As I walked up the stairs just now with one under each arm, I felt like the mom of twins. I won’t be carrying both for long, though. Our new puppy Ellie will be the size of a lab at 3 or 4 months and full grown will probably weigh 110 lbs. Right now she is 4 weeks old, which will come as a shock to any of you who know something about responsible dog breeding. We have done our research, considered the options (pet shop, backyard breeder or $1000 show dog), and have a plan for how to care for this little girl. She is weaned and wasn’t living with the mom anymore, so Taza is now in charge of teaching her the ropes. So far it’s a good match- they are having fun playing together, but Taza is also showing Ellie what is and isn’t allowed for dogs and Murrays. Tomorrow we hit the vet for deworming, vaccinations, and advice.

While the people who sold Ellie to us are far from professionals, they are a nice young Peruvian couple who love their dogs. They have two Mastiffs from a previous litter (full siblings to Ellie) and two Pekineses, so we got to see first hand that tiny and giant breeds can live together happily. They have recently started a Mastiff play club with their friends and were sad to hear we’ll be leaving so soon.

It’s amazing to see how different Taza and Ellie are. We got Taza at 6 weeks (she’s now 4 months), and I can barely imagine how small she must have been at 4. Ellie is already probably 2/3 the size of her. Taza loves to prance and run around. Ellie is a miniature beast with a tough bite and a solid body. Plus there is the age difference. It’s fascinating how much Taza has learned in the past 2.5 months, not just responding to commands but also familiarity with us and the way our lives work. I feel like I have a relationship with her, but so far all I see when I look at Ellie is Gollum with fur. Tim is thrilled with her. I’m a little weirded out (but nonetheless excited).

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