Pomerleau Family Blog: Getting Teddy and Teddy's first weeks with us

We headed to Springfield to get Teddy on Sunday March 22nd. We were supposed to get him Friday March 27th when he was 8 weeks old but the breeder was concerned about a potential state lock down and the safety of us and her with the virus so she allowed us to get him sooner. On Sunday morning I ran to Target (actually to look for toilet paper which they did not have even though online it said they were stocked) and ended up getting the kids' Easter stuff which I was so happy I did as they ran out later! Then I did a workout and we headed down to Springfield.

On the way to Springfield we stopped by Lulu's half brother River's house to get a harness I let them borrow and they let me borrow a gate/play pen which was really nice. The kids did some schoolwork in the car and then we finally got to Springfield. The breeder Julie has cancer so she was being very cautious about potential exposure to the virus. We texted her when we were on our way and then she wanted me to text when we were only 5 minutes away as she was going to leave Teddy outside of her driveway with his stuff in a little crate. I told the kids that I would have to go out to get Teddy to reduce her exposure to them. We did get to see Julie from her front door and I got to hold up Lulu for her. We got Teddy who was whining in his crate (little did I know we got a little whiner haha) and I brought him back to the car where I introduced him to the kids and to Lulu. The kids instantly loved Teddy and Lulu did well with him too and wagged her tail. It was weird not getting to talk to the breeder and get information on how to care for Teddy but at least we had that talk with Lulu and she did a nice long video for us to watch before we got Teddy.

So excited with Teddy between them!

Heading home

Such a sweet face

Teddy sat in between the kids the whole way home and did great. He didn't get carsick and didn't have an accident. Lulu sat up with me in the front seat in her dog bed but had one eye glued on Teddy the whole way home. We finally made it home and at first we just let both dogs sniff each other and hang out in the front yard. We were also trying to get Teddy to go potty as well. Teddy finally went potty and then we brought him into the house where we gave him a tour of the house.

Showing Teddy our front yard

Showing Teddy our house

So excited to have the little guy

Meeting big Sister Lulu!

Teddy had fun seeing the house and hanging out with Lulu for a bit. He was curious about our house and we showed him where his food and water was. Lulu did pretty well with Teddy in her house and wanted her normal belly rubs. After a quick nap, Teddy went outside to the backyard and got to explore.

Lulu loves belly rubs!

Cuddled up with his toys

Sweet Teddy hanging out in Brandon's lap

Teddy blends in with the dirt

Sweet Teddy

Teddy hanging out with Olivia in the backyard

Chasing Olivia

Olivia snuggling with Teddy

Brandon and Olivia love their new little brother

Sweet Teddy

Close up of Teddy at 7 weeks 2 days

Lulu was having a blast in the backyard too!

Sniffing around in the grass on his first day home

Hanging out with Lulu in the backyard

Sweet Lulu

Hanging out in between the flower pots

The little trampoline is so much fun!

First evening snuggles!

Both pups are worn out on the first night

Sean and Teddy snuggling on the first night

Teddy ate his dinner really well. We mixed his new kibble in with his raw meat that he had been eating with the breeder. He already seemed to be a better eater than Lulu! He got pretty tired just before we were going to go to bed and fell asleep for an hour while we were getitng the kids to bed. He was then really hyper after we got the kids to bed and needed to play for a bit to wear him out for bed. I got him to bed around 11:00 AM and he whined on and off most of the night. I did not get him out of his crate until 5:00 AM when he was whining and I thought he needed to go to the bathroom. After that he was a bit hyper but was able to go back to bed with us for several hours at least.

The next couple days went by pretty fast. Lulu slowly got more used to Teddy and was growling less and allowing Teddy to lay closer and closer to her. We took Teddy on walks which he didn't seem to like much at first. He would whine and sit down a lot. He became more used to the walks though eventually and enjoyed them. There was a lot of snuggling on our bed and watching TV. The kids really bonded with Teddy because they were home all the time. Teddy began to be able to sleep better in his crate too and was sleeping about 7 hours a night until around 6:00 AM but loved going back to sleep after he went potty in our bed for several hours after.

Lulu and Teddy after potty time at 5:00 AM the first morning

Going back to bed

Olivia with Teddy and Lulu

Teddy during his 3rd day

Walking with Brandon in our neighborhood

Walking after the rain

Snuggling in bed and watching TV

Snuggling closer together

Teddy at 7.5 weeks

Lulu discovered her old puppy bed and decided to try to fit into it

Late March walk at 7.5 weeks old

Both kids enjoyed walking the dogs

Teddy was almost the same color as the bark mulch

We had fun rest of the week with Teddy. We were sad that we couldn't go to our beach house but it was good for Teddy to get used to being in our house with us. We did a lot of walks with Teddy and a lot of snuggling. It was cute watching Teddy's relationship grow with Lulu. He genuinely loved her and would look for her first in the house. It was a bit different than how it was with Lulu who was so attached to me. Teddy also became quite attached to the kids too since they were home all the time. Potty training was going slowly but was not awful. I just had to take him out every hour to prevent accidents. He didn't liked being locked up in his puppy pen that much as he wanted to be with Lulu. We were able to take Teddy to his first vet appointment 8 days after we got him. The holistic vet was awesome and came out to our car to get Teddy and then I talked to the vet on the phone about his health. He was a very healthy boy and had already gained 2 lbs and was over 9 lbs at barely 8 weeks old!