Homecoming

Is it possible to fall completely in love with someone in under 3 hours?  Thats about how long the car ride was to head back home from +linda Hartheimer's with our new puppy Ember.  We were ready for a long car ride of whining and wriggling and for the first 10 minutes things were going according to that plan.  We tried our hand at some early, light guidance by praising her when she calmed down.  Ten minutes in...

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...it was bliss for the entire rest of the ride home!  With hours of road ahead, you're left sitting there helpless to this little girl who burrowed right into your heart by just simply existing quietly in your lap. 

Now it finally begins to sink in. Miss Green became Ember, our little Grayhart pup.  After weeks of struggling not get too attached to any particular puppy, it would seem we were quickly making up for lost time.

We were too excited to take pictures when we got home, but we played with her, gave her her first meal in her crate, took her out to do her business and put her to bed.  She "sang a song for us" for about 10 minutes then was silent for the entire night. 

The story of how we got here is a long one and it starts over a year ago.  We decided finally after much deliberation that we would bring a puppy into the fold and began looking into breeds.  We quickly settled on the weimeraner and began the arduous journey of finding a good breeder.  We were not really concerned with proximity as long as we could make a round trip inside of a day.  Linda Hartheimer was more than happy to invite us to shows and agility trials where she spoke to the myriad of things that owning a Weim entails.  She introduced us to many folks within the community and seemed more than willing to answer our many questions.  We began to develop a relationship with her which quickly convinced us that it was going to be her and their simply was no other breeder.  

So we dug in and began to wait.  We continued to meet Linda and her friend KellyAnn (president of the weimaraner rescue of the Tri-state area) occasionally at dog shows eager to glean more news and more knowledge.  Then word came, Jam (Embers mother) was in season! After some time however, we learned that we would be waiting until the next time Jam was ready. So we hunkered down and continued to try and learn about the breed, buying weim and puppy books and keeping busy.  After a full year of waiting it was time and jam came into season again. When we heard she was pregnant we began to get excited!  Linda has a wonderful blog about all of her dogs that chronicles the birth of the puppies all the way up to them leaving the nest as well as the trials and tribulations of weathering hurricane Sandy while whelping a litter!  

We visited her lovely home and wonderful family as often as we could make time. We got to see all of them grow from little, stumbling breakfast sausages into the stunning Rockstars they are today.  We decided on a name within the Rockstar theme: Grayhart's Light My Fire.  We kept the call name in keeping with the registered name and decided on Ember.  But we didn't know who it would be and we wouldn't find out until the night before we took her home.  If this sounds a bit strange we refer you to an article Linda posted on her blog, Section #5 specifically.  The entire article is actually quite informative and seeks to explain to novice puppy owners how a good breeder operates/thinks and how to go about getting a great puppy from the right people.

        And then we heard... Miss Green was to be our Ember.