Clara Comes Home

Clara's adoption day has been long awaited. I first met her when she was only two weeks old. She had just opened her eyes and could barely walk. She could lie down across my legs and not take up my whole lap.

Precious, Right?

Anyway, Jarrod and I have been going to visit her periodically, and in between times we have been nesting. I always knew expecting mothers went through this process, but I did not know it also applies to expecting pet-adoptive parents. It does. I think we have dropped at least $200 at Petsmart in the past few weeks, and Miss Clara has everything she could ever need. I got excited the first day and bought her a tiny bed, because she was so tiny. I have to constantly be reminded that she, unlike the Yorkie at my mom's house, will not be a tiny puppy forever. 

She likes it, but it's not exactly the right size.

It's hard to believe how much she's grown in the three weeks we haven't seen her Below are pictures of our visit when she was 4 weeks old, and her adoption day, when she was 6 and a half weeks old. Pretty sure she doubled her size. She now weighs 13 pounds. 

Since her homecoming, Clara has been a busy girl. She has already gone to visit both sets of grandparents and met their dogs. Boo liked her the best (Jarrod's dad's white lab). We think she thought Clara was her baby. She was so excited. Clara and Toby (my mom's Yorkie) were not quite sure what to think of each other. Toby liked to tease Clara, and Clara fought back. She's anything but passive.

Things we have learned about her so far:

1. She does not understand what night is and what day is. We are working on this one. She thinks 8 o'clock is bedtime and midnight is time to wake up. Then she goes back to sleep, usually around 3 or 4:00. This girl's nuts.
2. She is afraid of changes in the floor texture. Seriously. Doorways freak her out. Anytime she has to go from tile to wood, concrete to tile, et cetera, she just freezes. She'll put her front foot out and test it first, and if she decides it's safe, she'll keep walking.
3. She loves the car, but only if you completely leave her alone and let her decide where she's going to sit. Sometimes she wants to be held, sometimes she wants to be in the seat by herself, and sometimes she wants to be in the floorboard. One thing is for sure though, if you put her somewhere, it will not  be the place she wants to be, and she will find a way to resituate herself or just cry and yelp the whole way. This is quite the independent puppy.

Here's a picture from last night. She stole Toby's toy because she loved it, and she fell asleep with it in the car on the way home. Sweet girl.