On February 19, 2002, we made the 30 minute drive to go pick up our new puppy. He had spent the night at the home of one of the women from the company who found him for us. We walked through the door of their place and our lives changed forever. The minute I set eyes on the golden ball of fluff that the woman was holding, the entire world went away. He was just beautiful and appeared to be everything we had asked for.
Before we left with our new guy, who we had already chosen the name Simon for, there was paperwork to sign. With that, we recieved Simon's AKC registration forms which stated his birthday as 12-17-01, his certificate of pedigree, and an application to register his microchip. We were also given, folded in an envelope, an invoice stating what shots he had and when he had gotten them prior to that day. That invoice was on "The Hunte Corporation" letterhead. Neither myself or my husband paid any attention to the invoice in that envelope. I don't even know that we ever even looked at it. Not that it would have mattered at the time. We had no idea who the Hunte Corporation was.
So, we took Simon home and began our new life with our very first puppy. The first few days were not easy. I had never had a puppy before and had to learn the whole puppy raising routine. But, it didn't take long, and we fell in love with him. I remember our first walk with him, not too long after we got him. We took him down the street to meet our friends. We tried to put him on the leash but he wasn't ready for that yet, so we walked without it, one of us behind him, one in front. He was just amazing because he just followed us, without stopping to sniff or check anything out. He went where we went. It was so cute, too because he was small enough yet that he couldn't get up the curbs by himself. His didn't have the coordination yet. He also had to be carried back. The 2 block walk was too much for him. I don't think I will ever forget that day.
There were some things we noticed in those first few days and weeks, and one that sent us to the vet on numerous occasions. First, Simon didn't smell like a puppy. He smelled dirty, and it was a smell that no amount of bathing could get rid of. After a few months, it did fade, but it was not the way a dog should smell. Also, we noticed that the fur around one his toe nails was missing and the nail appeared to have had an infection. It healed fine, but there is still no hair there. The final thing was that his belly was black in color and had some bumps. That was the thing that took us to the vet. After 2 or 3 different opinions, it was finally diagnosed correctly as a staph infection. The veterinarian that saw him said he could not treat it with antibiotics because, for a puppy Simon's age, it was best to let his immune sytem kick in and fight it. If he gave him antibiotics, it could stunt his immune system. So, all we could do is wait it out. It did finally go a away a few months later.
In the meantime, we fell further in love with Simon as he began to develop his personality. He was basically a big happy puppy, but he had started developing little quirks and every new one was an amazing discovery for us. I was working from home and spent 24/7 with him so he and I were always together. If I got up to go anywhere, you could bet my little shadow was right behind me. He was really a good puppy. He was housetrained pretty fast, and never chewed on anything he wasn't supposed to. He had a great personality and we couldn't have asked for a better puppy.
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