Puppy Introduction

Everybody’s first question is, “What’s her name?” Everybody’s second question is, “What kind of dog is she?”

Answers: we don’t know, and we don’t know.

The rescue group is calling her “Blondie”. That’s her official name until she gets spayed and we can officially adopt her. Right now we’re just fostering.

My first idea for her new name was Día (Day) because she is the color of a sunrise. But John was meh on that idea. He wanted to call her Snickerdoodle because poodle mixes are called doodles and she’s an unknown poodle mix. I thought that was dorky and vetoed that idea. What would her nickname be, Snickers? Uh-uh, nope.

Snickerdoodle made us think of Biscochito, the New Mexican state cookie (also spelled Bizcochito). Yeah, the “state cookie” lol! I don’t know if all states have state cookies or if it’s just a weird New Mexico thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bizcochito

Anyway a biscochito is a butter cookie, flavored with cinnamon and anise. John gave me a packet of biscochitos on our first date, to welcome me to New Mexico. I had only moved to New Mexico about a month before meeting him. Since then we’ve often made or bought them at Christmas time. Here’s John with biscochitos last Christmas – our first Christmas in our new house in Tucson.

The only problem is, Biscochito is quite a mouthful (no pun intended, haha). It’s too long to be a practical name, so John’s been calling her “Biska” or “Biski” for short. We also thought of Bisque – she’s about that color.

Remember a few posts back when I was ranting about how developers make up Spanish-sounding words that aren’t actually real Spanish words for street names? I said, “For awhile some years ago I worked as a city planner in southern California, and misspellings of Spanish street names is a pet peeve of mine! Pretend Spanish is also in that same category.” Yeah, well, the joke is on me, because that’s exactly what I just did. Influenced by John calling her Biska, I started calling her Biskachita instead of Biscochito! Well, Biskachita is not a word!

My neighbor calls her Biscuit, which is fine. I’m pretty sure whenever John says “Biska”, English speakers are going to hear “Biscuit”, which is probably from the same root as Biscochito, so that’s all fine. I only have one request – don’t call her Cheetos! Cheetah is ok, which is the English translation for Chita, but it may be a bit pretentious for this little one, lol.

She’s a crazy little wiggle-butt in the morning and evening, and a sleepyhead during the day, so I think “Siesta” would be a good name. But John seems to be set on Biska.

I believe she was born on July 19, although I’ve seen conflicting dates. We are working with a very disorganized and imprecise rescue group. I’m sure their heart is in the right place but their communication and organizational skills are poor. Allegedly this is her mom, an 11-pound poodle named Ginger:

I can almost believe it. She has her mom’s coloring. But she certainly doesn’t have her poodle fur! She looks like a tiny yellow lab/collie mix to me!

I mean seriously, does this look like a poodle to you?

Which leads us to wonder – if she’s part poodle, does that mean she’s not going to shed? She’s only half poodle (at the most) so it could go either way. She still has her puppy coat, and it could grow in differently when she gets her adult coat in a few more months. But given that she currently has a flat coat rather than a curly coat, I think she’s going to be a shedder. Hopefully the poodle in her will calm that down a bit, and she won’t shed as much as a golden retriever, or whatever her dad is. But I’m fully expecting shedding.

I think she looks like a yellow Labrador retriever or golden retriever puppy except her face is narrower. Which makes sense because poodles have narrow faces. So I’m guessing her dad is a retriever mix of some sort.

We sent off one of those DNA kits to see what breed her dad is. I called her Biscochito when I made the online account, so I guess Biscochito she will be. And I’ll let you know when we get the DNA kit back!

Any guesses as to her breed and ultimate size? My guess is half poodle and part retriever. She also looks a bit like a collie mix, but those aren’t as common nowadays so that’s less likely. Most mutts around here contain at least some pit bull and some chihuahua. So I wouldn’t be surprised to find either one or both of those in her, even though she doesn’t look like either one of those.

Apparently her mom’s sister came to the rescue group as the same time as her mom, both pregnant. Two young poodles coming in at the same time who are both pregnant suggests that they may have come from a raid on a puppy mill rather than a simple owner surrender. If so, the puppy mill may have been trying for a goldendoodle or labradoodle litter (poodle/golden retriever, or poodle/labrador retriever). Those designer breed puppies cost $2,500 or more from a breeder, sometimes twice that from a good breeder. So she might be a designer breed, although without the genetic screening of a more reputable breeder.

I’m guessing she’ll be 20-25 pounds when she’s full grown, but I really don’t know. We’ll know more in another couple of weeks when we have enough data to chart her growth rate. She could be larger, even with such a small mom.

Here’s a few puppy videos. She was very calm the first couple of days as she got accustomed to her surroundings.

We definitely plan to keep her, as long as the rescue agency lets us have her. There’s no reason why they wouldn’t, except I don’t trust them. They’ve been difficult to work with and disorganized. They refuse to even tell me which puppy shots she’s had and when, and they get defensive when I ask questions. So I’m just keeping my head down and waiting. I will breathe easier once we’ve completed the adoption process and don’t have to deal with them anymore. They won’t let us adopt her until she’s spayed and the timing of that is completely up to them. We have no say in it at all; we’re just told when and where to show up. They’ve changed her spay appointment date twice now. If all goes well and they don’t change the date yet again, she’ll be spayed Oct. 4, and then we can adopt her that afternoon.

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