We Found Our Fannie with Both Hands!

We drove to visit Bev at Regency Miniature Schnauzers on Monday, August 23rd. Fanniei Mae was 8 weeks old the previous Saturday. Bev has been breeding and showing Mini Schnauzers for 35 years. Her accomplishments in the show world are incredible, and she was named AKC 2006 Breeder of the Year in the Terrier Group.

Bev and her husband, Jerry, have a beautiful, large country location outside of Tracy. We met Fannie Mae (FM) there and got to meet her mom, Bling Bling. Her father wasn't there as he was from mainland China and had returned home. Guess it was a one-night stand.

We fell in love with Fannie Mae and decided to take her home with us. She had never traveled in a car so this would be a good test for our upcoming road trip. We put her in her crate behind our seats with the door facing us. Not a whimper. Not a cry. Not a bark. We left Tracy about 11:30a.m. FM was soon sound asleep. We made two stops on the way and got home about 2:00p.m. We had to wake her up. Linda took her straight from the car to her potty spot in the back yard. Then brought her into the house.

At the breeder's suggestion, the first few nights we put bedding in the back of a large wire crate and papers in the front (for night time relief) and put the crate next to our bed. When put in the crate FM would whine for about three minutes then all was quiet....throughout the night. Those nights, she never used the papers. But, we did get up about 4:30 or 5:00 and take her out to her potty spot. This past weekend we moved her crate back downstairs. She still goes to bed with mild, short-lived protest and has only piddled the papers once. A chart we found on puppy development says she should be able to hold elimination for about 8 hours when she's 8 months old. She's only nine weeks and she's almost doing that now. What a good puppy!!

We're happy to report that her first vet visit went well. Dr. Rick's comment was "We should be so healthy!". Fannie Mae loves to play. She already does a pretty good job of fetching (even bringing the back back to you!). She love to exercise her prey drive and chase a stuffed toy monkey on a string.

Young puppies explore with their mouths. Their little teeth are pretty pointy, so you have to be careful and let them know when they bite a bit hard.

We've been taking her around town to safe places (she won't be fully immunized until sixteen weeks, so no dog park for her!) like Michi's Floral, Starbucks, Hot Java, Extreme Wireless, the Senior Center, a bench at the Farmer's Market. We never let her walk around. We always hold her.

We did read two books on raising a puppy. Both were helpful.
We can only say that we are just so happy to have Fannie Mae join the family. When we took Fannie Mae for her puppy checkup, John told Dr. Rick, "This was the best thing we could do. She fills a great big hole in our hearts".
 
There are two photo galleries on the web. They open in a separate window which you can close when finished. You'll come right back here. The links are:
Fannie Mae at 8 weeks (22 photos) and
Fannie Mae at about 9 weeks (10 photos)
 
John shot some quick video clips usinig his point and shoot still camera. You can see what an active puppy we have on our hands. John asks that you pardon his almost religious music selection, but remember, dog spelled backwards is......
Two minute video of Fannie Mae's Playful Antics

We hope you enjoy our Fannie!