Arrival!!

I'm going to fast forward here a bit, and continue the backstory later...Lolli arrived a few days ago, on Wednesday May 20, 2009.  We (Miguel...my boyfriend and I) drove to LAX with Lula's breeder K, to pick up two puppies from Quantas Freight.  When I started searching for an MBT a few months ago, K and I started talking about bloodlines, and how difficult it can be to find suitable pairings for breedings when the gene pool is so small here in the U.S.  I was very interested in M's Australian bloodline, and I was so excited to find out that she and K are actually friends.  Largely because of K's recommendation, M agreed to sell me a female puppy, and K decided to import a male.  They are from different litters, allowing us more flexibility later with breedings.

Anyway...LAX.  We arrived at around 11 a.m., and although the puppies had landed over an hour before, they were just arriving at the freight terminal when we got there.  After showing the Quantas folks our freight receipt, we then had to wait while they faxed and received faxes from God only knows who.  In the meantime, the kind lady at the counter let us go in back and say hello to the puppies, and although we couldn't yet take them out of  their crates, we did get to pet them through the crate bars.  To my complete amazement, they were calm and relaxed...happy to see us, but in no way unduly stressed or nervous after probably 18 hours crated and a 15 hour flight.  Of course my camera chose this moment to run out of battery power.  It was so hard to walk away from them, but after a few minutes we went back to the counter, where our faxes had arrived.  We then had a five minute drive to U.S. customs, where more mysterious paperwork occurred, fortunately taking only maybe ten minutes or so.  Then back to Quantus, where after paying them $30...again, not sure what for, they released the puppies to us!

When we got to the van, we sat the crates inside and let the pups out!  Lolli was a little goofball right from the start...we knew she'd need to pee so we put a collar and leash on her and tried to find her a spot to go.  Lolli, however, had other more important things on her mind, and she started rolling, jumping, bowing and playing...obviously thrilled to be out of her crate.  I expected both pups to be covered with pee and poop, and although both had peed their blankets, each had only made a small poop, and both managed to shove their blankets to cover it up.  Consequently, they were a bit stinky, but not too dirty.  Lolli was too busy celebrating her release to be bothered with trying to go again.  I felt terrible putting her back into the crate for the drive back to Lorie's, but to her credit she just relaxed and fell asleep until we got there.

At K's, we took the two pups out back to let them run around and stretch their legs...then I held them one at a time so that K could trim and file their nails.  Lolli accepted this stoically, as did Leroy, although with a bit more protest.  Shortly thereafter, Miguel and I decided to start heading back to Las Vegas, as it was three hours more of driving and we wanted Lolli to have time to get settled when we arrived.  

So, now it's Sunday afternoon, and Lolli has been here since Wednesday night.  She is adjusting beautifully!  She accepts her crate with very little trouble, has had very few "accidents" (and we know who is to blame for the ones she has had - her two legged keepers!), she's trying to make friends with Toby (Miguel's 9 year old beagle - he's warming up slowly, but surely), she is well on her way with her "sit" and "down" commands, she has figured out the doggie door (although not its primary purpose, of course), and has shown a penchant for cuddling when tired.  Everything we hoped, and more.  Her nickname right now is "Land Shark", due to those unbearably sharp puppy teeth that she takes great enjoyment in using on any exposed flesh.  I would despair at her reluctance to be corrected for this if I didn't remember that Lula was exactly the same...almost fiendish in her delight in leaving holes in my hands, arms, and ankles.  Lula slowly outgrew it and I have faith that Lolli will too.  Lolli also despises her collar at the moment and it's at once comical and sad to watch her walk sideways as she tries to simultaneously scratch it off, run and play.  She ends up tipped over on her side as often as not!  I have however noticed significant improvement today...she seems to notice it less and less.  Again, Lula went through the same thing, so I know that within the week, Lolli will forget about it entirely.