As one frequent commenter here cleverly surmised, back in the bitter cold of February’s polar vortex we added a new member to our pack. This is Kara and that is her first baby picture. She’s eleven weeks old here. In the picture she is on her ride home, very nearly the first time she had been out-of-doors let alone away from the home with our breeders she’d known all of her brief life.
We had not set out or expected to buy a puppy. We’d gone to our dog breeders, friends of some twenty years standing, to visit, have lunch, and, perhaps, help socialize their new litter. We knew that the entire litter had already been sold.
When we arrived, however, we were informed that one of the buyers had backed out and, consequently, one puppy was available. We recognized that due to our friends’ advancing age this might well be the last breeding of this line and so, rather than be forced at some more convenient date to seek out a line that met our needs but with which we had little familiarity, we elected to seize our opportunity and the rest, as they say, is history.
Little does Kara know as she rides uncertainly to her new home the adventures waiting for her. Her life will only be limited by what she is willing to do, whether working dog, therapy dog, or even (unlikely) show dog. Or just a beloved companion. Oh, the places she’ll go!
Over the next days and weeks I’ll be posting regularly about Kara’s adventures.
My wife asked why I hadn’t posted about Kara yet. If my story is to be character-driven, I need a better understanding of my lead character. It’s taken my a while to come to an understanding of who Kara is, something I’ll be exploring in my unfolding tale.
Something to look forward to for all of us. Thank you.
Interesting parallel with kids. Most men I’ve talked to admit that they were sort of indifferent to their infant children, only coming to be involved once they could attach a personality to the person making all those unpleasant smells. Exactly right: character development needed.