A Different Post, Clemson and Gibbs

Park Place RV Resort, Quartzsite, AZ

On Tuesday, Feb. 15^th not much happened so I decided to swerve away from the norm. Let’s talk about puppies! ♥

The story began in 2004 when Bill and I decided we wanted a little 4-legged companion in our London home. We worked every day so it would mean some changes, a crate for daytime, learning training techniques (& following them) and all that after the search for the perfect pup.

Clemson comes home with us and our ♥'s are lost forever

In what we called the Penny Saver paper, we found an ad for cockapoos about 2 hours from home. Without even knowing what we were looking for, a cockapoo read to be the perfect fit. 😊 He was 7 weeks old when we picked him up from a country farm and he and his sister were the only two with tan markings, setting them apart. We preferred a male so we handed over the $400 fee and the little 4 lb. bundle rode home with us.

Clemson blended right in. His name came from a University town in South Carolina where their sports teams were named the Tigers. We bought his leash and collar before we even had him in our possession. He didn’t sleep in his little soft carrier for very long and Bill was soon lifting him out of it and up into bed with us. Woops! We broke a lot of ‘dog rules’, do’s and don’ts but he turned out pretty darn special. ♥

Look familiar? Gibbs does this too

Two weeks before his 15^th birthday, he fell back off the couch and splintered his leg in a couple of places. ☹ We had to say goodbye to our best little boy. It wasn’t easy, as many of you have experienced, but we had a good life with him and he had a good life with us. We've missed him terribly and i still say good night to our first little bum.

I didn't know if I could post this
but we were saying goodbye
to our best buddy

In the new year of 2021, I really, really, really started longing for another dog. I’d actually started thinking about it the previous winter, missing my little walking buddy. So, we talked about it over the winter when we were boarding in Paisley, Ontario. That was the winter when we couldn’t come south. ☹ Boohoo. It turned out pretty good, we made new friends and kind of decided on looking for a new puppy. NOT because of Covid-19.

They're blurry because they didn't stop!

On May 7^th, 2021 I was on Kiji, an online selling app (or whatever you call it). I found a few dogs, not cockapoos, that were available and since size of the dog as an adult was a big deal for us, we abandoned most. Then I found the perfect ad. Cockapoos within an hour from home. They were 8 weeks old and ready to go, now. We were on the road within the hour and began playing with the 5 remaining babies.

This is Gibbs
He chose his Daddy

Oh my, we put the females back into their pen and played with the males. The little guy we chose wasn’t interested in his brothers or sniffing the objects in the room. He was interested in his new Daddy. ♥ 

Our new baby

I won’t tell you the price but I will tell you, I thanked Mom for blessing us with this sweet little pooch. We brought him home that day. He slept in the living room in a Rubbermaid tub the first night and the next day we bought ‘stuff’.

He cried a bit his first night
but settled down each night after that

We’d given away or sold pretty much everything we’d bought for Clemson. The second night, he slept in a crate. He was also 4 lbs. and we also had his name picked out before we brought him home. It sure doesn’t take long to fall in love with a new puppy, a new dog, a new cat, a new pet, a new family member, does it?

In his new BIG crate
which he soon grew out of

Once we were convinced that he was content sleeping through the night, at a few months old, we brought him up into bed with us. It’s what we both wanted and had agreed to. We’ve never regretted it. Gibbs learned quickly, with a bell at the door to ring when he needed to go out, he sat, shook a paw and lay down for treats within the first month. We’re still working on other things but we’re getting there. 😊 We’ve surpassed his 11-month birthday and he continually makes us laugh and loves to cuddle.

Only a few days after being with us
he was already our entertainer

And already getting into trouble
We wouldn't trade our life with him for a second

Today, in a nutshell, Gibbs and I went for our walk, Bill skipped flying because of the strong wind gusts forecasted, and I started a new puzzle and got a few rounds of crocheting done on my blanket. We had leftovers for supper and tonight I watched This is Us on PVR and Dr. Oakley, Yukon Vet downstairs while Bill and Gibbs watched tv upstairs.

Our morning walk around the park's outside perimeter

Speaking of puppies, this well behaved
pup sat in the lawn chair and watched us go by
Not a peep

ridiculous fuel prices
This is the cheapest station around and it all just went
up over the last few days

The winds were to die down tonight by 10 but they did reach gusts of 30 mph. today. Lots of dust blew around and my counters have a thin film again. LOL We didn’t drop below 70F today which was nice but we’ll be in the mid 60’s over the next couple of days.

Finishing off with Gibbs and Daddy
For once, he's preventing someone else from doing their
hobby. ♥
good night!

Thank you for your visit. I hope you enjoyed the puppy story. ♥