It turns out, Newfypoo's are hard to find! Across the country, I found 4 breeders total, all out of state. I started to get discouraged because buying a dog out of state wasn't something we had really considered. Here's why: 1) I didn't like the idea of buying a dog we have never met. 2) I didn't feel comfortable shipping a puppy cargo. 3) It didn't really seem practical for me to fly across the country to pick up a puppy.
But then I came across a litter of puppies in Florida. There were 7 puppies in the litter, 5 were still available and 2 of them caught my eye. The "Orange" puppy had surprisingly straight hair for a Newfypoo and appeared to have more of the larger Newfoundland head with a broader snout. Then there was the "Black and White" puppy which had the cutest markings- black head with a white snout and a white stripe down the middle of her face. I think I showed Cody the pics of both puppies on the website but I didn't mention much about them at the time. The following two nights, I went to bed thinking about the "Orange" puppy. By Friday morning, I emailed the breeder asking about both puppies. She responded quickly and after reading her email, I was already in love. I called Cody at work and caught him by total surprise when I said "Honey, I need you to book me a flight to Florida." He researched flights for me but we agreed we would need to talk more about it when he got home. Which we did. The next day, we placed a deposit on the "Orange" puppy.
Part of me thought I was crazy. I don't particularly like flying and I definitely don't like flying solo! And flying with a puppy? Who on earth thinks that's a good idea?! What did I just sign myself up for..?
But I was in love. We all were.
We spent the next couple weeks getting ready for the puppy and talking about names. We had a few picked out but Hanley helped us settle on Helga.
My adventure out East began on Friday, Feb 3rd. I took a red eye out of PDX and arrived in Tampa around 5:30 am. I met Helga by 9:30 am and our flight was scheduled to depart at 12:30pm. I flew all the way to Florida and never left the airport!
She was pretty nervous the first 5-10 minutes with me but warmed up quickly. I got nervous myself when I pulled out her carry crate and realized it was certainly small for her size. Yikes, and we had a whole day of traveling ahead of us.
We played outside as long as we could before we had to check in for our flight. As we headed to our gate, I noticed 5 other dogs in the airport, none of which were in their crates. I didn't feel comfortable letting her walk around because she's not potty trained so I took her to the women's bathroom, laid out a puppy pad and we hung out in there until she went potty. Once we got to our gate, I took her back out of the crate and she waited quietly on my lap until it was time to board our flight.
I had to convince her to get back into the crate to board our flight but I left the top of the crate open a little for some extra ventilation (she was so big in the carrier, that her fur blocked the mesh siding). I was afraid she was going to overheat or suffocate in there! As I was walking to the back of the plane, she managed to unzip the top, pop her head out and try to force her way out. Once I got to my seat, the two people sitting next to me, looked at me and said "Oh you should just let her out." So, I did. I figured if it was a problem, someone would let me know. She sat on my lap the entire time, napping.
Our first flight was short, our second flight was 5 1/2 hours. I wasn't so sure we were going get that lucky again for the second flight. I learned my lesson from the first flight and didn't leave the top unzipped as we boarded our flight. Helga was whimpering and crying in her carrier. I had a middle seat. I apologized to the gentleman next to me on my right and told him she did great for the first flight but that's because I let her sit on my lap. He said, "Go ahead and take her out, I don't mind." I thanked him but told him I would wait for the seat on my left to fill because there was no way I was getting her back in that carrier if the person to my left wasn't comfortable with it! It was a full flight. Every seat on the aircraft was occupied except for the seat to my left. What luck! Helga hit the jackpot and got herself her very own seat. I scooted over and placed her in the middle. She spend the entire flight altering cuddles between me and the gentleman next to us.
Our adventure home was exhausting (I was running on 1 hour of sleep) but it really was lots of fun. It went much smoother than I ever anticipated possible. She was so calm and relaxed for the journey home. It's a trip home that I will never forget.
We arrived home at 7:45pm. Two very excited boys met us at the door. Neither of those boys were excited to see me, they were only interested in meeting the new addition to the family!
Welcome Home Sweet Helga.
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