Introducing MAPLE!
“PUPPY CLAWS! Her name is Puppy Claws!” Danny’s pretty adamant about this. I nearly spit out my coffee. I wish I had written down all the names we brainstormed, because some of them were real gems.
The past month has been filled with fun, laughter, chaos, disaster, tears, learning, sleepless nights, extra coffee, lots of clothes with holes, and adorable pictures.
Maria’s wish for a puppy seals the deal
Way back in March we began making calls about a dog. Unfortunately, every other person on the planet also began making dog calls, because of Covid. Every shelter and rescue within a four hour drive was empty. Every breeder had (still has) a wait list waaaay into next year. So… we put the puppy idea on hold.
picture from the rescue organization
Then month FIVE of Covid started sucking our souls, Dementor-like. Dave and I revisited the puppy idea. I found a home breeder with a puppy, but as the days continued my uneasiness grew; I posted my hesitation/questions on a dog adoption FB group. The co-founder of the rescue Sato Saved contacted me - she had a pup that would be a great fit for us.
She showed me a picture and told me they nicknamed her Rosie. I jumped out of bed (it was 11pm), raced downstairs, and sent her a picture of Maria’s letter to us.
Maria’s letter - with a pup named Rosey that looked like the pup at the shelter, pink collar and all - sealed the deal! Despite over 100 applications for this pup, she was ours, and she could come home to us in 2 days.
Gotcha day
The mom is a shephard/collie mix, and the dad is an unknown type of hound, so we know our dog will be fairly large, but we don’t know how large. The next day I bought an XL assembled crate that was literally as big as our entire trunk. It rattled the whole way home. Maria and Danny were with me for the 20 minute ride and had absolutely no idea. I threw a blanket over it in the garage, and everyone walked past it for a day and never noticed it. Whew! Meanwhile, I secretly bought a (huge) bed, some food, and some dog toys. Again, no one noticed!
Gotcha day came. I went to my “meeting” (what meeting? I don’t work! LOL! But the children believed it!), drove an hour to pick her up, and returned home. My heart was pounding; I couldn’t wait to see everyone’s faces!
When we got home, Dave had everyone lined up on the sofa, and he was pacing and acting so weird that Jack thought something terrible had happened to me. The puppy was too scared to walk inside, so I had to carry her. She was a timid little thing, but she said hello to everyone as the children filled the house with shrieks, shouts, laughs, and so, so, much joy.
Over the next few days we debated what to call her. Danny was dead set on Puppy Claws. Dead set. Maria wanted Rosie. Jack wanted Rey. We compromised and called her Rey Rosie Puppy Claws, except that Maria would only call her Rosie and Jack would only call her Rey, and Danny was calling her Rey Puppy Claws, and, oh, the fighting! It was just awful and we were probably splitting the poor dog’s personality.
So we went back to the drawing board. Everyone’s first choice name was out. Round 2 was just as bad as round one. We finally ALL agreed on Solo. Except that after 2 days of calling this meek, timid, gentle, patient girl Solo, it was just all wrong.
Round 3… the winner is MAPLE! It suits her personality and her coloring, and we’re in Canada, so it’s just right, eh?
Maple- what a sweet name for a sweet girl!
In the month we’ve had her, we’ve taught her how to walk down the steps, ring a bell to go outside, enter and exit her crate nicely, wait for a command to walk through a door, place on a stool, place on a mat while we eat, wait for a cue to exit the car, like the car (this is super important with 7 hour drives!), play fetch, and probably a few other things. We’re still working on staying off the couch, sleeping through the night, walking nicely on a leash, leave it, catching things in her mouth, recall, and fun tricks like rolling over and paw. All in all, she’s doing awesome!
You know what? She’s taught us some things, too! We are learning to be kind and gentle to animals, to let her win sometimes and let her come to you (Danny!), and how to help her be a good puppy. Maria has really taken on a lot of responsibility: she feeds her, walks her, helps train her, made her room safe for her, and because she’s gone above and beyond, Maple will be allowed to sleep in her room once she’s ready.
We all love her so much already!
Danny told me, “Mom, I have so much love in my heart for her!” which is the first time I heard these words of mine come from him. Melt my heart!
I asked the children what they love most about Maple, and this is what they said:
Danny — I love her and she licks me and I love her. I love her and Maple loves me. She makes our family better than ever.
Maria — She’s really cute and she’s funny and silly. And I like how in the morning or if we leave for just a minute her tail starts wagging because she’s happy to see us. And she tries to say hi to every person and dog. It makes it kind of fair because now there’s another girl to play with.
Jack — She’s playful and kind to other doggies. And she has the zoomies a lot. She’s a parkour dog because she can jump and can climb.
