Adding a Puppy to Our Yucatan Household

Just give Clementina an ice cube!

When we first arrived in Merida 5 years ago we brought with us our 4 rescue cats. Of course the least expensive way was to drive them down in our van. 6 days later we had arrived in Merida, intact but never wanting to drive 4 cats thousands of miles again! Border crossing was easy, although we had spent more than 800 US dollars on health certificates, no one was even interested in looking to see what we had in our van. 

The cats settled in quickly. They found that the pool was wet and luckily the two that fell (or were pushed in by our grump Maine Coon Gustavo) were able to swim out with no problems. They all found new places to explore and to nap and just were happy as can be. Sadly our blue Tonkinese who our house and blog was named for passed away two years later at 18 years old.  

Kiwi, Gus and Persimmon the night we arrived

Gustavo had his first experience with locust swarms!

And Gus found a great napping placed

Kiwi making himself at home

BleuBeri after his first accidental swim...

Another napping place

A safer napping place

Watching the sun rise

Now 5 years later it was time to shake up their lives with the addition of A PUPPY! And it has shaken up our lives too. We have not had a dog for almost 25 years and the last puppy was more than 35 years ago. As Carlos has been back and forth to the states quite often this year, I felt a dog would not only be company for me, but also be an alarm system if someone/something was entering our territory. So after much research and 8 months of watching dogs for adoption. I found a good match for us from a breeder of Havanese pups. (Here in Mexico they are called Bichon Habanero) As my husband, son and grandson are all allergic to dogs, I just needed to find one that would not cause an asthma attack and I never did find one for adoption. Havanese are hypoallergetic and do not shed. Also I felt that I needed a puppy to minimize the stress for the remaining 3 cats.Who had never been around dogs...ever!

The day she arrived (8 wks)

Clementina at 10 wks

It's a face that's easy to love

She learning how to be safe in the pool

When she knows she's been bad!

Friends!

Sleeping together in the heat of the day

Patrolling her property keeping us safe!

So here we are now with a 5 month old puppy. I love her to death BUT it is so much work...to housebreak, to train, to wear them out so they sleep all night, to feed, shots, etc etc etc. But rewarding also...I am secure in the knowledge that she will alert us to anything that is different, after all she barked like crazy at a Costco size package of toilet paper today...it had snuck in the house and it did not belong!