The Bob Bulletin Begins...

It was a long 2 months being puppyless… Bear (5H7) moved on sooner than I thought he would. That was okay. But as I’m sure like most Puppy Raisers do, I immediately tried to focus on the positive- the NEXT puppy! Though I had hoped for another black lab, there did not seem to be any available without further wait, so I agreed to raise a “Dreamer” puppy instead. Dreamer is a breeder hosted by my A.C. What I knew about the puppy I would raise was that he was, of course, a boy, and he was yellow. He was the largest in the litter at the time. Dreamer is a sweetheart, so I figured her pups would be, too.

Bob didn’t start off being called “Bob,” as I didn’t know his name until about a week before I got him, so during all the puppy preparations, we jokingly referred to him as “Brutus”, as he was so much bigger than his brother and sister. His brother has been named “Top” and his sister is named “Mandy,” both are being raised by Puppy Raisers in our group, the First Coast Puppy Raisers. Our Puppy Raisers are from as far south as St. Augustine to as far north as just over the Georgia border, and everywhere in between!

June 27th was the day- I drove down to Palmetto with Thresa to pick up 5 pups, all 3 of Dreamers pups, and 2 Goldadors, Marc & Friendly. I had planned for that day for about a month, made arrangements to be off from work, to have the children babysat, to have everything in place before the “baby” would arrive. I had only seen a few photos of him as a tiny pup, and he and his brother look so much alike. They had actually traded places; Bob was the bigger, lighter one early on, but by the time we picked them up, Top had gotten bigger, and Bob had gotten darker!

It has been said that, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression,” lucky thing my first impression was to fall completely in love with Bob, who, at the time, had just finished a leisurely dip in the pool, and was quite the soggy-puppy, muddy mess! He was handed over to me much like a newborn would be handed to the proud new mother- soaking wet in all his glory! And, at that moment, I became his new “mother” for the next year or so…

Bob 2K8