26 February 2020
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I remember February 2005 pretty vividly. I was a college student, daydreaming about a fuzzy face greeting me at the door. It had been a year since our family Siberian husky was put down and I was still haunted by little niggles of memory. I kept hearing breathing or toenails clacking, even though the house was devoid of pets. I felt like I was going crazy. The local animal shelters didn't have any small dogs, aside from chihuahuas and Jack Russels. I knew Mom wanted a terrier since she had adored the Westie we had before the husky so I looked through breed books, AKC descriptions, forums, etc. I chose the Cairn because it has less health problems than Westies and it would be a familiar type of dog to us. I signed up for Col. Potter's Cairn rescue but every dog I looked at was adopted. The only cairn puppies available were too expensive. Then we got a newspaper that covers several states. I found an ad for a Westie puppy at a farm in West Virigina, and while I read it out loud, I noticed in fine print "Cairn also available." Jackpot! I called right away and learned more about the "groundhog" as the lady described him. She said she had another client interested in the Westie and cairn and the family was coming over that night to see the puppies. I asked if she could hold the cairn for us to come visit. She agreed.
We had to wait two whole days before we could drive over to see him since we had a snow storm. It was a long, nerve wracking drive. I was very glad my parents were driving. I barely even got to see the little brown blur when we got there! XD He was on the move, zipping from room to room, teasing their six year old daughter with a toy. Mom picked him up, he gave us ten seconds of his full attention, looking at us with soft curious eyes before squirming to get down. Off he went again.
I let my parents decide if they wanted to wait and look for another dog or buy this little fuzzy whirlwind, and before long, I was in the car with a wiggling armful of fuzz and puppy breath. That was the beginning of a very long wild adventure back home. Our little terror acted like he'd never been in a car before, and he bucked and balked at the leash and collar. We didn't have a crate yet so our first stop was to a nearby Walmart to pick up all the puppy necessities. I sat in the car with Nikki, letting him get acclimated with me while he explored the van front to back. My parents came out with a bed and crate for him. While we were getting that situated, our new little housemate crawled under the back seat and pooped in the cargo hold. Ewww! Man that stunk! We were more than eager to get him on a different brand of puppy food, and give him a bath to rinse off the barn smells in his coat. We had no idea what we were in for with our little teething, peeing whirlwind, but between plenty of bribes, tons of playtime and simply sitting on the floor, letting my little guy approach me on his terms, he quickly bonded with me. The years have sure gone quickly.