Our Pup Zinnia

Unlike Jon, I  haven’t written much about the new puppy we’re getting.  That’s really so much his thing, writing about dogs.  But that’s not why I haven’t done it, Jon and I can write about the same thing and we will write about it very differently.

I haven’t written about the puppy, because I was waiting.  Waiting till it felt to me like it would really happen.

Even when the Garnett, the mom gave birth last Wednesday, I wasn’t ready.  But then, as Jon and I were driving home on Sunday from our weekend away, the breeder called Jon and said she had a pup for us and she was cashing the deposit check he had sent her.

So now I’m ready to accept that we really will have a new puppy at the farm in just 8 weeks.

And I’m not really surprised, even though I was being cautious.  Because there have been some telling signs since the beginning.

The first was that just a few days after Red died, Gretchen, who was the breeder of our Lab Lenore,  emailed Jon and told her about her friend who was a breeder and had a dog who she believed was pregnant.  And strangely, the breeder’s name is Lenore.

Then Jon came up with the name Zinnia for the puppy since it’s one of my favorite flowers.  We’ll call her “Zin” a good one syllable dog name.

I vaguely remembered, years ago when we were lambing, that my friend Suzy (who I named my sheep Suzy after) mentioned Zinnia as a good name for a lamb.  A few days ago, I texted Suzy telling her name we decided on for the puppy and asked if she remembered suggesting it for a lamb.

She did.  She said she liked to give the kids of her goats a name beginning with the same letter of the mother’s name.  She had suggested the name “Zinnia” for Zelda’s lamb. But Zelda’s lamb was stillborn and I never mentioned the name to Jon.

Then, on the day we euthanized Zelda, Garnett’s puppies were born.

Garnett had three female puppies.  Lenore has been sending Jon photos of the puppies since they were born so we’ll be able to watch them growing up.  Then when they’re five weeks old, we’ll be able to visit our pup and see and hold her for the first time.

As we got Fate to be my dog after Frieda died, Zin will be Jon’s dog.  But just as Fate is on her way, right now,  to The Mansion with Jon to do therapy work, I have a feeling Zin will love to go for walks with me and Fate in the woods.

I’ve begun seeing pictures of Zin in my mind and trying to send them to Fate and Bud, to let them know she’s coming.   Jon and I are thinking about where her crate will be in the house and where she’ll sleep.

I seem to have forgotten what a pain in the butt a puppy can be, right now I’m only remembering the good parts.