’s doing much better now. We used Heartgard Plus and it worked well. The worms were 6 inches long! Yuck! He has his first vet appointment on Tuesday and we’ll check again.

He slept for about three hours at a time the first night. He really whined and whimpered LOUDLY so we tried the car carrier in the bedroom trick and it really worked! I just had to talk to him and he’d fall back asleep. I’ve figured out that when he wakes up, we’ve got less than 60 seconds to get him outside before he goes to the bathroom. The second night, last night, he slept for close to six hours, went outside to go potty and went back to sleep for a couple more hours. Since the weather is so very hot, he’s gets worn out being outside and naps better. He’s recovered from being so tired all day and is very energetic. Not wild, but very full of life. He pounces on things and plays fetch. His very favorite thing is to stretch out in the grass on his belly and nibble on some grass.

The first two days he took to the lead/leash pretty well, but today he threw a tantrum! Just like a toddler - whimpering, crying, squirming. Sheesh! I need to separate walking time from outdoor play time, so we will get outdoor area set up so he can just go out and play. I keep reminding everyone that he will be 100 pounds in a year and we don’t want a 100 pound maniac in the house. He’s very submissive, which is good. Hopefully he’ll stay that way, but he’s just a pup so who knows…

Hope you are having a good Memorial Day. It\’s awfully hot here…I suppose it is there, too.

Tags: son, dogs //