One year ago today our little Dulcinea arrived to our home. We had found and met her over a month and a half before she could come home with us because we had to wait until the Chile Kennel Club went to the breeder's house to register her and her sister.
We had spent the weekend in Viña to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday and I finally decided to call the breeder one last time before we got on the bus to come back to Santiago. I had been calling on a weekly basis since we had met little Dulci and I got the feeling I was bugging the breeder, so I waited about two weeks before calling again. The breeder was so happy to hear from me, she said "Oh Dulcinea has been ready for about a week now, but I couldn't find your phone number to call you." Whether that is true or not (because she had my email address too) isn't important. What was important was that my baby was ready and I was beyond excited!
I couldn't hardly keep calm the whole bus ride home. The breeder brought Dulci to our house (since we didn't have a car in that time and Dulci is from Lampa which is a good 25 min drive from where we lived). She was so tiny and scared. For those of you who don't know Dulcinea, she is quite shy at first and then once she warms up to you, there is no going back. So she was so calm and just trying to figure out what was going on. All I could do was hug and kiss her. She was soooo cute!
We played with her, showed her around our apartment, showed her where to go potty and gave her a present--her first toy ever:
She was so tiny she couldn't even make the dinosaur squeak!
We tried to get her to sleep by herself from the beginning (my idea). I had her sleep in her bed right next to me, but she just cried and cried. So I picked her up that first night and put her on my chest to see if she would calm down (kind of like the picture below). She fell asleep quickly and that was the end of Dulci sleeping by herself...hahaha.
My family has pretty much always had dogs in the house so I didn't think it'd be very different to get my first one living on my own, but having Dulcinea has really been life changing. I was never the primary caregiver when I lived at my parents' house, but with Dulcinea it is different. She depends on me and Chris so much and she is like our little baby. We have had a lot of fun with her and even though it is a lot more responsibility, it is totally worth it!
I love looking back at these baby pictures of her. She was so tiny and cute. Now she is much bigger and has blossomed into quite a beauty. Her attitude has multiplied 10 times bigger than her actual size, which at times is annoying, but that is just your typical dachshund attitude. Here are some examples of her classic behavior:
Her new favorite habit is to wake us up at night with kisses when she needs to go potty. When the alarm clock goes off in the mornings, she also comes out of the covers to wake you up with lots and lots of kisses.
Her favorite place to be aside from in bed with us is at the Parque Bicentenario where she can run free and play with her park toys. She has a special boomerang and kong toy that she can only play with at the park so when we go, all she wants are her toys.
She loves it when we heat up her rice packs to keep her warm. She treats her toys like her offspring sometimes and protects them from us. She loves to push around her food bowl with her nose and spill her food. She also pretends that she doesn't like some of her food, but then she eats it anyway.
She thinks she is the owner of the 11th floor of our apartment building because she barks every time she hears the elevator arrive. She goes crazy when the neighbor gets home too. She gets so excited to go out for walks that she barks at anyone who gets in her way of getting out of the building. But once she is outside she is happy and all she wants to do is run, which is why Christian has started jogging with her.
She also thinks she is a model. Anytime Christian sets up his camera to take pictures of her, she pulls out the attitude in a heartbeat. For evidence, just take a look at these images that he took.
That is my little guachita rica....
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2 comments:
Happy...birthday? anniversary? dogversary? I don't know what to call it! But I definitely agree with you. Getting a dog is life changing!!! Completely.
She was seriously tiny! My neighbors' dachshund also feels as though he's the owner the 13th floor of my apt building. But Dulciena is muuuuuuuch cuter than him.
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