Lesson number one: Never give up

When I decided it was time my parents bought the dog they had promised, I wanted to have the dog the next day. As some of you know, buying a dog isn't that simple, and usually it takes more than a day or two. Well, I had met Max, a male golden retriever a month before deciding about what kind of dog I wanted, so my mind was kind of set on this breed.
This being decided, I started searching the internet for offers. All of the places I found, delivered the 6-weeks old puppies in about 10 days after the order was made. But that was not fast enough for me. So a friend of a friend(still grateful for this, Adi& Sorina)told me that there was a puppy golden retriever at an animals supermarket in a town approximately 150 km away from where I live. Adi went to see the dog and when he said that the dog was cute it was enough for me.
I believe it is worth mentioning the kind of shopping spree state I was in: I had decided I want a 6 weeks old, MALE puppy golden retriever, and I ended up taking a road trip to buy a 3 months old, FEMALE, pretty much not a puppy anymore golden retriever. I still think it was a miracle that at least my haste let me stay consistent in choosing the breed.
So, there I was at the store, buying myself a 250 euros dog. Don't be deceived: the price was not for a dog with a pedigree, but for a dog that the minute I saw I thought was the cutest dog ever. Even though, when I look now at photos since back than, I can see a big resemblance between the puppy Fiona and a rat the size of a small lamb.
As an expectant proud owner of a dog, I went prepared with a list of four names of which Fiona seemed to fit perfectly. Later my sister told me that it was even more suitable as Fiona is a lighter version of the golden brown the dogs of her kind usually are, and the name means "fair, light" in Celtic.
So, there I was, the proud owner carrying my puppy in my arms to the car for the road trip back. For those of you who don't own a dog, let me say that the difference between a 6 weeks old puppy and the 3 months old Fiona is about the same as the difference between a new born and a three years old baby. So from wanting a small, fluffy, warm fur ball, I bought myself an over priced, not that furry(the fur grows later in her teenager period), 10 kg dog.
What I found out from the store was that, while puppies normally make contact with the world surrounding them between the ages of 4 weeks to 3 months, my dog had been ordered and never picked up by someone. So from the age of six weeks, she had spent all of her time in a Plexiglas cage, that after a while became so small that she did not fit in there standing anymore. She spent most of that precious instinct-forming time, sitting in a cage. Which cage she shared with a beagle. So the start of her life was spent sitting, not standing, and staring at people coming by, looking at her, and than leaving.
I don't know what would have happened to her if I would not have bought her at that age. I don't even want to imagine. Sufficient to say that she was lucky enough that I was a bit insane about buying a dog. And I was more that lucky to have found her.
So, it goes like this: never give up, because there will come along somebody or something, that perhaps not even knowingly will make your day, your year, or maybe change your life for ever. It only takes the patience to wait for the one nutty enough to do that.

Next time:the first 2 days of our life together. A small preview: a lot, and I mean A LOT of poop. :)

P.S. The picture is the first picture I took of her, with my "oldy but goldie" phone.