Introducing Poppy – our boxer puppy

Last Updated on 14 August 2020 by Colette

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Remember a while back I wrote a post about all the reasons we shouldn’t get a puppy? Well, they were all sensible reasons, and many of them still stand . . . but all the reasons for getting a puppy are stronger.

This is Poppy.

Dave and I had agreed that we’d get a boxer puppy later this year – probably September when all our summer adventures were over – the camping trips, the festivals, the long charity bike rides . . . but as it became clear that these things wouldn’t be happening and that all our 40th birthday plans were going to be cancelled, we decided to bring our puppy plans forward.

I’m sure it won’t surprise you to know that we hadn’t told the kids anything. When we bundled them into the car early on Thursday morning they didn’t know where we were going – only that it was quite a long drive, “longer than to Granny’s” and that they’d have to stay in the car while we “did a job” and then we’d come home again. They are so good on long car trips now that they didn’t bat an eyelid at being in the car for almost four hours straight.

We hadn’t met Poppy ahead of buying her, just seen photos and video, so there was always a risk we might choose not to go ahead with it. But as soon as I saw her, I knew she was ours.

We took her out to the car and the kids’ faces were a picture – they were so excited – but also managed to be really sensible and not shriek or make a fuss so as not to frighten Poppy. The patience they showed on the drive home when they couldn’t see Poppy properly (she was sat on my lap) was immense. Amazingly Poppy stayed awake for the full two hour drive home!

She’s been with us for three days now and has settled in beautifully. The first two nights have gone really well – I’ve stayed up late with her and then Dave has got up really early to make her nights quite short while she gets used to being on her own. I’ve moved the Blink camera so that we can see her and check on her during the night if we wake up – each time I’ve done she’s been fast asleep! Fingers crossed it lasts! (At least this time we haven’t got a puppy and a newborn baby!)

The only stumbling block we’ve come across so far is that due to the country being on lockdown, vets are only open for emergency treatment and apparently vaccinations don’t count as urgent. Poppy obviously had her first set of vaccinations with the breeder and is due her second round sometime after next weekend. Our local vets use a different brand of vaccination and said they would have to start her again – but can’t do it because of the lockdown. We found another vet using the same brand of vaccination but they’ve said the same thing – her vaccinations are not classed as urgent care so they won’t give them to her. I know that in the scheme of things they aren’t “urgent” but it’s definitely a worry that she will be housebound for longer than is usually necessary. If she doesn’t get her second jabs within the given time, she’ll have to start the vaccination process again once lockdown is over – this could see her in the house for months and of course this could adversely affect her socialisation.

Today, when we took the kids out for their daily walk, I took Poppy out in my arms for a short time – I wore a hat to make sure I looked a bit different to what she’d seen so far and took her around the block so she could experience the sights and smells. (This post from Cat the Vet on facebook has lots of helpful tips if you are in a similar position)

So Poppy is our little ray of sunshine, the silver lining to all our 40th birthday plans going to pot and is providing the most amazing distraction from the current life situation – if puppy spam is your thing, pop over and follow us on instagram as I can promise there will be plenty there!

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