The Urban Puppy Checklist

Those who know me well know that I’m a dog person. Life with you favorite pup simply helps you remember all the things that matter. The presence of a pup (for me) helps to make a home into a home.

Which is perhaps why the past few months have been missing something. My 12 1/2 year old companion Bear passed away in April. He had a great run but at some point old age and time meant I had to let go. It hurt… I mean REALLY hurt. After more than a decade Bear had been by my side through the best of times and the worst of times… but always there for me. In his old age our roles changed and I took over being there for him. I chose to write, design, and build my creative agency as a home studio where he was never far away. He was someplace I could always comfort and aid him.

Needless to say, his passing left a gaping hole. I took a little time off to do things I hadn’t done for over a year. I traveled abroad, sat on a beach, went to a friends wedding in Switzerland with my lady. Half of it was me finally able to be away from home, half was that it didn’t feel like home without Bear and I wanted to be on the move.

Time has passed. I’ve healed. Ali and I are making this a new home. It was time to bring puppy love back into my/our life. So I began contacting the local rescues and filling out applications for adoption. I had set a time frame for when we would be ready to adopt (following the return from the big Swiss Wedding) and waited. As a previous Malamute parent (especially one as big and with a long healthy run as Bear) I was considered a top candidate for many of the large breed rescues. Apparently too many times people see these beautiful big breed puppies and want to adopt without being prepared for what care and love they need (and fur removal). Experience matters.

Puppies are rare in rescue situations. So I was surprised when I was contacted by Polaris Alaskan Malamute Rescue that they had an incoming 2 year old mother and her two male puppies. Getting ready for the pups arrival was bittersweet. I was so excited to have the companionship of a pup again in my life, and still felt that tinge of sadness thinking of Bear. There is a loyalty one has to their best friend and it was good to take a few months in between. I never wanted to feel like I was “replacing” Bear. Now that Chewie (his name) has arrived I know Bear would have wanted me to continue sharing the love and I’m guessing he would be proud that I rescued one of his cousins.

So… now we begin a new cycle. Ali, Chewie and I are starting fresh and remembering what sleepless nights are like (yes, we take him out every 2-3 hours at night when he lets us know), trying to keep everything from being chewed, and LOVING the presence of this amazing life.

By the way… Chewie is his legal name but it is based upon Chewbacca. Ali loved the name enough to go along with my geeky Star Wars reference. For those who don’t know George Lucas based the character of Chewbacca included noises off of his own Alaskan Malamute. So when Chewie turned out to be a Sable color it really all fit together. Here is the official geeky blurb..

Chewbacca’s creation as a “gentle, hairy, non-English-speaking co-pilot” was inspired by George Lucas seeing his own Alaskan Malamute sitting up on the passenger seat of Lucas’ car.[1] The Malamute, named Indiana, also inspired the name of the lead character in another one of Lucas’ film franchises – Indiana Jones.[2] It is said that Chewbacca’s name is derived from собака (sobaka), the Russian and Ukrainian word for dog.[3] Another possible model for Chewbacca may have been Theodor Jo-Jo, the so-called dog-faced boy or human Skye terrier, featured in P.T. Barnum’s circus side-show of freakish human anomalies in the 1890s.

The nice thing about this adoption time frame was that we had some time to prepare for Chewie’s arrival. That meant shopping, reading up on puppy training (it’s been awhile) and modifying the home. We live in Downtown Denver… so here is our Denver urban puppy checklist for anyone else out there getting ready for a new furry family member.

• Dog Bed from DoggyArchy – I CANNOT express how much I love these beds and the company behind them.  I first learned about DoggyArchy when I was looking for a dog bed for Bear when I first moved us into my new home in Denver.  I had gotten myself a new organic mattress, sheets, etc.  I wanted nothing less for my four legged companion.  After a TON of research I found exactly what I was looking for being made at a company in the Vail Valley (where Bear grew up with me for 8 years).    Their website states “Doggyarchy organic dog beds are made from organic cotton and pesticide-free industrial hemp fibers and fillers. Hemp is a strong fiber that has been woven into fabric for centuries. Hemp reportedly has eight times the tensile strength and four times the durability of cotton. Hemp is also naturally antimicrobial and withstands heat, light, mildew, and insects without the addition of harmful chemicals.”

