(belated) a day to remember, part II

You know, sometimes life keeps getting in the way of things. Like weeding the garden, or updating my blog. Between a very busy stint at work, keeping the dogs occupied, playing warcraft with our wonderful friends, and trying to not let the house fall down, I've not spent much time composing much of anything! With the advent of fall our schedule has slowed down somewhat, and I have time to write the second half of this post, at not quite a month later.
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The second reason that September 11 is a day to remember, is that one year ago it was the day I flew to Chicago to pick up my new puppy. When I planned for bringing Ezri into our home, not only did I include vet visits and the new kennel in my plans, I also made sure to plan for picking her up in person. Our breeder, like most, was happy to ship Ezri to me via air freight, but I didn't want her first experience away from her family to be alone like that, so I chose to pick her up.

I left Seattle on a 6:30am flight out to O'Hare in Chicago, arrived around lunchtime, and picked up my rental car for the day to head out. I was able to spend a few hours (and a pizza lunch!) with Mike and Sharon, including playing with Ezri's entire litter as well as several of her siblings from the litter two weeks older. I met Prancer and Dazzle, who are Ezri and Indigo's mothers, as well as Brita (their grandmother) and several other relatives. It was a lot of fun to talk to Mike and Sharon, as well as to just enjoy a whole house full of border collie craziness. As the afternoon wore on it was time for me to leave, and I packed up a confused Ezri into a small soft carrier and left to return to the airport.

Ezri was not at all pleased to be leaving her family with a stranger, let alone in a small container and in something large that moved unpredictably, and was quite sure to let me know. She soon settled down and went to sleep, however, until we arrived at the airport. The biggest hurdle that I had worried about was going through security - not only did I need to do the normal human security tasks of removing my shoes, pulling out my zipbag of liquids, and removing my DVD player - but I also had to deal with taking a wriggly naked puppy through with me while her carrier, collar, and leash went through the scanner. It went well enough, thankfully, and I was quickly able to deposit her back in her carrier so I could put my shoes back on.

The plane flight home began uneventfully, but soon my little princess decided she was hot and scared and planned to let everyone know of her distress. Rescue Remedy, treats, chew sticks, toys, petting, and talking all did nothing to soothe her, making me feel like quite a bad "parent" for imposing this noisy creature on the people seated around me. Soon after we achieved crusing altitude, the flight attendant came to talk to me and my seatmate and at his okay she told me to pull Ezri out and keep her in a blanket on my lap. As soon as she was out of the crate, Ezri quieted down and after eating an ice chip, she passed out flat on her back with her belly aimed directly towards the airjet. And so passed her first, and probably only, plane flight.

We finally arrived at home around 11:00pm, just in time for Chris to meet her before he headed out to work for the night. With dinner in her belly and a warm crate to sleep in, Ezri soon fell asleep in her home for the first time.

And so our journey began.