We have a puppy!!!

Jeff and I are now the very proud owners of a very tiny puppy, of indeterminate age, breeding and color (light brownish). I am still completely in shock, so I apologize for the explosion of photos; there's a significant part of me that still can't believe we finally have a dog! Honestly, we are so incredibly grateful to Shruti and Rashmi. I'd mentioned on a number of occasions that I really wanted a dog, but they got up at 5am this morning to go puppy hunting, so major props to them! Photos below....




For some back-story, we received a phone call from Rashmi and Shruti, our project assistants, this morning, saying that they were going to be late and asking us to meet them on the street in front of our apartment, and that they had a "surprise" for us. I figured that they had made an especially complicated Indian dish that they wanted to share (they very aggressively feed us their food at lunch, which is always delicious).

We turned the corner to find them giggling like crazy, carrying this little cardboard box. When we walked up, they opened it and out popped the head of this absolutely adorable puppy! For years, Jeff and I have joked that at some Christmas in the distant future, I would wake up to find a puppy in a box (honestly, who doesn't want that?). And although I've managed to keep it out of the blog posts, I have desperately wanted a puppy ever since I arrived - the streets are full of adult dogs, but they're only just starting to breed (apparently it's a seasonal thing and puppies fill the streets in winter).

They handed me the box, and Jeff and I were both completely in shock. We managed to bring it back to the apartment and play with it for a while, before we realized that the adorable little creature we were snuggling up to was completely infested with fleas. Jeff ran to the Dog Hospital (also a pet store) around the corner to buy anti-flea shampoo, toys, and food, and I proceeded to bathe the poor thing. He must have been in even greater shock than I was, because he obediently let us wash him three times (!) with the flea shampoo, picking out dozens and dozens of fleas, for just shy of an hour. He just shook and whimpered and snuggled in closer to me.

Finally he was clean and dry and completely exhausted. He napped for a while, and then I dragged him around the apartment trying to get him to play, and now he's been asleep for several hours, giving me time to get some work done and read up on puppy training tips!

However, as you may have noticed, we haven't yet given him a name. I'm toying with the idea of आलसी (aalsee), which means "lazy," given his sleep:activity ratio today. We'll keep you posted on what we decide on, and suggestions are more than welcome!