  Not only are the beds great… these people are true dog lovers.  When Bear was older and had become incontinent they sent him a new inner mattress.  I was contacting them to buy one, they knew about Bear and sent one purely out of kindness.  Then when they found out that Bear had passed on and a new puppy was on the way they sent a welcome bed for him.   If you are a dog lover, this company makes a product of the best natural materials and the people behind the company are compassionate dog lovers.  This is the dog bed for your urban pet.. and they come in styles that look good in your modern loft or historic Denver square.

• Wire crate from Petco – We originally wanted to get the airline plastic crates but due to many levels of size changes we went with the largest Wire Crate available.  It comes with a plastic tray floor that is easy to clean and the movable partition allows you to keep the size exactly big enough for Chewie to lay down but not have too much space and use it as one bed / one bathroom.  We just threw some old blankets/towels over it and suddenly it’s a nice doggy cave.
• We picked two books to read up for Chewie’s arrival.  The first was Cesar Millan How to Raise the Perfect Puppy and the second was The Art of Raising a Puppy by the Monks of New Skete.  I recommend both books just to have a couple different points of view.
• Toys toys toys.  It was like a baby shower (one card even said “It’s a boy”) but in addition to what we bought friends and family had an outpouring of squeaky toys of all kinds).
• Bully sticks and hard (non brittle) items for the crate training at night.  They are supposed to distract the puppy so they don’t cry.  It helps… but not much.  Gotta endure the puppy stage.
• We bought 2 baby fleece blankets.  I liked the Circo Dots from Target and we rubbed one on his mom and one on his brother so their scent could be taken with him into his crate.
• For Dog food (yes, we are doing a transition) our research led us to choose Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy Chicken and Brown Rice.  There were many nice organics but this one was available locally at the new Chuck and Don’s Pet Food Outlet in Cherry Creek. We don’t want to risk his health with all the discussion of how chemically treated some of the grain in the lower grade dog foods can be.  This was the one we liked.  Having a large breed puppy helped.
• Natures Miracle – Not enough can be said about how important this stuff is.  Fortunately we have been making it outside in time with only a couple accidents… that being said we are also seriously sleep deprived.
• Fooey – Ultra bitter spray.  Although I’m not sure this stuff is the right non chewing spray for Chewie.  He is deterred but not 100%.  Perhaps another brand will be less to his liking.
• Dog leashes, collars and training harness.  On a recommendation from the folks at Zen Dog we went with the Easy Walk harness and it seems to be working just fine.
• What else… we stocked up on groceries, coffee, and all the things that allow us to stay in as much as possible during puppy stage.
• Vet visit scheduled for the first business day after picking Chewie up.  Get your pet in quick.. puppies are prone to worms.
• Keeping Chewie out of the dog parks until his 3rd set of vaccinations.  Living downtown it’s not easy to find a spot less traveled but do your best to keep an early vaccination stage puppy away from risks as much as possible.
• Take photos, they are only a puppy once.
• Socialize safely with pups you know are vaccinated and with people.

I’ll add more as I think of it or please share your suggestions for other new puppy owners.  And for those interested Chewie’s brother (now 9 weeks) and mother (2 years) are in need of rescue adoptions.  Learn more about these Malamute rescue pups and more at the Polaris Malamute Rescue website.   As you know I’m a sucker for helping a good cause and my above and beyond contribution to Polaris will be creating for them a new blog/site presence along with a world of social media alerts to share news of pups in need of adoption or funds for their medical needs.  Start following them today at https://twitter.com/#!/RescueMalamutes and learn more about this great cause and how you can help.