We did not go looking to bring a pup home so soon, but when we saw her picture, we had to know more. So we sent an email or two, had a phone call that lasted a couple hours, a video call to meet her, and then…
Sunday October 30, 2022, we sat on our couch and talked about this beautiful little girl. We pulled up our finances and tallied up the costs. Then we started looking at 2 options, we could fly her out to us, or I could fly out to bring her home. When totalled all up, it was going to cost us about the same to fly her out to us as it was for me to fly round trip to pick her up providing I could do it in a day.
Sunday we found flights for November 4th and marked them as potentials.
Monday we informed Lonesum D that we wanted her.
Tuesday flights were booked and paid for.
Wednesday a new collar and lead were bought.
Thursday the airline carrier arrived from amazon.
Friday I was on the plane. And that is where this adventure begins…
I have never been to Winnepeg, Manitoba before. I had no idea what to expect. What Google maps tells me is definately not the reality of how far away the airport is to a mall! My flight landed in Winnepeg at 2:10pm. I was going to be meeting Lonesum D at the airport around 4pm. That meant I still had 4.5 hours before my flight back to Vancouver after collecting Little Miss. What is a girl to do?
Well, I did find a little park nearby and a gas station. But other than hotels, my options were to wander the airport or take a taxi somewhere. I really didn’t want to get lost so I stayed by the airport until 4:30pm when I met the Little Miss.
And she is a little miss.
Little Miss was pretty scared. She did not want to come to me and was frozen stiff in the airport. This was all so new for her! We put her in the carrier and stood speaking for a while. To my surprise Little Miss settled into the carrier quite quickly. She just watched the people pass her by silently while we spoke. When we finished the paperwork I picked up the carrier and we were off to find some lunch!
I figured we would have to pass through security to get food so that was no surprise. But I have never flown with an animal before so it was a new experience for Little Miss and me! A first for us both!
Well, while security was a lot simpler than I had expected, I didn’t expect to be carrying Little Miss through the xray without the carrier! I was stunned when the security officer asked me to remove her from the carrier. I explained I just got her so it may take me a moment. Unzipped the one end of the carrier to attached the lead to Little Miss’ collar, then opened the other end to pull her out.
My god, Velcro Dog is right! The second I pulled her out of that carrier she glomped onto my neck with her little claws so hard I thought she was going to rip my skin open ripper style! Then she burrowed her little nose into my shoulder and just snuggled right in. I walked through the x-ray and got my hands swabbed (a definite feat while holding a terrified Little Miss) and the whole time, the security offiicers are commenting about Adorable Little Miss.
When the carrier came through xray, Adorable Little Miss’ claws got right into my sweater. She did not want to be put down for anything! Far cry from the Little Miss who wanted nothing to do with me not 20 minutes prior!
Anyways, I put Adorable Little Miss back into her carrier, put on my boots and coat and we were off again on the hunt for food! By this point it was 5pm and I all I had had was a coffee…I was getting a little hangry! We found a little bistro cafeteria place and grabbed a bench and table. When I opened Adorable Little Miss’ carrier to try and give her some water she glomped my hand again. This time with her head. Yep, that’s right folks, she stole herself a hand pillow. Eating one handed, talking on the phone, and having a puppy abscond with your other hand….it gets interesting to manage!
We stayed at the bistro for about an hour before I took Adorable Little Miss to the potty area before our flight. When we boarded, the flight attendant gave me a quick run down of the flying with pet rules as we settled into our seat. Adorable Little Miss fit under the seat easily in her carrier with room to spare!
I was warned that take off and landing were the scariest times of flight for dogs because they feel everything through the floor. So, armed with my new found knowledge of hand pillow preferences of Adorable Little Miss, before take off and landing she got the hand pillow.
I had expected whining. I had expected whimpering. I had expected barking. I even expected potty accidents. What I got was a sleeping Aussie. She was so quiet during the flight that people didn’t realize she was there.
Then again in the car ride home from the airport, I expected something! Well I got something all right…I got an Adorable Little Miss who pooped her carrier half way home. Pee-yoo!
So we get home and promptly deposit Adorable Poopy Little Miss into the tub for a bath…she was less than impressed! At 11pm we were not planning on a bath. But alas, that is exactly what we got. Welcome to puppy parenting. So we scrubbed her down and rinsed her off, pulled her out and towel dried.
Phew, finally! Take Adorable Little Miss out for a pee and its off to bed for me! She gets nestled into her crate with a couple cushy bath mats and a little blanket, and I curl up into my bed and cozies.
Night night world! The baby is home! Now she needs a name.
It took us several days to find a name for Adorable Little Miss. We had settled on 2 contenders and put them out to our breeders Owner’s group. We had settled on either Sadie or Kayda….and it was Sadie by a landlside! Then we sat on the couch with her and all of a sudden Sadie just didn’t fit. This little girl showed a burst of personality that was all Skye – a name we cut in our round 1 of name selection!
And so my dears, Adorable Little Miss has a name! We are very happy to welcome SKYE to our adventures! She is gentle and sweet, playful and smart. She is very shy and timid but I think Riley would have loved her. She is coming into her own the more she settles in. We can’t wait to see where her adventures lead us!
Happy Tails!
P.s. – we are delayed in this post as we have been working little Skye through many trials since she came home in November. Skye is by far one of the shyest pups I’ve worked with, but she has come leaps and bounds from where she was. We will be adding regular postings again with some backstory of our new puppy adventures, training, new introductions, and some seasonal fun as we go through the year.
ASR Adventures 