More Puppy Business

Well, we met with the puppies again, and decided on the one currently called Poochie. As I've already said, this name has to go; its not terrible by any means, but it always reminds me of an odious character on an old Simpsons episode, and that's not a fair way to start life. He's brown and black and grey with white patches -sort of a beagle pattern- and has grown tremendously since we last saw him. He is slightly more docile or deferential than his brother, Doggo, who is grey all over. They both bite everything in site and are incredibly enthusiastic. They love to play fight with each other or whoever else they can engage. And they are fairly free with peeing but tend to go more outside than in the house. So we've got some major work cut out for us.

We're going to keep them at Isabel's house for two more weeks of being together and with the older "mentor" dogs, then bring them into our own chaotic home. That gives us a little time to get all the chewable things (less furniture) out of reach, and a little planning time for figuring where everything will go. It also gives me time to finish my puppy guide I'm reading, for whatever that's worth.

We had lunch there and spent a good part of the afternoon playing with Sam and the puppies (including a little kiddie pool time), and the weather really cooperated. At the end of our time there, Andrea's friend and co-worker Nicola came by and agreed to adopt Doggo, too! So they will both live in Kimihurura -our neighborhood- and have some visit time and maybe even occasional shared walks.

One of the reasons it's good they're coming in two weeks, is because we are expecting houseguests starting tomorrow evening (ash-cloud willing). Tanya and Alistair are our British friends by way of New Orleans, and their son Edwin is one of Zoe's favorite people in the whole world. They'll stay a week, including a Gorilla safari for the grownup guests and me, which I'm really looking forward to. I'm sorry I won't have our good camera to bring with me, but I'll just have to remember the experience.

Thanks to Isabel for loaning her camera.

Call For Submissions

We have decided to adopt a puppy. Our friends Isabel, with her daughter and son, have been foster-parents for some puppies she found abandoned on the side of the road about three weeks ago. She brought them home and cleaned them up before calling Jode, an American veterinarian who runs a small nongovernmental (NGO) project here, trying to empower women to raise goats for milk to produce cheese. Jode looked them over and figured they were then right around two weeks old, and with bellies full of worms, but otherwise healthy.

There were three but one was adopted in the first week, and taken to live in the new family's house immediately. After our robbery, we told Isabel we'd like to come over and meet the puppies, to start thinking more concretely about bringing a dog into our house. We found two tiny soft fuzzy creatures, full of enthusiasm and friendly as can be. Do I need to mention they were adorable? Probably not. Anyway, Isabel has two elderly but active African mutts already, and is moving back to London in a year, so has no space for any more. So these little guys are in a home with older mentor dogs and children, and we really liked them both, one grey, the other black with white spots.

It took a week or more for us to really feel like we are ready to make this leap, but we have committed. Crossing the Rubicon for us was the Amazon order of puppy supplies for a few hundred dollars for delivery in our big consumables shipment leaving the US soon. It's amazing how complex it is to set up for one of these simple tiny creatures, but then again, we're trying to buy everything at once for the first two years of life.

So the difficulty we face most immediately is a name! We have come up with several that we like, though none that feels perfect yet: Sherlock, Watson, Sven, Ole, (Andrea's not so crazy about the last two), Thor, Ponchatoula, Pontchartrain, Boudreaux, Thibodeaux, Ignatius, and Zoe's contributions, Chewbacca and Bobby. Please, let us know if you have any interesting names, or any opinions on the above names. We'd like his name to mean something or be interesting in some way, such as a figure from literature or history or a movie, or with an interesting meaning behind the word itself. We need your help! Please leave comments at the bottom of the post.

PS We're hoping to see them this weekend, and will post photos after that visit.