For The Love of Mika!

So Mika was the largest puppy there, but she also happened to be the most timid. She spent most of her first class at puppy preschool hiding under the chair. Whenever she dared to peek out at the big scary world, we'd shower her with treats. Towards the end of the class when all the other puppies were winding down, she felt brave enough to come out and wanted to play!

One of the vet nurses said she looked like a baby giraffe compared to the other dogs, which I suppose she did. She was spent when she got home and slept...well...like a baby. So cute to see her all curled up into a tight little ball, dreaming puppy dreams.

It's been a very special week for us since Mika came home.

Lots of heart clenching "aww" moments. Many cuddles were had and lots of getting to know each other. It must be so scary for a little puppy to leave the warmth and security of her mum to enter a new environment where absolutely everything is foreign.

Mika was nine weeks old when we brought her home. Most breeders will let you have their pups from six weeks old, but we are happy that she got to stay with mum and her siblings that little bit longer.

Mika had her first vet visit this week and she was petrified! But once she got treats and won over the hearts of the girls at the animal hospital, she decided that it wasn't all that bad. She took her two needles like a champion and wasn't crazy about having her ears cleaned, but she really wasn't expecting the thermometer "up there". Who would?

Still getting used to the idea of being completely responsible for this little girl who is depending on us for everything! Likewise we have a lot of learning to do. I'm enjoying it! :)

We spent most of the time on the drive down to the breeder and most of the drive back talking about what to name "the puppy".

We went through a whole bunch of names, but we couldn't find anything that we both agreed on. The breeder affectionately called her "Patch" because she has a tiny white crest on her chest, but that didn't feel right to us. We had about a week to think about it and get back to him so that he could submit her papers. The pressure was on!

Finally when we were on the final stretch of highway on the way home, in the final 20 minutes of our 6 hour journey there and back again, we had a breakthrough.

I was driving and looked over and said, "How about Mika?"

At that moment, puppy looked up at me. Dad mulled the name over and said a tentative, "I like that one".

We've been asked since if we named her after the singer Mika. The answer is no. We lived in Japan for a while and have a beautiful friend called Mika, whose name we love because it's short, elegant and sounds cute. The name itself appears to have several meanings, but the one we giggled over the most was "beautiful fragrance", because there were times there on the drive home when the fragrance was anything but beautiful!

After much researching and a few disappointing leads, we set off early one sunday morning and drove for three hours to meet our (maybe) new puppy.

Lets just say that we didn't even stand a chance! It certainly was love at first sight when we met our curious little girl. She was absolutely beautiful and we were smitten.

This is her on the right meeting dad for the first time at the breeder's home.

Strange how things work out because we wanted a red doberman and the last puppy the breeder had in his litter was our little red girl, waiting for a good home :)